Building Community Resilience

This report by the Union of Concerned Scientists highlights the challenges and successes of frontline communities in the US and Puerto Rico in building climate resilience. It identifies four key themes: displacement, government negligence, funding inequities, and the effectiveness of community-driven solutions. The authors argue that while scientific solutions exist, a lack of political will and bureaucratic barriers hinder progress. The report provides specific recommendations to shift toward inclusive, community-led adaptation strategies that respect tribal sovereignty and prioritize the lived experiences of marginalized populations.

• Historical systemic racism, including segregation and redlining, has forced Black, Latine, and Indigenous populations into low-lying, flood-prone, and otherwise uninhabitable lands, creating a legacy of forced adaptation and vulnerability to current climate impacts.
• Government disaster responses are often characterized by a paternalistic approach and bureaucratic inefficiency, which can result in inadequate aid, a lack of trust in federal and territorial governments, and a failure to meet the specific needs of affected communities.
• Funding for community-based resilience is hindered by burdensome grant processes that often exclude essential overhead costs like rent and electricity, and by a reliance on short-term, one-year cycles rather than sustainable three- to five-year awards.
• Technical expertise and cost-benefit analyses often fail when they are implemented without community collaboration, as they may undervalue local assets and ignore the specific values and priorities of the people they intend to serve.
• Frontline communities are implementing diverse, localized resilience projects, such as the Wetlands Project in South Carolina featuring a resilience center and solar-powered water systems, and the W.I.N Ambassadors program in Phoenix to address extreme heat risks.
• The lack of federal recognition for certain Indigenous groups, such as the United Houma Nation, creates bureaucratic barriers that prevent them from exercising their rights and protecting their tribal sovereignty in decision-making spaces.

APA

Caldas, A., Curole, L., Declet-Barreto, J., Kelley, H., Olivas, E., Ortiz-Partida, J. P., Race, A., Méndez, T. R., & Woodberry, R. L. (2023). Building Community Resilience. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/Building-Community-Resilience_6-26.pdf

Chicago

Caldas, Astrid, Lanor Curole, Juan Declet-Barreto, Hilton Kelley, Eva Olivas, J. Pablo Ortiz-Partida, Alicia Race, Tania Rosario Méndez, and Reverend Leo Woodberry. Building Community Resilience. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2023. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/Building-Community-Resilience_6-26.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{caldas2023building, author = {Caldas, Astrid and Curole, Lanor and Declet-Barreto, Juan and Kelley, Hilton and Olivas, Eva and Ortiz-Partida, J. Pablo and Race, Alicia and Méndez, Tania Rosario and Woodberry, Reverend Leo}, title = {{Building Community Resilience}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/Building-Community-Resilience_6-26.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }