By: Chayton Marquis
Heating Things Up
Temperatures may be dropping across Hennepin County, but Program Manager Jessica Spanswick’s climate resilience efforts are heating up. Spanswick oversees the county’s adaptation team in the Climate and Resiliency department, working to combat global warming and support local communities.
Spanswick has led climate resilience efforts from international to local level, building a more resilient tomorrow. Over the past three years working at the county level, Spanswick’s convictions have only deepened: “We really need to take steps now to prepare our infrastructure and our communities for that change in climate.”
When you think about climate change, you might look to the coasts, thinking about sea levels and hurricanes. However, Spanswick has always emphasized the implications of climate change everywhere. Now in Minnesota, as temperature and weather extremes intensify, crop growth, state economic stability, and community safety are all at stake.
Driven by this mission, Spanswick has been an avid partner of HUP, having involvement in four research projects centered on disparity elimination. Bridging the gap between academia and public sector practice has been the driving force behind these partnerships.
“HUP does such a beautiful job of marrying those two disciplines in a way that makes it practical… I just believe in that so much,” said Spanswick.
Changing Seasons, Changing Social Climates
Spanswick’s relationship with HUP began back in 2023, when exploring ways to make housing weatherization—like insulation, sealing, and mechanical upgrades—accessible to low-income communities. Identifying key areas for weatherization was essential to cutting energy waste and saving households significant costs.
That being said, Spanswick knew that this research wouldn’t be possible without the Partnership. “My team didn't have the bandwidth, and we didn't have the ability to go out and get a consultant for it. So working with students for this was an incredible way to get really high-quality work,” recounted Spanswick.
Over the course of three months, Spanswick collaborated with graduate researcher Sam Hunt and a team of students, defining where weatherization could be most impactful in Hennepin County. Spanswick was able to integrate these findings to the Department of Energy (DOE), resulting in the County being selected for a $2.5 million grant to fund this initiative.
The weatherization was originally intended to start this year, but with administrative changes and new financial constraints, the DOE never signed the contract. Spanswick’s team didn’t receive the funding her team and the university had worked so hard for. Nevertheless, when this opportunity fell through, Spanswick knew she couldn’t let this research go to waste. She had to pivot.
“We are resilient as a community, and we are resilient as a county. So my team came together and said, okay. This isn't happening anymore… What can we do with the limited amount of funding that we have available? And so we created an action plan.”
With funding cuts, the Climate and Resiliency department plans to mobilize the curtailed budget to make an impact wherever they can. Because of this, Spanswick’s team is ideating affordable, realistic initiatives to start small and support communities wherever they can. One example is turning tax-forfeited vacant lots into community gardens; another is improving habitats for pollinators.
Come Rain or Come Shine
Most recently, Spanswick’s partnership with HUP has assessed heat resiliency in the county as communities are looking for ways to cope with increasingly harsh summer conditions. Spanswick partnered with UMN faculty member and former webinar speaker Brian Runck to uncover a striking trend: during heat waves, many residents choose to leave their homes, seeking relief in third spaces like regional libraries. These findings help shape decisions around public building access.
Spanswick’s team has also launched two new programs in the last year: FORTIFY and Ignite. These both fund community-based organizations and cities to implement climate adaptation and mitigation projects. As these programs expand, her team is partaking in HUP’s Evaluation Assistantship to assess gaps and optimize their effectiveness, which will begin in January of 2026.
If it isn’t clear, Spanswick’s vision and progress isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Her continued partnership highlight the incredible progress that can be made through focused collaboration, even in the face of financial constraints and hurdles.
“We have so much power at the local level to make change in our community's lives. …We have to do what we can with what we have, you know?”
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