As another heat dome roasts the U.S. this week, a new Climate Mayors study confirms what many residents already sense: Extreme heat is more frequent and deadly, and they’re counting on local governments to help them cope. But fragmented information and messaging are hampering leaders’ ability to get residents the guidance they need. “Awareness alone is not enough,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told Smart Cities Dive. “People want to have clear, practical information that they can use immediately, as well as reminders to be proactive.” Levine Cava and Tucson Mayor Regina Romero led the Climate Mayors Extreme Heat Cohort that created the Climate Mayors Extreme Heat Toolkit, drawing on interviews and surveys with residents across five metropolitan regions to help local leaders communicate effectively about extreme heat. The toolkit includes strategic messaging to help city leaders position heatwaves as a public safety and quality-of-life issue; ready-to-use social media and public information campaigns; and audience profiles showing how different populations experience extreme heat and what information they need most. Residents want local leaders to show them what actions to take and direct them to sources of relief and support during extreme heat events, according to the toolkit. Effective communication helps them navigate heat-related challenges in the areas of health, affordability, transportation, housing, caregiving and access to services, it states. “The number one goal is to inform, prepare and protect people,” Romero told Smart Cities Dive. Here are five takeaways from the toolkit and the research that informed it. 1. Frame messaging around lived impacts, not climate science. Conversations about extreme heat should focus on how it affects residents’ health, finances, routines and quality of life, according to the toolkit. “This approach starts with the challenges residents experience firsthand and connects them to the resources, support, and actions that can