Other Federal Resilience Resources for RDOs 

Other Federal agencies’ interest in resilience has expanded considerably in the past five years.  Here are some examples that can help regional development organizations with their resilience planning.

• The President’s State, Local and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience issued a report with recommendations. These required consideration of climate-related risks and vulnerabilities in the design, revision, and implementation of all Federal policies, practices, investments, regulations, and other programs; the maximizing of opportunities to take actions that have the dual benefits of increasing community resilience and reducing greenhouse gas emissions; strengthening coordination and partnerships among Federal agencies, and across Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions as well as economic sectors; providing actionable data and information on climate change impacts and related tools and assistance to support decision-making at all levels; consulting and cooperating with Tribes and indigenous communities on all aspects of Federal climate preparedness and resilience efforts, and encouraging states and local communities to do the same.
• The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit provides maps and data on climate stressors and impacts, a guide to help users initiate, plan, and implement projects to make communities and infrastructure more resilient to climate-related hazards, and a series of case studies.
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to award over $800 million in Community Development Block Grant funds to states and local governments that experienced Presidentially-declared major disasters in 2011, 2012, and 2013 through the National Disaster Resilience Competition.  The aim is to provide support to communities to recover from previous disasters and improve their ability to withstand and recover more quickly from future disasters, hazards, and shocks.  A further $180 million will be available for states and communities impacted by Hurricane Sandy.  Alongside this competition, the Rockefeller Foundation is funding resilience workshops across the country to help eligible communities develop their proposals.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has supported studies and convenings relating to resilience and flooding, coastal and waterfront development, and climate change.
• The U.S. Economic Development Administration is the coordinating agency (on behalf of the U.S. Department of Commerce) for the Economic Recovery Support Function mandated by the National Disaster Recovery Framework. Its role is to facilitate the delivery of Federal economic development assistance to local governments for long-term community economic recovery, planning, reconstruction, redevelopment, and resiliency.  In the aftermath of disasters, EDA deploys multi-agency technical assistance teams to impacted communities, and coordinates resources and funding to support community economic recovery.  Two other EDA activities that are working to improve economic resilience:
  • RestoreYourEconomy.org is a web resource developed by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and EDA intended to provide disaster preparedness and post-disaster economic recovery information, tools, and announcements as well as a social media platform.  The website is intended primarily for economic development and chamber of commerce professional as well as community leaders, planners, and organizers.
  • Learning from disasters has been the impetus for two EDA assessments conducted in conjunction with FEMA.  The first focused on the aftermath of severe storms in Oklahoma and the second on the effects of extensive flooding and landslides in Colorado. Both assessments used a resilience planning evaluation tool (EDA, 2014b, pp. 25-35).

Source Cited:
EDA - U.S. Economic Development Administration. (2014b). Resilience in Economic Development Planning: Colorado Flooding DR 4145. Washington DC: FEMA.

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