Advancing Resiliency: Competing for Innovative Investments
Channel: eesionline
Date: 2014-11-17

Learn more at http://www.eesi.org/briefings/view/111414resiliency
Table of contents: http://youtu.be/U91jArGsnoA?t=15s

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a briefing about programs and partnerships to develop innovative, effective approaches that maximize economic and social resiliency when investing public funds in local recovery and development.

Sam Carter
Associate Director for Resilience, Rockefeller Foundation
Download Slides: http://www.eesi.org/files/Samuel-Carter-111414.pdf
View Presentation: http://youtu.be/U91jArGsnoA?t=3m3s

Harriet Tregoning
Director, Office of Economic Resilience, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
Download Slides: http://www.eesi.org/files/Harriet-Tregoning-111414.pdf
View Presentation: http://youtu.be/U91jArGsnoA?t=29m23s

Matthew Dalbey
Director, Office of Sustainable Communities, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Download Slides: http://www.eesi.org/files/Matthew-Dalbey-111414.pdf
View Presentation: http://youtu.be/U91jArGsnoA?t=49m19s

On September 17, HUD’s Office of Economic Resilience launched the National Disaster Resilience Competition, which will distribute $1 billion of HUD Disaster Recovery funds to aid recovery from prior disasters and improve future resilience. Projects to help communities recover from a disaster and make them more resilient will be eligible for grants ranging from $1 million to $500 million. In collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), all eligible communities will have the opportunity to strengthen their proposals by attending Resilience Academies across the country. The academies are supported by RF, a non-governmental organization long at the forefront of helping improve community resiliency efforts around the world. The Resilience Academies will help communities maximize future long-term returns on public investments during and after the competition. Participation in these programs is limited to jurisdictions that were Presidentially-Declared Disaster Areas in 2011, 2012 or 2013—staggeringly that actually includes 48 states and 19 other jurisdictions.

Moreover, on October 23, the EPA invited communities to apply for technical assistance through the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities Program. This program will support the ability of communities to “increase resilience to natural disasters and strengthen the economy, while protecting human health and the environment.” Whether a community is investing to improve flood resilience or planning development in cities or rural areas, integrating resiliency requirements is critical to the ultimate success of the community’s efforts.