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Ten Years. One Goal. Building a Resilient Virginia. |
2024 marks Resilient Virginia's 10 year anniversary!
For ten years we have been connecting, educating, preparing, and engaging people in Virginia to move resilience initiatives forward and we're working hard to make the next ten years even more successful and impactful. In our latest post, we highlight our successes since Resilient Virginia started in 2014 and what we're currently working on that will continue to move resilience initiatives forward. Read more
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Climate and Hazard Mitigation Planning Topic of 2024 Resiliency Academy |
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Our Resiliency Academy starts next month! This year the academy series will focus on Climate and Hazard Mitigation Planning and registration will be free thanks to support from MARISA. Registration opens soon! |
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Program and Project Updates |
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Virginia Energy Resilience Study |
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The Resilient Virginia Collaborative Alliance Core Steering Committee continues to meet for discussion on the strategic framework of the collaborative and to identify working groups that will spotlight top-priority issues in Central and Southwest Virginia such as energy, flooding, transportation or job creation; participate in idea sharing and peer exchange; and build local capacity for climate solutions. Learn more about the RVCA
Vision A more climate resilient Central and Southwest Virginia.
Mission Advance a regional collaborative network of cross sector stakeholders to create a roadmap for climate resilience in Central and Southwest Virginia.
Goals - Serve as a centralized resource hub for practitioners and communities needing information. - Increase resource sharing and communication between practitioners, including government officials, academia, and nonprofits. - Create and promote a regional climate resiliency roadmap. - Be a voice to inform local and state policies related to climate resilience. |
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Listening Session Summary
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On December 12th, we held our 2023 Listening Session with representatives from state and local governments, nonprofits, businesses, and academic institutions across the state to hear what they had to say. The discussion centered around what was preventing communities from building resilience, strategies for overcoming those roadblocks, and in what ways we can work together and collaborate to get more done. We walked away with pages of notes and suggestions that will help us determine how Resilient Virginia can fill the gaps; identify and plan the most impactful programs going forward; and connect groups for partnerships and collaborations. The summary of these notes and suggestions are now on our website. Read more and download
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The New Climate Danger in Virginia and Preparing for It Locally
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Our winters are getting colder, impacting our communities in ways that are seen and unseen. In this article, Marcia Geyer (Resilient Virginia Leader’s Circle) and Bryan Dunning explore why this is happening and what local governments can do to prepare, including warming centers, public outreach, and grid reliability. Read more |
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The Impact of CFPF Funding on Martinsville, Halifax, and South Boston
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CFPF funding provides communities across Virginia with the resources they need to address the impacts of increasing flooding events. Rural communities, who often face a gap in capacity and funding, can use this money to close those gaps and address flooding impacts. In January, Resilient Virginia advised Lauren Petty, a 4th year student at UVA, through a J-Term internship project taking a look at how Martinsville, Halifax, and South Boston are using the funding to build their flood resilience. Read more |
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ISC One of Three National TCTACs |
The Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) is now one of three national Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (TCTAC) which is a program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. As a national TCTAC, ISC works closely with regional EJ TCTACs by identifying and supporting local needs and providing virtual and in-person guidance and coordinated activities, communications, tools, and resources. They are also leading the development of a centralized online platform for the EJ TCTAC program to ensure communities have access to resources, information, and tools to successfully scale up environmental justice solutions. Learn more |
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A County-Level Data Tool: Understanding the Intersection of Climate Risk, Food System Resilience, and Racial Equity |
The Urban Institute launched a pilot data tool to provide data needed to demonstrate the intersections between climate risk, food systems, and racial equity and effectively target resources to communities that face the starkest challenges in climate risk and recovery. This tool is a pilot effort to understand these intersections and the Urban Institute hopes to collaborate with communities, changemakers, and policymakers to empower localities with data to better support food system resilience. Read more |
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Community Change Grants Program |
US EPA is accepting applications on a rolling basis for $2 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding available to support community-driven projects that build capacity for communities to tackle Environmental Justice and Climate Justice challenges, strengthen their Climate Resilience, and advance Clean Energy. Deadline to apply for grants: November 21, 2024. Read more |
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The Clean Energy Business Network published their fourth annual State of Clean Energy report. The interactive report includes a snapshot of clean energy deployment, jobs, CO2 emissions, energy efficiency, federal grants for energy R&D, and private-sector investment for each state. Read more
View Infographic for Virginia
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Pathways to Resilient Communities: Infrastructure Designed for the Environmental Hazards in Your Region |
This toolkit was developed by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to help guide community leaders on what design standards are available to boost resilience. It acts as a plain-language guide for federal, state and local leaders as they seek out standards, best practices, data, and strategies to implement to safeguard communities across the country from increasingly severe weather events. Read more |
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Virginia Flood Resilience Funding Outreach Assessment |
Wetlands Watch recently published a report assessing CFPF funding availability and disbursement, particularly to inland Virginia communities. Read more |
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Journal of Disaster Studies |
Journal of Disaster Studies is a forthcoming open-access, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal that publishes the work of disaster researchers around the world. The journal publishes articles that examine how disasters are anticipated, experienced, governed, and understood, conceptualizing “disaster” expansively to guide analysis of a wide array of hazards, risks, and disruptions—from earthquakes, industrial operations, and extreme weather, to viral pandemics, climate change, migration, and war. The journal also publishes articles that critically examine methods and concepts used in disaster research, literature reviews, and book reviews. Read more
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Resilient Virginia Resources |
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Muted: Climate Marginalization in America
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"“Muted” takes viewers on an extraordinary journey through the Deep South, where generations of local knowledge, history, and culture are threatened by climate change. This thought-provoking documentary explores the untold truths, hidden pain, and unshakeable fear that haunts rural, underserved people in communities across America. As their future looms in uncertainty, people from communities that have never been trusted, acknowledged, or respected fight to be heard in the climate resilience space.
From learning to live and thrive in the face of repeated disasters to reconciling the racism that makes certain people more expendable, “Muted” delves deep into the narratives that define who we are and where we are heading. Through breathtaking visuals, expert interviews, and personal accounts, we unveil the remarkable tapestry of human achievement, resilience, and discovery." Read more and watch "Muted" |
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Sinking Land on East Coast Threatens Critical Infrastructure, Virginia Researchers Find |
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New research from Virginia Tech and the U.S. Geological Survey shows that more than half of the infrastructure in major East Coast areas is threatened by high rates of sinking land (subsidence). “Through this study, we highlight that sinking of the land is not an intangible threat,” Virginia Tech associate professor Manoochehr Shirzaei said in a news release. “It affects you and I and everyone – it may be gradual, but the impacts are real.” SE Virginia experiences one of the highest rates of subsidence on the East Coast, in some places as much as 6 millimeters per year. Read more |
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As the Number of American Farms and Farmers Declines, Agriculture Secretary Urges Climate Action to Reverse the Trend |
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On Feb. 13th, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled the Census of Agriculture, a report that gives the current state-of-the-state of American farms and farmers. The main takeaway from the report is that the number of American farms and farmers continues to decline, a fact that has broad consequences beyond farming itself. This decline has caused ripple effects across rural America, resulting in the loss of schools, businesses, and healthcare infrastructure; shrinking the farming communities as a whole. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack argued that one way to reverse this trend is to boost support for agricultural methods and practices that have climate benefits, potentially providing farms with a second source of income. Read more
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2023’s Billion-Dollar Disasters List Shattered the US Record with 28 Big Weather and Climate Disasters Amid Earth’s Hottest Year on Record
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National weather analysts released their 2023 billion-dollar disasters list on Jan. 9 revealing that the U.S. set an unwelcome record for weather and climate disasters in 2023, with 28 disasters that exceeded more than US$1 billion in damage each. Read more |
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Thank you to our Annual Sponsors |
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