Climate Adaptation Resources related to Low-income Communities

This tab includes resources that address the disproportionate impacts of climate change for low-income communities.

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171 results are shown below.

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Maycroft Apartments “Resiliency Room” in Affordable Housing Complex in Washington, DC

May 2019

A non-profit affordable housing developer, Jubilee Housing, is working to incorporate a “resiliency room” and increase affordable housing by renovating the historic Maycroft Apartments in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D. C.  – an area of the District that has been experiencing rapid gentrification. The project will provide affordable housing and will renovate the complex's basement into a resiliency room to provide both emergency and everyday services for residents.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Resilient DC - A Strategy to Thrive in the Face of Change

April 29, 2019

In April 2019, Washington D. C. released its Resilient DC Plan as part of its participation in the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) initiative. The Resilient DC plan presents strategies to help the District address three-main drivers of change: economic and population growth, climate change, and technological transformations.  It is designed to help the District manage threats from extreme natural and manmade disasters (including extreme heat, flooding, infrastructure failure, and terrorist or cyber attacks) and reduce chronic stressors that challenge the city on an everyday basis (including lack of affordable housing, economic inequality, educational opportunity gaps, and aging infrastructure).

Author or Affiliated User: Harrison Newton

Resource Category: Planning

 

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NAACP - Our Communities, Our Power: Advancing Resistance and Resilience in Climate Change Adaptation - Action Toolkit

April 29, 2019

From the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), this comprehensive Toolkit provides a series of modules to help NAACP chapters and other advocates mediate climate adaptation planning processes and ensure that adaptation plans and policies meet local needs, while focusing on frontline communities, environmental and climate justice, and equity. The Toolkit provides guidance to help community groups and advocates develop an Environmental and Climate Justice (ECJ) Committee to inform adaptation planning and policy through 19 different Modules.

Author or Affiliated User: Jacqui Patterson

Resource Category: Planning

 

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California Coastal Commission Environmental Justice Policy

March 8, 2019

Established in 1972, the California Coastal Commission has a mandate “to protect and enhance California’s coast and ocean for current and future generations" by regulating development with local government. In 2016, AB 2616 was enacted to amend the state’s Coastal Act, giving the Commission authority to specifically consider environmental justice when making coastal permit decisions. While providing the public and the Commission with guidance on how the agency will implement its authority under AB 2616 - the 2019 environmental justice policy is intended to integrate the principles of environmental justice, equality, and social equity into all aspects of the Commission’s program and operations.

Resource Category: Law and Governance

 

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Health Equity Report for the District of Columbia 2018

February 8, 2019

The Health Equity Report for the District of Columbia 2018 from DC Health takes a comprehensive look at social and structural determinants of health in Washington D.C. and presents the extent of health disparities aligning with differences in income, race, and geography. The report recognizes that climate change poses long-term risks to human health, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable, and that climate adaptation is critical to reduce negative impacts on all people.

Resource Category: Assessments

 

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California Heat Assessment Tool (CHAT)

2019

The California Heat Assessment Tool (CHAT) was developed to help state and local public health officials understand how heat vulnerability will change with increasing temperatures due to climate change. The tool helps users identify heat vulnerable areas based upon changes in high heat days under different climate scenarios and social, health and environmental vulnerability factors. The study defines "Heat Health Events" (HHEs) as heat events that cause negative public health impacts - and the study found that vulnerable groups may be more sensitive to high-heat days by as much as 6 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit as compared to the general population.

Resource Category: Assessments

 

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Maryland Resiliency Hub Grant Program

November 1, 2018

The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) created a $5 million Resiliency Hub Grant Program to provide funding in 2019 for the construction of community Resiliency Hubs with solar power and battery storage. The program provides funding to microgrid developers to offset some of the costs to build a Resiliency Hub in high-density, low- and moderate-income neighborhoods in Maryland. The program defines “Resiliency Hubs” as community facilities “designed to provide emergency heating and cooling capability, refrigeration of temperature sensitive medications and milk from nursing mothers, plug power for charging of cell phone and computer batteries, as well as emergency lighting.

Resource Category: Funding

 

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Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance, Miami, Florida

December 13, 2018

In 2018, Miami passed a mandatory inclusionary zoning (IZ) ordinance that requires the inclusion of affordable housing in the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) district, a 30-block area north of downtown Miami. Miami currently ranks lowest in the  availability of affordable rental units among cities in the nation. Meanwhile, low-income communities in the city’s inland neighborhoods that are historically black and Latinx now face development pressures from wealthier residents seeking to relocate from the city’s low-lying coastal neighborhoods to the city’s inland neighborhoods.

Resource Category: Law and Governance

 

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City of Miami, Florida Resolution on Climate Gentrification

November 5, 2018

On November 5, 2018, Mayor Suarez of Miami signed a Resolution directing city staff to research the effects of “climate gentrification” on low-income communities that are inland at higher elevations, and to explore ways to stabilize property taxes to reduce displacement. The City of Miami, Florida is seeing high rates of sea-level rise and increasing incidence of nuisance flooding in low-lying areas. As a result, higher elevation areas of the city, which house many of Miami’s lower and moderate income communities, are seeing greater development pressures, which is affecting property values and taxes.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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In the Eye of the Storm: A People's Guide to Transforming Crisis and Advancing Equity in the Disaster Continuum

September 26, 2018

This Guide developed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) discusses how low-income, communities of color, and other frontline communities are disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change, extreme weather, and other natural and human-caused disasters (like industrial accidents or chemical contamination).  To address these disproportionate risks, the Guide provides a framework for helping communities embed considerations of equity in all phases of emergency management: prevention, mitigation, preparedness, resilience building, recovery, and redevelopment.

Authors or Affiliated Users: Lorah Steichen, Jacqui Patterson

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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