Resilient Cities Catalyst Celebrates Our Fourth Anniversary
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
As Resilient Cities Catalyst celebrates our fourth year anniversary, we reflect on our transformative journey in building resilient communities.
Our work, organized through three programs — Regional Resilience Partnerships, Project Preparation, and Resilient Neighborhoods — addresses immediate local needs and future challenges posed by climate change. In the face of compounding shocks and stresses, our focus remains in ensuring that funds develop and strengthen projects that will build resilience and counter past inequities.
Looking ahead to 2024, our vision extends beyond mere continuation; we are poised to advance and scale these programs through three new international initiatives: the Small Business Climate Resilience Program, the Mediterranean Climate Action Partnership, and Cities Forward. Our goal is to fortify the communities we work with against the impacts of future shocks and stresses.
In this exciting phase, we are pleased to announce the addition of two new RCC Board Members: Christine Heenan and Dr. Carlos Martín. Their wealth of experience, Heenan as the Chief Communications Officer at Flagship Pioneering and Dr. Martín as Project Director of Remodeling Futures at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, enhances our capabilities in fulfilling our mission. We are very grateful for their incredible contributions and thoughtful insights.
Thank you to everyone who has worked alongside us to make our fourth anniversary possible. As we move forward, we invite new partners and funders to join us in growing the resilience movement. Your support is crucial as we, alongside our dedicated team, work towards a more resilient future.
With best wishes,
Our Impact
Through our collaborations with practitioners, leaders, and institutions around the world, we are strengthening the capacity of our partners and accelerating the delivery of solutions that build more resilient futures for all. Learn more about our impact.
Highlights
In 2023, RCC’s achievements propelled our resilience work to new levels of impact. Below are snapshots of three new exciting program initiatives.
Cities Forward
In April 2023, through a collaborative partnership between RCC, the Department of State, ICLEI USA, and the Institute of the Americas, we joined forces to launch The Cities Forward — Commitment to Action program. This Americas-wide effort across Latin America, Mexico, and the Caribbean cities is a peer-to-peer exchange, capacity building, and diplomatic engagement focused on implementing priority projects and solutions that promote sustainability, inclusivity, local capacity, and neighborhood and community resilience. In 2023, we announced the following 24 cities selected to participate in the Cities Forward program by city pairs.
This year, RCC and our partners will be focused on advancing projects through a project preparation process, with a prioritized focus on projects and initiatives benefiting underserved and underrepresented communities.
Neighborhood Climate Resilience Program
In 2023, RCC launched its Neighborhood Climate Resilience Program (NCRP) in 5 cities across North America: Mexico City, Houston, Tampa, Phoenix and Toronto. With support from the American Express, NCRP builds leadership in communities most impacted by climate change to design and deliver projects that increase their resilience. These projects span from resilience hubs, to water capture projects, to heat adaptation following the hottest summer on Earth.
In 2024, RCC is excited to build on this work with a spin-off program: the Small Business Climate Resilience Program (SBCRP). Acknowledging the challenges small businesses face following disruptions, SBCRP will support approximately 500 small businesses across 13 neighborhoods design and deliver climate resiliency projects over the next three years.
Oceanside Design Competition
In 2023, the City of Oceanside approved a $2.6M project for a coastal resilience design competition called RE:BEACH. Partnering with GHD, RCC facilitated the competition, selecting three global teams: International Coastal Management (ICM) from Australia, SCAPE Landscape Architecture from New York with ESA and Dredge Research Collaborative, and Deltares and MVRDV from the Netherlands. Over eight months, the teams developed unique concepts, engaging the public through workshops and collecting thousands of comments to understand local needs. A Jury of 15 coastal experts unanimously recommended ICM’s “Living Speed Bumps” design on December 14, 2023. On January 31, 2024, City Staff presented the winning design, by International Coastal Management, to City Council and received unanimous approval.
Looking ahead in 2024, the project team is focused on refining ICM’s concept, exploring innovative financing, and establishing replicable processes for addressing coastal challenges beyond Oceanside. When this project is ultimately permitted and implemented, it will represent a landmark moment for the State of California in taking proactive action to build coastal resilience.
Thank You
Resilient Cities Catalyst would like to express our deepest gratitude to the partners, community members, and funders who have been instrumental in making 2023 a year of growth for us. Your support fuels our mission of building resilience in communities, and we look forward to another impactful year!
