A USDN Innovation Fund Project conducted by Facilitating Power, Movement Strategy Center and the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners

The CDP Framework brought together leading voices in community power building to create a toolkit for advancing community priorities. The framework advocates deepening democratic practices at the local and regional levels; puts forth principles and practices defining the emergent field of climate resilience; offers examples and resources for community-based institutions implementing community-driven planning processes; and is useful for a range of stakeholders, including community-based organizations, philanthropy, and the public sector.

Pathways to Resilience, in partnership with the Kresge Foundation, the Emerald Cities Collaborative, and the Praxis Project, conducted a series of convenings, interviews, and conversations (called the Dialogs) to produce a vision of climate resilience grounded in the realities of low-income communities and communities of color, and pragmatic pathways to achieve it. The synthesis of these Dialogs and insightful articles were compiled into this e-book.

The Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership charts a pathway to strengthen and transform our local democracies. Thriving, diverse, equitable communities are possible through deep participation, particularly by communities commonly excluded from democratic voice and power. The stronger our local democracies, the more capacity we can unleash to address our toughest challenges, and the more capable we are of surviving and thriving through economic, ecological,and social crises. It is going to take all of us to adequately address the complex challenges our cities and regions are facing. It is time for a new wave of community-driven civic leadership.

The CDP Framework brought together leading voices in community power building to create a toolkit for advancing community priorities. The framework advocates deepening democratic practices at the local and regional levels; puts forth principles and practices defining the emergent field of climate resilience; offers examples and resources for community-based institutions implementing community-driven planning processes; and is useful for a range of stakeholders, including community-based organizations, philanthropy, and the public sector.

Climate change is one of the most critical andcomplex challenges that society faces today. Evenwhile climate change affects everyone, not all peopleare impacted equally. People of color, immigrants,refugees, and lower-income populations experienceincreased exposure and sensitivity to climatehazards and a reduced capacity to adapt. As localgovernments plan and implement their responseto climate change, an opportunity exists to createstronger, more equitable communities for everyone.

Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) is a transformative model that puts local residents in charge of building thriving neighborhoods, fighting climate change, and determining their economic futures, because communities know best what their neighborhoods need to thrive. The report is a rigorous qualitative evaluation of California’s TCC program, and how TCC’s components work together to deliver equitable outcomes for communities of color and what improvements might be needed.

This report includes four accompanying case studies of TCC projects in East Oakland, Ontario, the Northeast San Fernando Valley, and Stockton, where The Greenlining Institute has played an active role in supporting TCC implementation with the community. We’re grateful for the opportunity to support as a contributor along with other community members, partners, organizations and agencies.

A summary of project reflections and lessons learned from the national and local teams.

The Zero Cities Project was developed in 2017 as a project to help cities develop actionable and equitable roadmaps and strategies to achieve a zero net carbon building sector by 2050. Through the Zero Cities Project, eleven leading cities explored cutting edge advancements in community partnership and high-performance buildings.

To ensure the solutions identified through this project were actionable, Zero Cities Project partners provided a combination of technical analysis of potential strategies and metrics, community-based planning to ensure solutions advance equity and community priorities, and communications assistance to help build community support for strategies.

Via the Zero Cities Project (2019 – 2020), the Seattle Working Group co-developed a strategy that would be responsive to what they already knew—through the lived experiences of Seattle’s most impacted communities and their own—was an inconsistent, inaccessible, and inequitable City planning process that (historically and presently) does not allow for policies and programs to benefit everyone. What the Working Group strategy outlined in this recommendations report addresses the ongoing need to fully explore what it would take to ensure communities at the neighborhood level are informing and shaping climate policy. With support of their City partners, revealed a series of recommendations rooted in a pivotal shift to transform traditional City planning processes toward ones that center a community-driven approach.

In May 2017, 60 leaders from all across our movements gathered in Northern California for the Deep Democracy Lab, knowing that in this moment in the US and around the globe, the forces of fear, hate, and violence have become more visible and empowered. This booklet captures visuals and photographs from this gathering.

In February 2019, MSC invited 50 movement leaders to Pueblo, New Mexico from all over the country and across various movements to co-create and advance transformative experiments that would catalyze collective strategy for deep and broad impact over the next three years.

The Equity Assessment Tool which outlines different metrics and approaches to examining the connection of racial equity and the built environment. The tool also provides guidance for cities to engage closely with community-based organizations in developing building policy. The Equity Assessment Tool is meant to be used in partnership with local communities. An addendum to the tool examining how COVID-19 impacts some of the metrics introduced is now available as well.

The Equity and Buildings Framework walks government staff and practitioners through the emerging practice of centering equity in sustainable buildings policies and programs. It outlines strategies for interdisciplinary approaches that are guided by specific community needs. The framework examines critical equity intersections including health, housing, and economic opportunity. It also focuses on fostering vital working relationships between local government, community-based organizations. This framework highlights, incorporates, and builds on the longstanding work of BIPOC communities, leaders, and organizations. It also builds off the work from the Zero Cities project, a three-year project where local governments and community-based organizations partnered to advance dual goals of equity and emissions reductions from buildings.

The Community Resilience Toolkit 2.0 brings out your best ideas for building resilience where you live. The Community Resilience Toolkit 2.0 is a collection of online tools to learn about the local impacts of the climate and energy crisis, and what you can do about them. The Toolkit is designed for use by individuals, community groups, teachers, and municipalities.

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The Community Resilience Toolkit 2.0 brings out your best ideas for building resilience where you live. The Community Resilience Toolkit 2.0 is a collection of online tools to learn about the local impacts of the climate and energy crisis, and what you can do about them. The Toolkit is designed for use by individuals, community groups, teachers, and municipalities.

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The Community Resilience Toolkit 2.0 brings out your best ideas for building resilience where you live. The Community Resilience Toolkit 2.0 is a collection of online tools to learn about the local impacts of the climate and energy crisis, and what you can do about them. The Toolkit is designed for use by individuals, community groups, teachers, and municipalities.

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The future of your community is in your hands. The Map Your Future Toolkit helps your group create a vision for how you want your neighborhood to be, and how to make that vision a reality. It provides the information needed for community groups to develop effective proposals to build local resilience. Communities can face many challenges, and also hold wonderful strengths. Building community resilience is a process of investing in the existing strengths in order to address the challenges. The goal is ensure all residents are safe in homes and healthy in their neighborhoods, even in tough times.

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Climate change has been put forth largely as a technological problem. That is, it is the coal plants, gas-guzzling vehicles and energy-intensive buildings that are the issue. The solutions being proposed are largely technological as well: carbon capture, nuclear power, “clean” coal technology, wind turbines, solar power, and geo-engineering. While perhaps useful from a particular perspective, those proposing these technological solutions rarely address the very real political and economic roots of climate change.

Instead of a strictly techno-fix orientation toward climate change, we suggest a more honest, and ethical understanding of the problem. In fact, climate change is the symptom of a larger crisis that has been in the making for a long period of time, but was ignored for the sake of wealth creation and economic prosperity for a privileged few. The problem is that all along this historical journey to plentitude, the realities of extreme social and economic inequality — both domestically and internationally were deemed acceptable by those benefitting from the wealth creation.

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The Community Resilience Toolkit 2.0 brings out your best ideas for building resilience where you live. The Community Resilience Toolkit 2.0 is a collection of online tools to learn about the local impacts of the climate and energy crisis, and what you can do about them. The Toolkit is designed for use by individuals, community groups, teachers, and municipalities.

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The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA),Justice40 commitments and ongoing federal appropriations combine to create opportunities to address long standing infrastructure needs in frontline communities. But ensuring that these resources meet the needs of the communities that bear a disproportionate share of the burdens of the housing crisis, transportation inequities and climate and environmental injustice requires more than the appropriation of funds. It requires getting these dollars to organizations that are rooted in frontline communities. These organizations possess the unique combination of insight, experience and community trust necessary to channel government dollars into the programs, processes and partnerships that align with frontline communities’ priorities.

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