Press Release: 7/18/2025

In quotes: the impact of extreme heat on children

 

Alyssa Haywoode

JULY 18, 2025

“Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child talks to Paula Gaviria Villarreal, of Boston’s Office of Early Childhood, about solutions for protecting children from extreme heat.

“People don’t tend to think of Boston as a hot place. Why did the City identify extreme heat—and its impact on young children—as a priority policy issue? 

“We’re experiencing a rise in temperatures every summer, and Boston was never designed to withstand this heat. So, there’s been an awareness from the Mayor’s Office that, as summers get warmer, we need to be better prepared as a city to keep our residents safe.

“Mayor Michelle Wu also created the Office of Early Childhood in 2022. Initially, our office primarily worked on issues related to childcare and supporting childcare providers. But early childhood is so much broader than that, and we wanted to expand the work. After meeting with the Center on the Developing Child, our Director, Kristin McSwain, learned there was an upcoming paper on extreme heat and children. She was really excited by this opportunity, because while there was already a lot of work around extreme heat happening in Boston, there wasn’t a specific focus on this population.“

— “Policy Q&A: How Boston Is Implementing Solutions to Protect Young Children from Extreme Heat,” Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, July 14, 2025