Administrative Core

SUMMARY – ADMINISTRATIVE CORE The Administrative Core (AC) will provide oversight, coordination, and integration of all activities of the Drexel Research Center on Extreme Weather Events and Urban Health. It will support the organizational structure and infrastructure needed to advance the central theme of the Center: the creation and dissemination/translation of evidence that will support urban policies to address the health impacts of extreme weather in cities. The AC will leverage significant prior experience at the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative in ways that informative for policy, practice and community action. The AC will establish a Center Executive Committee and convene an External Advisory Board composed of external experts and leaders who will provide input into the overall direction of the Center. The Administrative Core will ensure that the activities of the Research Project, the Research Capacity Building Core (RCBC), and the Community Engagement Core (CEC) are coordinated and synergistic. The AC will develop and implement a data infrastructure and management plan that facilitates collaboration and will support synthesis and communication of key findings to stakeholders in ways that are useful for action. The AC will also monitor and evaluate all Center activities. Finally, the Administrative Core will support the development of an agenda and priorities for the future, including plans to secure additional funding and expand the research, capacity building, and policy and community engagement work to encompass extreme weather events beyond heat. The specific aims of the core are: (1) To establish and sustain a governance and administrative structure that provides programmatic and budgetary oversight, that ensures coordination and integration of all Center activities, and that regularly monitors, evaluates and reports on all activities; (2) To develop and implement a data infrastructure plan that facilitates access to and use of data on the impacts of extreme weather on health in urban areas for research as well as for dissemination and engagement purposes. (3) To synthesize and communicate Center findings and lead the development of a broader research and engagement agenda on extreme weather and health in urban areas that engages multiple stakeholders at Drexel University and beyond, establishes programmatic directions and identified new funding opportunities to ensure sustainability and expansion of Center activities into the future.