On March 12, 2019, the National League of Cities (NLC) announced eight additional cities for their Leadership in Community Resilience program. Each city will receive $10,000 in direct financial support, plus technical assistance and professional development opportunities to help them meet community-specific resiliency goals.
“From the western fires to the increased hurricane activity ravaging the coasts, climate change is a real threat to our nation’s cities, towns and villages,” said Clarence E. Anthony, NLC’s CEO and Executive Director.
“We are excited to welcome eight new cities to our annual Leadership in Community Resilience Program. Through collaboration, innovative approaches, and an unmatched passion for supporting their communities, I’m confident that these local leaders will advance policies and programs to address their biggest local challenges,” he added.
The eight cities selected for the 2019 Leadership in Community Resilience Program are: Anchorage, Alaska; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Denton, Texas; Durham, North Carolina; Evanston, Illinois; Jersey City, New Jersey; Park City, Utah; and Roeland Park, Kansas.
Now in its third year, the Leadership in Community Resilience program is financially supported by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and by Wells Fargo. NLC also announced that the program had established technical assistance partnerships with the Thriving Earth Exchange and ecoAmerica, who will provide additional tools and resources to support the cohort of cities.
To apply for the program, officials from each city submitted a proposal detailing a specific resiliency challenge in their community and a proposed event or project that could address it.
Past participants used their participation as a springboard to form invaluable partnerships, hold resiliency summits and workshops, and implement innovative infrastructure projects.
“The Leadership in Community Resilience program builds the capacity of cities across America to take action on climate change,” said Cooper Martin, program director for NLC’s Sustainable Cities Institute. “We are proud of this history, and we’re excited to help this new group of cities forge the kind of bright, sustainable future their residents deserve.”
The goal of this program is to generate new insights related to the challenges and opportunities associated with local resilience initiatives. In the coming years, the lessons learned through this process will be used to help hundreds of NLC member cities achieve greater resiliency for their residents and prepare the nation for the effects of climate change and other hazards.
The mission of the National League of Cities is to help city leaders build better communities. NLC is a resource and advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages, representing over 218 million Americans.
Photo of Anchorage, Alaska (one of the chosen cities) via Adobe Stock.
Learn more about NLC’s Leadership in Community Resilience program.