Resilient Together

We completed the Discover phase at the end of May, having held workshops with staff from the County, City, UVA, partner agencies, and community organizations. Additionally, we reviewed extensive notes from community engagement conducted during other recent planning processes like AC44 and Cville Plans Together.

In June, we received a competitive Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (EJG2G) grant of just over $460,000 from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This grant enabled us to create the Climate Resilience Cohort, which will provide subgrants to 10 community-based organizations (CBOs) that serve disadvantaged community members. CBO grantees will help center the needs of our most vulnerable community members in the Resilient Together strategies. We look forward to our first workshop with the participant organizations this month.

Over the summer, we completed the Define phase, which included three steps: First, we identified themes from the information we gathered during the Discover phase. Second, we used these themes to draft guiding principles and long-term goals for Resilient Together, which will continue to be refined during the next steps. Third, we researched over a thousand strategy options from around the country and curated a list of the most locally relevant for consideration in the Design phase. In the coming months, we will look to you and the community to help us identify and refine the best resilience strategies to pursue in the years ahead.

Read our One-Year Progress Report to learn more about our process, what we heard so far, the project vision, guiding principles, goals, and next steps.

The Resilient Together project utilizes human-centered design principles in several key ways throughout our climate adaptation and resilience planning process:

1. Emphasis on community engagement: The project places a strong focus on involving community members at every stage, from discovery to implementation. This aligns with the human-centered design principle of putting people at the center of the process.
2. Inclusive participation: The project aims to create welcoming and inclusive participation opportunities for all community members, ensuring diverse perspectives are considered. This reflects the human-centered design approach of understanding and addressing the needs of various stakeholders.
3. Storytelling and experience sharing: During the discovery phase, the project encourages community members to share their personal stories and experiences related to climate change impacts. This aligns with the human-centered design principle of developing empathy and understanding user experiences.
4. Iterative process: The project follows a phased approach (Discover, Define, Design, Decide, Do) that allows for continuous refinement based on community input and feedback. This iterative nature is a key aspect of human-centered design.
5. Collaborative problem-solving: The project involves multiple stakeholders, including community members, partner organizations, and government staff, in developing resilience strategies and actions. This collaborative approach is central to human-centered design.
6. Focus on local context: By considering the specific vulnerabilities and challenges of the Charlottesville and Albemarle County area, the project demonstrates a commitment to understanding and addressing local needs.
7. Addressing equity: The project recognizes that some community members may face greater vulnerability to climate impacts and seeks to engage with these groups to ensure equitable solutions. This aligns with the human-centered design principle of designing for inclusivity.
8. Prototyping and testing: The "Do" phase involves implementing strategies, monitoring progress, and evaluating success, which reflects the human-centered design approach of testing and refining solutions.

By incorporating these human-centered design elements, the Resilient Together project aims to create climate adaptation and resilience plans that are truly responsive to the needs and experiences of the local community.