Videos Give Insight on Climate Resiliency for Low-Income Neighborhoods

Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC) has released a new video series providing insights into the issue of climate resilience in low-income communities.

The eight-part series draws on presentations at ECC's forum, The High Road to Climate Resilience in American Cities, whose overriding theme was that community representatives must have a voice in decisions affecting their neighborhoods – whether rebuilding after a Hurricane Katrina or Superstorm Sandy, planning for mitigation of climate change or retaining anchor institutions that stabilize communities by providing jobs and economic development.

Speakers from academia, nonprofit organizations, business, foundations and federal agencies emphasized the importance of resilient infrastructure, economies and civic societies for the economic, political and social well-being of low-income communities and their residents.

The High Road
ECC President and CEO Denise Fairchild defines “resilient communities” as having the “ability to mitigate and withstand extreme weather events as a result of strengthened physical, social and economic infrastructure."

In addition to Fairchild, the videos feature these experts:

• Gar Alperovitz Professor of Political Economy, University of Maryland;
• Vicki Arroyo, Executive Director, Georgetown Climate Center;
• Robert Asaro-Angelo, Regional Administrator, U.S. Department of Labor, and former member, President's Sandy Rebuilding Task Force;
• Alison Corwin, Program Officer – Sustainable Environments, Surdna Foundation;
• Dayna Cunningham, Director, MIT CoLab;
• Tom Deyo, Vice President, NeighborWorks America;
• Diane Ives, Advisor, Kendeda Fund;
• Deron Lovaas, Director, Federal Transportation Policy, Natural Resources Defense Council;
• Bryan McGannon, Deputy Director for Policy & Engagement, American Sustainability Business Council;
• Joel Rogers, Professor of Law, Political Science, Public Affairs and Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Director, Center on Wisconsin Strategy;
• Matt Ryan, Executive Director, ALIGN: Alliance for a Greater New York;
• Ashley Shelton, Executive Director, One Voice Louisiana; and
• J. Phil Thompson, MIT Associate Professor, Urban Planning.

Source: Emerald Cities Collaborative