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APRIL 2022
It has been a great first quarter for the RNPN thanks to your partnership! We learned so much during the kickoff event in January, explored how to strengthen climate equity for the Whole Community in February and discussed the connection between arts and adaptation in March.
The kickoff provided opportunities to solve our most pressing challenges together and create a more resilient nation for all communities. This recap includes discussion summaries, resources and upcoming events based on the following topics: specific resilience challenges RNPN partners could help solve in 2022; upcoming opportunities to collaborate with RNPN partners; ways RNPN partners can help advance organizational priorities in 2022; and upcoming events, meetings and conferences.
Together with the Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the virtual Ideation Hour event included discussions on promoting climate resilience through youth engagement; building climate literacy (where do we start?); fostering resilience at the neighborhood level; and building equity into mitigation actions. This Insights and Reflections document summarizes the key talking points, considerations and resources from the event.
As we look ahead to the rest of the year, we're excited to continue bringing partners together for these critical conversations, promoting collaborative action and creating resources to aide in advancing whole community resilience. We are thankful for each and every one of you and hope you will continue benefiting from our programming. If you have feedback on how you're using our resources and programming or have suggestions for improvements, email us at FEMA-ResilientNation@fema.dhs.gov.
Stay safe and well,
The Resilient Nation Partnership Network
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Featured Event: RNPN: Student Showcase – Adapting to Future Risk, April 27 at 1:00 p.m. ET
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California Silver Jackets: 2022 Watershed University Summit, starting April 26 at 12:00 p.m. ET
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FEMA: Region 6 Virtual Brown Bag, starting April 26 at 1:00 p.m. ET (12:00 p.m. CT)
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FEMA: Back2Basics With Mike Segner: How Do I Prepare My Community for a Storm?, April 27 at 12:00 p.m. ET
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DRI International: Resilience Excellence Summit, starting May 2 at 11 a.m. ET
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Climate Resilience Fund: 2022 Resilience Ecosystem Workshop, May 4 at 1:00 p.m. ET
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NOAA: National Sea Grant Strategic Plan Listening Session, May 4 at 3:30 p.m. ET
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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: Workshop on Benefits, Applications, and Opportunities of Natural Infrastructure, starting May 10 at 9 a.m. ET
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FEMA: Back2Basics With Mike Segner: How Do I Prepare My Community for a Storm?, May 18 at 12:00 p.m. ET
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Majestic Collaborations and The Folk Alliance International: Art of Mass Gatherings in Kansas City, May 22 at 10:30 a.m. ET (9:30 a.m. CT)
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Majestic Collaborations and The Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival: Art of Mass Gatherings in Santa Barbara, May 28 at 1:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. PT)
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Enterprise Community Partners: Funding Climate Risk Reduction for Affordable Housing, June 1 at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT)
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Sustainable Solutions Lab: Climate Adaptation Forum – Can the Northeast Handle the Heat?, June 3 at 8:30 a.m. ET
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USDA Southern Plains Climate Hub, Kansas State University and Kansas Forest Service: Managing Carbon Through Healthy Forests and Forest Products in the Changing Climate of the Southern Plains, starting June 21 at 11:00 a.m. ET (10:00 a.m. CT)
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The Wild Center: Summer Climate Change Institute for Educators, starting July 25
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The Wild Center: Youth Climate Leadership Retreat, starting August 9
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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: Empowering K-8 Youth Through Place-Based Education Projects and Programs: The Gulf Research Program is seeking proposals that engage children and youth in place-based educational activities that will foster the development of the scientific and environmental skills, competencies, and capabilities that are critical to solving complex issues in the Gulf now and into the future.
- Grant cycle opens: March 2, 2022
- Deadline for submission of proposals: April 27, 2022 by 5:00 p.m. ET
- Award selection and notification: July 2022
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Partner News
RNPN: Register Today! "Next Generation of Resilience" Student Showcase
 The RNPN team looks forward to seeing you at the "Next Generation of Resilience" Student Showcase next week on April 27 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. ET. At the event, four student leaders will provide their perspective on natural hazard resilience and adaptation. Thank you again to all of the students who submitted pitches for consideration and to our partners who generously provided their time to evaluate the pitches. If you have any questions or would like more information, please email FEMA-ResilientNation@fema.dhs.gov or visit our website.
Travis County, Texas: Easy Ways to Reduce GHG Emissions
Commissioner Brigid Shea led Travis County’s bold telecommuting policy and has seen significant impacts since its implementation. By adopting a goal to have 75% of eligible employees telecommuting on a permanent basis, Travis County is dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, alleviating traffic congestion, and significantly saving on utility costs. In 2019, employee commutes were the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions for Travis County. As a result of the telecommuting policy, Travis County’s total CO2 emissions decreased by 5,500 TONS from FY19 to FY20 - that’s like removing 1,200 cars from the road for the entire year and avoiding the use of nearly 406,000 gallons of gasoline! What’s more is that its saved a whopping $1.3 MILLION in utility costs! As the telecommuting policy continues, those numbers keep growing. As an added benefit, there’s been a rise in employee morale. The policy allows employees to stretch paychecks further by reducing transportation costs and improves their work-life balance while maintaining productivity.
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Arizona Partners in Preparedness: Navigating the Pandemic Webinar Series
Arizona Partners in Preparedness brings together local community members along with emergency management to work on innovative approaches to inclusive disaster readiness for the 61 million Americans who have disabilities. For more information, contact stephanie@azsilc.org.
American Public Health Association (APHA): New Award Opportunity – Student Champions for Climate Justice
Calling all college or university students – apply for Student Champions for Climate Justice Awards: Creating an Academic Community Experience!
It's climate change day for this year's National Public Health Week and APHA’s Center for Climate, Health and Equity is proud to offer the opportunity for students to foster dialogue and spur action about climate justice within and across academic communities.
The Center will select up to five college or university student groups to create an Academic Community Experience during the month of September as part of APHA’s 150 Anniversary monthly theme, “Protecting our Environment to Protect our Health.” The goal: engage students and inspire action on climate change and health equity.
Learn more about how your student group can apply for the Student Champions for Climate Justice award. Application deadline: May 2, 2022.
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 Sustainable Solutions Lab: Exploring Community and Climate Resilience In East Boston
East Boston is very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly flooding. Recent research from the Sustainable Solutions Lab explores the relationship between Designated Port Areas (DPAs), affordable housing, and climate change in this neighborhood.
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 FEMA: National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Spring Flooding Campaign
Spring brings cleaning, planting, allergy season… and changing weather patterns and warmer temperatures that can increase an area’s flood risk. The FY22 Spring Flooding Campaign urges community members to protect the lives they’ve built from spring flooding with flood insurance.
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 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): National Sea Grant College Program Strategic Plan
The National Sea Grant College Program is currently developing its strategic plan for 2024-27. In order to inform its 2024-27 strategic plan, Sea Grant is hosting a series of listening sessions about the current strategic plan and is providing an opportunity to gather input.
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Can you believe that we are a quarter of the way through 2022? It seems like we were just celebrating the new year! However, it is always important to understand where you came from in order to set a clear path for where you are going!
We are excited to share our 2021 Annual Report with you which includes key highlights, impacts, and outcomes from our work in alignment with our eight goals. We hope that you enjoy the report and are proud of all that we have achieved together. None of this is possible without your support and belief in I-DIEM's purpose, mission, vision, and goals.
We encourage you to share this with your peers, colleagues, and networks and to continue making a difference as we strive to advance equity and improve outcomes for those most vulnerable to the impacts of disasters and the ongoing climate crisis.
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The Natural Hazards Center is excited to announce the release of the first research reports from the Weather Ready Research Award Program. The program funds quick response research to help strengthen community preparedness for extreme weather, water, and climate events.
The first collection of reports from the program was funded in February 2021 with an emphasis on how the public receives, interprets, and responds to high-impact weatherevent information. Subsequent research solicited for the award series focused on research instrument and data publication and Tornado Ready Research.
The initial findings from these studies which are supported by the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation, are now available. Find the entire series here or browse individual reports below.
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Technical Assistance Available
These regional, cohort-based learning opportunities are for multi-family affordable housing owners, operators and developers to engage with one another, content experts and local stakeholders to address the unique hazards of their region. Together, participants will identify critical vulnerabilities, offer solutions and technical assistance to improve portfolio resilience to future threats and incorporate community resilience strategies.
The next regional academy will focus on Funding Climate Risk Reduction for Affordable Housing on June 1 at 2:00 p.m. ET.
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New Resources
The American Flood Coalition: Building Community-driven Flood Resilience
Nature-based Climate Solutions (NCS): Managing Urban Landscapes for Climate Action Guide
This step-by-step guide is actually a growing compendium of resources for City Planners who want to learn how to manage their urban lands for Climate Action. It is the result of an ongoing collaboration between Nature-Based Climate Solutions (NCS, formerly known as the Urban Drawdown Initiative), the Urban Sustainability Directors Network’s (USDN) Carbon Drawdown Working Group (CDWG), the Trust for Public Land, and an amazing group of graduate students from the Masters for the Environment program at the University of Colorado.
There are 4 components offered in the guide:
Build Change: Take Action for Climate Resilient Housing
Of the current 140 million housing units in the United States, at least one-third are at high risk of damage from fire, wind, flood, storm surge, or earthquakes. Build Change has improved housing resilience worldwide for over 400,000 people, and is expanding its work to increase disaster resilience in the US for the first time and is actively seeking partners in the public, private and social sectors who are interested in collaborating to find solutions towards inclusive, affordable and resilient housing for vulnerable Americans through technological, financial and policy solutions.
Build Change recently launched Climate Resilient Housing, an initiative which forges partnerships, catalyzes action, and drives investment to ensure climate resilient housing for all. To join us and learn more about how to be involved, contact us at advocacy@buildchange.org.
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The Pew Charitable Trusts Releases New Report on Property Buyouts
Whether a community has repeatedly flooded or is experiencing severe flooding for the first time, property buyouts can be one of the most effective strategies to mitigate flood risk. However, a new report from The Pew Charitable Trusts, “Property Buyouts Can Be an Effective Solution for Flood-Prone Communities,” finds that significant challenges limit the scale and effectiveness of many buyout programs. The study also identifies opportunities for collaboration across levels of government to reduce barriers that buyout efforts face.
National Wildlife Federation: Harnessing Natural Infrastructure to Protect the Built Environment
National Wildlife Federation and Allied World released a podcast that discusses their report, The Protective Value of Nature, examines the benefits of natural infrastructure, and explores how many stakeholders can utilize natural defenses to protect the built environment.
American Planning Association: PAS Report 600 – Planning for Urban Heat Resilience
Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States. As average global temperatures continue to rise, the threats of both extreme heat events and chronic heat are projected to increase.
Now is the time for the planning profession to step up and take a leading role in coordinating communities' efforts to proactively build urban heat resilience. This PAS Report equips planners with the background knowledge, planning framework, and catalog of comprehensive approaches they need to advance urban heat resilience and create a more equitable and sustainable future in an increasingly urban and warming world.
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EDF Blog: FEMA’s Community Resilience Program is in High Demand. This Guide Can Help Strengthen Applications
FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program builds resilience for critical lifelines against natural hazards. With massive national interest in the program, EDF commissioned AECOM to develop best practices and recommendations for securing BRIC funding for natural infrastructure projects.
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American Public Works Association (APWA): Policymaker Primer – Public Works and Climate
High-quality, modern, well-maintained infrastructure is the backbone of any successful society. Public Works Professionals (PWP) are responsible for designing, implementing, operating, and maintaining all types of infrastructure worth trillions of dollars. APWA developed the Public Works & Climate public policy primer to guide the custodians of America’s Infrastructure.
Verea Group: Building Stronger Business Cases for Resilience Enhancing Projects
During the first wave of COVID in 2020 Stanford Health Care, like most other healthcare providers, experienced a severe shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The hospital system had to pay much higher prices for fewer PPEs, increasing its costs, and simultaneously had to limit its elective services. To build its future resilience Stanford Health Care considered renting and refurbishing a large storage facility and stocking PPEs. With current cost-benefit analysis (called Net Present Value) projects like this are hard to justify as their initial investments and ongoing costs are certain while their resilience value is not. We have developed an innovative cost-benefit analysis (Agility Adjusted Net Present Value) that captures the value of resilience. Using this methodology, we show that the storage facility’s resilience value outweighs the additional cost of its upfront refurbishment and ongoing maintenance. For more information, please contact Vladimir Antikarov at v.antikarov@vereagroup.com.
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 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): How to Create a Clean Room at Home during Wildfire Smoke Events
During a wildfire or prescribed fire, local officials may advise people to stay indoors as air quality becomes unhealthy from smoke. While sheltering, some outdoor smoke can enter homes and affect indoor air quality. EPA’s video Wildfire Smoke and Indoor Air Quality: How to Create a Clean Room at Home demonstrates step-by-step how to create a clean room to reduce exposure to wildfire smoke while indoors.
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EESI: Podcast Episode – Connecting the IPCC Report to Climate Adaptation Action
On February 28, 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new report focusing on the impacts of climate change and our capacity to adapt to them. What are the biggest takeaways from the report and where do we go from here? EESI staff talk with Dr. Anand Patwardhan, professor and co-chair of the Adaptation Research Alliance, about the main conclusions and how research can drive climate adaptation work forward. Tune in to hear this and all episodes of The Climate Conversation.
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 Climate Resilience Consulting and the American Society of Adaptation Professionals: Ready-to-Fund Resilience
The Ready-to-Fund Resilience toolkit and July 2022 training helps local governments and partners design more fundable climate resilience projects by pulling specific policy levers, seeking key partnerships, using innovative accounting practices, inverting power structures, and rethinking and redesigning internal processes.
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