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In June 2021, a pushed temperatures to 109°F (43°C) in Spokane, Washington, a northern city near the Idaho border where many homes .

As the heat lingered for over a week, 19 people died in Spokane County and about 300 visited hospitals with signs of heat-related illnesses.

Scientists say it's not a matter of if, but when, . To help save lives, the city teamed up with my university, Gonzaga, to start preparing for a hotter future.

We were excited and relieved when the community was awarded a from the Environmental Protection Agency to help it take concrete steps to adapt to climate change and boost the local economy in the process. The grant would help establish resilience hubs with microgrids and help residents without air conditioning install energy-efficient cooling systems. The city doesn't have the means to make these improvements on its own, even if they would save lives and money in the long run.

Less than a year later, the Trump administration .

Spokane's grant wasn't the only one eliminated—about 350 similar grants that had been awarded to help communities across the country , from extreme heat and wildfire smoke to rising seas and flooding, on the grounds that they don't meet the White House's priorities. Many other grants to help communities have also been terminated.

Many of the are like Spokane: They can't afford to do this kind of work on their own.

Why cities like Spokane need the help

Like many communities in the American West, Spokane was on wealth from railroads and resource extraction, especially gold, silver and timber.

Today, it is a in a metro area of a half-million people, the largest on the I-90 corridor between Minneapolis and Seattle. In many ways, Spokane could be on the cusp of a renaissance.

In January 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a $48 million grant to develop a tech hub that could put the Inland Northwest on a path to become a global leader in advanced aerospace materials. But then, in May, the Trump administration .

The lost grants left the economy—and Spokane's ability to adapt fast enough to keep up with climate changes—uncertain.

This is not a wealthy area. The median household income is than the state average. More than in Spokane live in poverty, above the national average, and of the children are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

The city is a light blue island in a dark red sea, politically speaking, with a moderate mayor. Its congressional district has since 1995, the year that then-House Speaker .

Lessons from the 2021 heat dome

The 2021 heat wave was a . The newly formed Gonzaga brought together a coalition of government and community partners to apply for the EPA's . The grants, funded by Congress under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, were intended to help communities most affected by pollution and climate change build adaptive capacity and boost the safety of their residents.

A was that temporary, or pop-up, cooling centers don't work well. People just weren't showing up. Our research found that the best approach is to strengthen existing community facilities that people .

Half the $19.9 million award was for outfitting in existing libraries and community centers with , allowing them to continue providing a safe, cool space during a heat wave if the power shuts down.

Another $8 million in grant funding was meant to provide 300 low- to moderate-income homeowners with new systems, providing more affordable utility bills while improving their ability to cool their homes and reducing fossil fuel emissions.

Communities are left with few options

Now, this and other work is at risk in Spokane and cities and towns like it around the country that also lost funding.

According to the Trump administration, the program—designed to help hundreds of communities around the country become safer—was "."

A was recently filed over the termination of the grants by a coalition that includes Earth Justice and the Southern Environmental Law Center. If the case is successful, Spokane could see its funding restored.

Meanwhile, the city and my team know we have to move fast, with whatever money and other resources we can find, to help Spokane prepare for worsening heat. We formed the —a partnership between community organizations, health officials and the city—as one way to advance planning for and responding to climate hazards such as extreme heat and .

As concentrations of heat-trapping gases accumulate in the atmosphere, both the increase. It is only a matter of time before another deadly heat dome arrives.

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