Abstract
Recognizing that coastal communities are at risk to natural, economic, and technological disasters, the Gulf of Mexico Alliance and Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium provided small grants for communities to build capacity for responding to future disasters in the Gulf of Mexico through the NOAA Regional Coastal Resilience Grant. While significant funding may be available to communities after a disaster, there are not many existing funding opportunities for communities that want to take proactive measures to become more resilient before the next storm. These small grants filled a real need for eight communities, as well as provided a series of “demonstration projects” at the local level we have learned from and shared with communities around the Gulf. The goal was to help Gulf of Mexico coastal communities enhance their overall resilience to future hazards using a systematic and integrated approach leading to standard methods to engage communities. During the four-year project, we found the following to be true: (1) New tools are not always necessary to build resilience- our gap analysis found most respondents just needed technical support or hands-on learning with existing tools in order to be successful; (2) Small grant programs can fill a real need- they provide “demonstration projects” at the community level that can be shared broadly. Impacts can include improving resilience, supporting business continuity, increasing capacity, enhancing habitat, and expanding best practices; and (3) Community of Practice groups work- these groups encourage networking of communities and practitioners to collectively learn from one another and build upon existing lessons learned so resources can be used in a more productive way. This presentation will discuss the actions involved in building resilience and what we’ve learned from communities in the Gulf about the process of taking an idea for change and turning it into a real on-the-ground project.
