Climate Resilience Regional Challenge
Resources

Resource List

The Climate Resilience Regional Challenge provided $575 million for 19 projects designed to build the resilience of coastal communities when faced with extreme weather and other impacts from climate change. The following definitions and resources provide insight regarding the key priorities of this funding competition.

• Equity and Inclusion
• Community Engagement for Equity and Inclusion
• Risk Communication for Equity and Inclusion
• Regional Coordination and Collaboration
• Risk Reduction
• Enduring Capacity

Equity and Inclusion

A fundamental aspect of the program is for recipients to work with members of marginalized, underserved, and underrepresented communities to ensure they benefit from the efforts.

• Best Practices for Engaging Underserved Populations
  

  A set of “best practices” for engaging marginalized populations to collect data, attitudes, and opinions around a research topic (five pages).

• Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning: A Framework
  

  Developed by community-based organizations to strengthen city planning and climate adaptation through culturally relevant, democratic processes that meaningfully engage vulnerable and impacted communities (64 pages).

• Guidelines for Considering Traditional Knowledge in Climate Change Initiatives
  

  Use this resource to examine the significance of traditional knowledge in relation to climate change and the potential risks to Indigenous Peoples in the U.S. (94 pages).

• Implementing the Steps to Resilience: A Practitioner's Guide
  

  Designed to help climate adaptation practitioners work with local governments and community organizations to incorporate climate risk into equitable, long-term decision-making (162 pages).

• Making Equity Real in Climate Adaptation and Community Resilience Policies and Programs: A Guidebook
  

  To prioritize climate adaptation and community resilience needs of frontline communities, California must focus on community needs and build social equity into related policies and grant programs. This guidebook offers an operational approach (104 pages).

Community Engagement for Equity and Inclusion

Grant recipients should engage community members, especially members of marginalized, underserved, and underrepresented communities.

• A Seat at the Table
  

  This online learning resource helps coastal resilience planners incorporate the needs and perspectives of socially vulnerable populations by using inclusive, community-driven processes.

• Citizen Participation and Equitable Engagement Toolkit
  

  This resource helps disaster recovery grantees (from Housing of Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program) develop an enhanced citizen participation process, particularly for low- and moderate-income residents.

• Guidelines for Excellence: Community Engagement
  

  This publication was created for environmental educators who want to partner with communities to strengthen overall environmental quality, social equity, and shared prosperity (172 pages).

• The Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership
  

  Use this spectrum to assess and revolutionize community engagement efforts and advance community-driven solutions (14 pages).

Risk Communication for Equity and Inclusion

Recipients are encouraged to consider how to communicate risk with marginalized, underserved, and underrepresented communities.

• Enhanced Engagement and Risk Communication for Underserved Communities: Research Findings and Emerging Best Practices
  

  A compilation of best practices and lessons learned pulled from real-world projects. The goal is to help people working with underserved communities engage in a more effective way (35 pages).

• Lead with Listening: A Guidebook for Community Conversations on Climate Migration
  

  Differences in culture, financial circumstances, and geographic location influence how we think and talk about climate risk and migration. A broad range of people were interviewed, and the guidebook is based on their insights (35 pages).

Regional Coordination and Collaboration

Funded projects will be driven by an integrated, achievable, and ambitious vision developed by the regional partners and the people they serve.

• Building Climate Resilience in Cities Worldwide
  

  Practical guide for cities working to enhance their climate resilience in cooperation with the private sector. Documents best practices and principles for stronger public-private cooperation, and evaluates various approaches (81 pages).

• Introduction to Regional Adaptation Collaboratives and Regional Collaborative Formation Toolkit
  

  Explore what a regional adaptation collaborative is, and review relevant case studies. Additional information includes how to start a regional collaborative and get it right.

• Lessons in Regional Resilience
  

  Lessons learned from regional climate collaboratives, which bring together local governments and other stakeholders to coordinate climate change initiatives at a regional level. Describes regional collaborative characteristics, key benefits, and strategies for long-term sustainability (32 pages).

• Regional Governance for Climate Action
  

  Provides practical insights for new and established organizations by examining what it means to be a formal entity, the various forms a collaborative can take, and how defining the stakeholders, goals, and strategy can drive the structure and membership of a collaborative (26 pages).

Risk Reduction

Building resilience requires implementing adaptation actions that reduce risk to coastal populations, infrastructure, economies, and ecosystems from the effects of drought, extreme heat, sea level rise, floods, and wildfires, and other weather and climate hazards.

• Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation
  

  Use to assess local exposure (risk) to climate-related hazards. Designed to work with the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, which integrates climate maps and data; non-climate data, including building codes and economic justice and social vulnerability information; and federal grant funding opportunities.

• Coastal Inundation Topics Page
  

  Visit this NOAA page to access the most current information about climate change, its impacts, and future flooding. Provides links to climate data, visualization tools, communication resources, and suggested steps for addressing climate impacts.

• Fifth National Climate Assessment
  

  This authoritative report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses provides the scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States.

• Sea Level Rise Technical Report (2022)
  

  Provides the most up-to-date sea level rise projections available for all U.S. states and territories. Offers projections out to the year 2150, and an application guide for coastal communities (111 pages).

• U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit
  

  A place to find the tools, information, and subject matter expertise needed to build climate resilience. Offers information from across the federal government.

Enduring Capacity

A key aspect of this program involves sustaining a level of community readiness that promotes continuous adaptation to the impacts of weather and climate, including developing and maintaining specific workforce capabilities and capacities.

• Adaptive Capacity: An Introduction
  

  Learn what is meant by “adaptive capacity,” and explore the factors that contribute to adaptive capacity.

• Implementing the Steps to Resilience: A Practitioner's Guide
  

  Designed to help climate adaptation practitioners work with local governments and community organizations to incorporate climate risk into equitable, long-term decision-making (162 pages).

• Learning for Action: Strengthening Capacity Building in the Nonprofit Sector
  

  Analyzes what is and is not working regarding nonprofit capacity-building and provides recommendations for improvement. The research is specific to the Chicago area, but much of what was learned is universal.

• Rural Capacity Map
  

  Map depicts rural community capacity to support infrastructure and climate resilience projects. Analysis is based on factors such as local staff and expertise, presence of a regional university, and broadband access.

• Supporting Partners to Develop Their Capacity
  

  Shares themes and lessons learned regarding capacity development. The focus is on providing the support that can help partners develop their own capacity (44 pages).