Strategic Leveraging and Scaling Capacity of Resilience Efforts Across the Sea Grant network
Sarah SpieglerSavannah E
This session will bring together Sea Grant extension, communication, educators, research, and legal professionals to discuss scaling capacity to support resilient coastal communities and economies, an emerging need and opportunity. Sea Grant is uniquely positioned to work with communities in preparing and planning for environmental and economic challenges of climate change, adaptation, and resilience. Resilience is increasingly becoming a core consideration influencing short and long-term programmatic activities, especially as coastal areas continue to grow, with more people at risk, and increasing pressures on coastal resources. Many Sea Grant programmatic areas are incorporating resilience, with topics that range from local adaptation through vulnerability assessments and updating code ordinances, to implementing nature-based infrastructure solutions, to engaging vulnerable populations, to the challenges of purchasing flood insurance. The session will start with a panel that includes the National Sea Grant Office and state programs (program directors and extension). The Panel will discuss efforts in resilience across planning, research, legal, and extension, and envision how to advance resilience capacity and expertise at the programmatic and national levels. After, breakout groups will focus on: how to build off previous efforts (for example, Sea Grant’s Resilient Coasts Initiative 2020, the Coastal Adaptation and Resilience program funds 2022, 2023), discussing internal capacity needs and scaling of Sea Grant’s role in building resilience from individual staff to regional to national programming, how to enhance resilience work in underserved and under-resourced communities, and how to provision staff to be effective resilience leaders.