The MACH Household Decision Making Team includes postdoctoral researcher Manasa Bollempalli and PhD students Gloria D’Alessio, Yvonne Dadson, Nuzhat Fatema, Amy Li, and Prabin Sharma. They collaborate on these efforts under the guidance of faculty members DeeDee Bennett Gayle, Elisabeth Gilmore, and Victoria Ramenzoni.

This project team leads efforts to understand how people in the MACH region might perceive climate change and make decisions about adapting to it. Their approach includes ethnographic interviews, an analysis of existing literature and local policies, and spending time in communities to learn directly from people who spend time there or live there. So far, interviews have been held in Philadelphia, PA, as well as Camden and Manville, NJ. The team investigates what factors influence household choices, especially when families are dealing with overlapping social challenges like financial stress. This research aims to bring local experiences and knowledge into climate planning so that policies and solutions may be more fair and effective. It also offers valuable lessons for other researchers about the opportunities and challenges of doing place-based, inclusive research.