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DC Hotel Voucher Program
2020
Under the auspices of D. C. law, the Interagency Council on Homelessness is required to meet the emergency housing needs of both homeless families and homeless individuals in instances of severe weather – whether hot or cold. As a result, the District’s Department of Human Services (DHS) works with hotels and motels in the greater metropolitan area to provide rooms for families and individuals when there are no vacancies at shelters. Due in part, however, to D. C. ’s Homeward initiative and other homeless services, the number of participants in the program have dwindled as people have either been transferred to permanent housing or other shelters.
Resource Category: Solutions
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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.
Related Organizations: Jubilee Housing, New Partners Community Solar, DC Department of Housing and Community Development
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).
Related Organizations: District of Columbia
Author or Affiliated User: Harrison Newton
Resource Category: Planning
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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.
Related Organizations: District of Columbia Department of Health (DC Health)
Resource Category: Assessments
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A Guide to Community-Centered Engagement in the District of Columbia
October 2018
The Guide to Community-Centered Engagement was developed by the Georgetown Climate Center (GCC) in partnership with the District of Columbia's Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE). The guide synthesizes lessons from a year-long engagement process that GCC helped to lead in partnership with DOEE. GCC convened an Equity Advisory Group (EAG) of community leaders and residents in far Northeast neighborhoods of DC's Ward 7 to inform the implementation of the Clean Energy DC and Climate Ready DC plans.
Related Organizations: District Department of Energy and the Environment (DDOE) - Washington DC, Georgetown Climate Center
Resource Category: Planning
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DC Public Service Commission MEDSIS Initiative, Customer Impact Working Group
2018
The District of Columbia Public Service Commission’s (DCPSC) establishment of the Customer Impact Working Group within the Modernizing the Energy Delivery System for Increased Sustainability (MEDSIS) initiative is a replicable example of how utility commissions are working to invite equitable input in grid modernization efforts. DCPSC initiated the MEDSIS initiative as a means of making the energy delivery system more sustainable, reliable, efficient, cost effective, and interactive for District customers. DCPSC approved the establishment of six working groups to elicit input from a diverse range of stakeholders in order to address key issues related to modernizing the District’s energy delivery system. The Customer Impact Working Group is examining how grid modernization efforts may impact various customers, including exploring questions of customer equity, data protection and privacy, consumer protection, and low- and limited-income customer inclusion. This Working Group will produce recommendations aimed at ensuring that all customers benefit from grid modernization efforts.
Related Organizations: District of Columbia Public Service Commission
Resource Category: Planning
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Resilience Hubs: Shifting Power to Communities and Increasing Community Capacity
March 28, 2018
This report describes an initiative of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) to encourage the creation of Resilience Hubs, which are defined as community-serving facilities meant to both support residents and coordinate resource distribution and services before, during or after a natural hazard event. While these are primarily meant to address vulnerability and risk, this report explains how Resilience Hubs can also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support social equity. The report draws on lessons from Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland, two cities that are actively exploring the Resilience Hub concept.
Related Organizations: Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN)
Authors or Affiliated Users: Kristin Baja, Kristin Baja, CFM
Resource Category: Solutions
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Delivering Urban Resilience: Costs and benefits of city-wide adoption of smart surfaces
2018
This report quantifies the benefits and costs of smart surface technologies and finds that the risks from extreme heat and weather can be offset by these technologies. It draws on Washington D. C. , Philadelphia, and El Paso as case studies and considers five smart surface technologies: cool roofs, green roofs, solar PV, reflective pavements, and urban trees. The authors find that adopting these technologies can generate millions (or even billions) of dollars in net financial benefits at the city level and can generate half a trillion dollars in net financial benefits nationwide.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Greg Kats, Keith Glassbrook
Resource Category: Solutions
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Patterns and Projections of High Tide Flooding Along the U.S. Coastline Using a Common Impact Threshold
February 2018
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) analyzes "high tide flooding" (also known as "nuisance flooding") in this report, and finds that it is becoming more commonplace due to sea level rise. High tide flooding impacts roads, beaches, parks, and private property, and is generally more disruptive than damaging. However, there are places such as Norfolk, Virginia; San Diego, California; and the U. S Marshall islands where it is currently a serious problem. Even more, with continued sea level rise, flooding is likely to increase.
Related Organizations: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Authors or Affiliated Users: William Sweet, Greg Dusek, Jayantha Obeysekera, John Marra
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s Environmental Justice Toolkit
July 27, 2017
Prepared by the Air and Climate Public Advisory Committee of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG), this toolkit provides an overview of environmental justice principles and outlines a series of approaches to better achieve environmental justice goals in the Washington, DC metro area. For each approach, the toolkit lists a number of additional resources that can be used to operationalize the recommendation.
Related Organizations: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG, COG)
Resource Category: Data and tools