Feature Article Climate Change and Municipal Finance: Funding adaptation, mitigation, resilience and risk assessment as disaster looms Current News GUEST ARTICLE: The COVID-19 pandemic makes this the perfect time to regenerate our cities, our farms and our planetWith 100 million people about to fall into poverty due to pandemic, a 3-phase approach to urban economic recovery emergesA strategic, well-designed stimulus based on infrastructure renewal could also help make America more resilientBritish Columbia launches $120 million effort to grow jobs by restoring their 8000+ orphaned or dormant oil and gas wellsSea level rise of 4 feet by 2100: For coastal cities, climate restoration / adaptation / resilience efforts just became more urgentUNEP publishes post-COVID-19 recovery policy brief on restructuring global economy and trade system to make them more resilientGeorgia Department of Natural Resources completes first phase of major oyster bed restoration project in Glynn CountyCoalfields Regeneration Trust introduces “Coalfields COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Fund” for former coal mining communitiesPolicy brief on climate resilience, adaptation and risk reduction intends to help Europe become the first carbon-neutral continentThe Ohio Lake Erie Commission has formally approved the 2020 Lake Erie Protection and Restoration PlanTo revitalize COVID-19-damaged economies, 100 western U.S. mayors urge Congress to renew the Land and Water Conservation FundAs toxic, dangerous energy sources shut down, “Nuclear Closure Communities” join coal towns in getting revitalization helpPennsylvania governor publishes his three-phase post-COVID-19 economic revitalization plan: 1) Relief 2) Reopening 3) RecoveryIn Maryland, a Resilience Finance Authority bill for climate-adapted revitalization of the Annapolis City Dock wins bipartisan support$10 million will fund the restoration of streams and wetlands on former cranberry bog farmland in southeastern MassachusettsThe long-struggling Sharswood-Blumberg neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania wins $30 million from HUD for revitalizationHistoric Dallas bank building—survivor of two fires—is beautifully renovated and boasts exterior by Cuban artist Jorge PardoSettlement with company responsible for California’s 2015 Refugio Beach Oil Spill will provide $22 million for restorationDespite lockdown, the largest redevelopment project in city’s history advances towards revitalizing 150 acres of historic docksPrivate equity firm, Brookfield Asset Management, launches $5 billion retail revitalization program for U.S. and CanadaIEDC adds new “Reopen Your Economy” resources to their “Restore Your Economy” COVID-19 response website for communitiesLouisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority wins $3.2 million for plan-related environmental renewal research projectsEPA awards 155 grants totaling over $65.6 million to help revitalize communities and tribes by remediating & reusing brownfieldsTrinidad & Tobago government is encouraged to use a “restoration economy” strategy for post-pandemic economic recoveryNew Jersey expands Community Collaborative Initiative to help revitalize brownfield neighborhoods after winning $3 millionState Farm’s continued 20-year support of LISC includes $4 million to help revitalize twelve U.S. cities over next two yearsNew investment assessment tool is launched to help ensure that COVID-19 economic recovery efforts are more inclusiveCity council purchases bankrupt department store building to help revitalize the waterfront of this famed resort areaRhode Island renews its successful brightfields program to accelerate the repurposing of brownfields into solar farmsDetermined not to let 100,000 native saplings die during the pandemic, six Highland forest restoration volunteers go into self-isolation