Highly Rated Resources

This tab features resources that are rated highly by other members of the Local Government Professionals Network. Local Government Professionals members like you may influence this list by rating resources.  Just click on a resource and assign it a 1 (low) to 5 (high) star rating.  The highest ratings (4 and 5) should be granted to resources that you have found useful in your own work.  

 

 
 

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Climate Ready Boston: Municipal Vulnerability to Climate Change (2013)

October 29, 2013

Boston, Massachusetts' Mayor Thomas M. Menino administration’s report 'Climate Ready Boston: Municipal Vulnerability to Climate Change' identifies ways in which the City has and will prepare for the impacts of climate change on municipal operations. The report presents the assessments and key findings of Boston's Climate Preparedness Task Force. Short- and long-term vulnerabilities were examined for the City's sectors: Facilities and Capital Planning, Transportation and Water Infrastructure, Neighborhoods, and Public Health and Heat.

Resource Category: Assessments

 

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Climate Ready Water Utilities Adaptation Strategies Guide for Water Utilities

February 2015

EPA prepared this Guide as part of its Climate Ready Water Utilities Initiative. The Guide presents the projected climate change impacts and adaptation options for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utility, for nine regions across the U.S. Detailed examples of adaptation strategies are provided, including those from utilities which have successfully implemented adaptation strategies.

Resource Category: Planning

 

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Coastal Climate Resiliency - Resilient Retail (New York City)

July 2016

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, New York City (NYC) was left with significant damage to its urban retail corridors. In response, the NYC Department of City Planning launched the Resilient Retail study to address commercial-infrastructure flood resiliency, particularly in retail corridors located within the city’s floodplains. This report offers detailed case studies of affected areas, documents the challenges of increasing flood resiliency within retail corridors, and suggests potential solutions.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Community Land = Community Resilience: How Community Land Trusts Can Support Urban Affordable Housing and Climate Initiatives

January 2021

Housing insecurity and the impacts of climate change are two interrelated issues increasingly affecting cities across the United States. This report provides an overview of how community land trusts (CLTs) can present a solution to help cities mitigate both of these challenges by promoting community ownership and decisionmaking and providing permanently affordable and resilient housing. CLTs are nonprofit organizations with community-led governing structures that hold land in trust for the benefit of the community, often providing and preserving affordable housing, stewarding community amenities like parks and greenspace, and providing low-cost commercial properties that can support small businesses and economic resilience.

Author or Affiliated User: Jessica Grannis

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning: A Framework

May 2017

Informed by community-based organizations from across the country,this report outlines a framework to meaningfully engage vulnerable and impacted communities in defining and building climate resilience. The guide seeks to use climate resilience activities to better build momentum for change, build a new economy and community-based financing, deepen democracy and improve governance, and activate ecological and cultural wisdom. In addition to describing guiding principles and elements of community-driven planning, the report provides examples of case studies where communities have taken a central role in resilience planning. The guide is primarily aimed at other community-based organizations, but it may also be useful for philanthropy and public sector officials.  

Author or Affiliated User: Rosa González

Resource Category: Planning

 

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Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Content Guidelines

January 2015

The U. S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) issued revised guidelines in 2015 that outline the federal requirements and guidance for writing a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS).  The CEDS guidelines now require regional economic development agencies to consider how climate change will affect economic development and to include strategies for increasing economic resilience. The guidelines acknowledge that a region’s long-term economic resilience will be defined by its ability to quickly recover from economic shocks and that climate change will increasingly cause economic disruptions.

Author or Affiliated User: Ashley Bennis

Resource Category: Law and Governance

 

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Deal Island Peninsula Project

2012

The Deal Island Peninsula, in Maryland, is vulnerable to flooding, erosion, storm surge, and changing sea levels.  Beginning in 2012, federal, state, and university funding has supported a collaborative effort to strengthen the ability of local communities to adapt to these changing conditions. Many residents in Deal Island identify strongly with the "watermen" lifestyle, relying on harvesting crab, oyster, and fish for their livelihood and supporting cultural traditions. This project aims to bring together community members, researchers, and environmental managers to learn from one another and support strategic adaptation plans.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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District of Columbia Department of Transportation: Climate Change Adaptation Plan

February 2013

The District of Columbia Department of Transportation’s (DDOT) Climate Change Adaptation Plan describes the impacts that the District is likely to experience due to climate change, outlines a framework for identifying priority assets, and sets forth a series of action items for implementing the Plan. The target audience for this framework plan is decision makers, engineers, designers, planners, and other transportation professionals in DDOT. The plan focuses only on transportation and was developed based on the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) research and guidance.

Resource Category: Planning

 

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EPA Smart Growth: Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities

2011

EPA's Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities seeks to provide targeted technical assistance to communities to protect the environment, promote equitable development and help address the challenges of climate change using a variety of tools that have demonstrated results and widespread application. This technical assistance is designed to help selected local and/or tribal governments to implement development approaches that improve public health, create jobs, expand economic opportunity, and improve overall quality of life.

Resource Category: Data and tools

 

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Equity Foundations: USDN Capacity Building Program

2016

In September 2015, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), in partnership with the Government Alliance on Race and Equity and the Center for Social Inclusion, launched a professional development program for sustainability directors and their staff for advancing racial equity into sustainability planning and development. The program became available online and includes a holistic curriculum of five webinars, videos and worksheets to support local government staff in applying an equity lens to sustainability projects.

Resource Category: Education and Outreach

 

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