On Thursday, the Tempe City Council approved a three-year contract to partner with the Arizona Faith Network to provide heat relief services.
Tim Burche is the director for the city’s Department of Community Health and Human Services. He says the city will have 10 cooling centers available seven days a week this summer.
“It was basically seizing upon a single opportunity. We've had a year to really develop an approach to create a network of cooling centers instead of one centralized location and implement all those lessons learned and again just matured the partnership," he said.
Those who seek shelter at Arizona Faith Network’s three city heat centers will also be referred to Tempe’s social services and homelessness initiatives.
The contract would allow a budget of nearly $300,000.
“Heat is the number one natural phenomenon that attributes to death across the nation. It's more dangerous than tornadoes and hurricanes and earthquakes combined," he said.
The designated heat relief facilities are the Church of the Epiphany Community Coalition, Tempe Church of Christ and University Presbyterian Church. More information on available cooling centers can be found on the Tempe website.
