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An Equitable Water Future: Opportunities for the Great Lakes Region
March 6, 2018
The U.S. Water Alliance has investigated water assets and systems in the Great Lakes region, and the equitable management of these assets. The report describes climate change impacts on water resources, along with other equity issues such as failing infrastructure, affordability, and workforce inclusion. Opportunities for the region to adapt the water sector, and detailed strategies provide a framework for making these water systems more inclusive.
Resource Category: Solutions
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The RainReady Approach: Linking Municipalities and Residents to Manage Urban Flooding with Distributed Green and Grey Infrastructure
2017
This paper presents approaches to residential flood mitigation through the RainReady program, developed by the non-profit Center for Neighborhood Technology. Urban flood mitigation programs may be designed in a number of ways, as illustrated by two case studies that each offer unique outcomes for flood risk analysis and reduction; community participation; and distributed stormwater infrastructure design.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Marcella Bondie Keenan, Anna Wolf
Resource Category: Solutions
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RainReady Calumet Corridor, IL Plan
2017
This plan outlines a vision for stormwater management, sustainable economic development, and integrated planning to enhance resilience within the Calumet Corridor in Cook County, Illinois (20 miles south of Chicago). This area experienced a severe rain and wind storm in April 2013 resulting in urban flooding and widespread property damage. The region’s flat, low-lying topography, historical patterns of land development that covered natural land with impervious surfaces, the changing climate, and aging infrastructure all contribute to the Corridor’s vulnerability to future flooding.
Resource Category: Planning
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RainReady’s Residential Flood Assistance Program Case Study - Chicago, Illinois
2016
In 2015-2016, RainReady partnered with the Chicago Department of Planning and Development to provide free repairs and flood mitigation retrofits to select homeowners that experienced property damage during Chicago’s 2013 flood, through a unique program called the Residential Flood Assistance Program (RFAP). The program was funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR).
Resource Category: Solutions
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Case Study: RainReady’s Oak Park Village (Illinois) Pilot Program
2016
In 2016-2017, RainReady partnered with the Village of Oak Park (Illinois) to launch a pilot program to reduce urban flooding risks using nature-based solutions such as residential rain gardens. The program addressed residential flooding due to overland sheet flow, seepage, and yard ponding, in non-floodplain locations.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resilient Midwestern Cities Improving Equity in a Changing Climate
April 2016
Developed by the Center for American Progress, Resilient Midwestern Cities Improving Equity in a Changing Climate provides users with guidance on how to concurrently address climate change and equity issues by implementing climate change resiliency measures in low-income areas. The report showcases existing initiatives employed in 5 Midwestern cities, and draws out recommendations for further action. This report is primarily geared towards decision makers of Midwestern cities, but the lessons learned and recommendations apply to a much wider audience.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Miranda Peterson, Cathleen Kelly, Erin Auel, Philine Qian, Gwynne Taraska
Resource Category: Solutions
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RainReady Midlothian Plan (Chicago suburb flood management plan)
January 2016
The Village of Midlothian - a suburb of Chicago, Illinois - has faced repetitive and severe flooding for decades. Residents are affected both by overbank flooding from nearby creeks and from overland flooding as a result of urban runoff from impervious surfaces. The Center for Neighborhood Technology worked with the Village of Midlothian, the community group Floodlothian Midlothian, and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to create the RainReady Midlothian Plan that was adopted in January 2016.
Resource Category: Planning
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Resilience for Free: How Solar+Storage Could Protect Multifamily Affordable Housing from Power Outages at Little or No Net Cost
October 14, 2015
This report from the Clean Energy Group uses project data for buildings in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D. C. , to examine the financial case for installing solar photovoltaics (PV) and battery storage systems (“solar+storage”) to support multifamily affordable housing. With the right market structures and incentives, solar+storage systems can provide an economic return, on par with energy efficiency or stand-alone solar. They can also help make affordable housing energy resilient by guaranteeing power for common area lighting, water, and communications.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Lew Milford, Robert Sanders, Seth Mullendore
Resource Category: Solutions
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EPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: Shoreline Cities Green Infrastructure Grants
June 5, 2015
In June 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Shoreline Cities grants totaling more than more than $1.8 million to fund green infrastructure projects to improve water quality in 11 cities across the Great Lakes Basin.
Resource Category: Funding
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Socioeconomics and Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region Atlas
March 2015
This tool is an interactive map that shows how the social and economic characteristics in the Great Lakes Region are impacted by climate change to the county level. It was developed by Headwater Economics in partnership with the University of Michigan.
Resource Category: Data and tools


