Partnership for Resilient Communities
The Partnership for Resilient Communities (PRC) works to transform and strengthen the voices of people of color in the national urban climate resilience field.
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The Partnership for Resilient Communities (PRC) works to transform the national urban climate resilience field by increasing the number of leaders of color and advancing approaches that build the resilience of people and places through policy approaches, community education, engagement, and the installation of clean energy and green infrastructure in communities.
America’s history of racial discrimination, particularly in land-use planning and community development investment decisions, has directly harmed the climate resilience of historic neighborhoods of color, rendering these urban communities most vulnerable to climate change.
Data clearly shows that communities of color and low-income neighborhoods are disproportionately affected by conditions caused and/or exacerbated by climate change impacts. Historical and current planning and investment decisions have placed these neighborhoods in harm’s way (e.g. near toxic emitters or on floodplains), and denied them core resilience-building resources, economic opportunity, and overall quality of life investments. While this type of discrimination is now illegal, the systems and policies that evolved from this sordid past have been institutionalized, continuing to advance discriminatory outcomes.
Climate resilience and equity are inextricably linked. To achieve community preparedness and resilience in the face of climate change, we must also address the debilitating impacts of systemic racism and increase quality of life and economic opportunities. To do this, we must ensure that leaders and organizations of color are fully participating in and leading climate resilience planning and decision-making thatlead to policies and practices designed by those closest to the problems.
Our Impact
Since 2016, PRC has served over 22 communities across three cohorts. In the time, seven resilience hub projects were completed and more than 10 green infrastructure projects were implemented.
PRC By the Numbers
22 Communities
Across the entirety of the U.S., From Richmond, CA, to Milwaukee, WI, to El Paso, TX and Bronx, NY
7 Years
Since 2016, PRC has been bringing together diverse cohorts of community-based organizations.
3 Cohorts
All of ISC’s PRC cohorts have been led by people of color serving urban communities of color.
57+ Graduates
From our partners in Power52 in Baltimore, MD, where community members earned credentials in OSHA-30, First Aid/CPR, and the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER).
350 Residents
In Chelsea, MA, were engaged to implement two temporary heat mitigation strategies and plant 75 trees with an 80% survivability rate, with support from our partner GreenRoots, Inc.
100% Solar
Our partners at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network established two climate resilience hubs in Richmond, CA and Oakland, CA. The Richmond hub operates at 100% solar power.
“The ISC-PRC partnership has supported organizing around resilience as well as the pivots we had to make during and after the pandemic. This partnership has honored the relationship-building across community members to build the trust needed for successful resilience hub creation and deployment. The ISC-PRC gatherings helped us learn from other organizations developing hubs in their own contexts, providing inspirational examples to us. This partnership also provided helpful technical assistance – from the goal setting and design phase (when we needed technical language to launch a solar energy system for the community) to the added capacity for storytelling and model-building.”
– Asian Pacific Environmental Network
The ISC-PRC partnership has supported organizing around resilience as well as the pivots we had to make during and after the pandemic. This partnership has honored the relationship building across community members to build the trust needed for successful resilience hub creation and deployment. The ISC-PRC gatherings helped us learn from other organizations developing hubs in their own contexts, providing inspirational examples to us. This partnership also provided helpful technical assistance – from the goal setting and design phase (when we needed technical language to launch a solar energy system for the community) to the added capacity for story telling and model-building.
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
The Problem
Partnership for Resilient Communities (PRC) partner organizations are led by people of color and serve historic, urban communities of color throughout the United States. These communities are often the most impacted by climate change and the least supported by climate resiliency initiatives. Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) provides capacity-building resources that bolster the leadership and influence of our PRC partners in the climate resilience field through strategic planning, policy promotion, green stormwater infrastructure, energy justice, and/or clean energy installations, and community education and engagement. Through the Partnership for Resilient Communities, partner organizations receive strategic, technical, and financial assistance, participate in peer-learning workshops, and engage in networking opportunities that connect them with the broader urban climate resilience field. In addition to these resources, ISC strategically shares PRC partners’ models, success stories, promising practices and lessons learned with other U.S. communities, funders, institutions, and governments so that the broader urban climate resilience field can benefit.
Objectives
PRC functions to:
- promote physical and economic resilience in climate-vulnerable communities, supporting the technical assistance and resource needs of community leaders and organizations.
- foster the transformation of the urban climate resilience field in the U.S. to be more equity- and people-centered by broadly and strategically sharing the experience, knowledge, policies, and practices generated by PRC partners and other leaders of color.
PRC partners with community-based organizations that are led by people of color, serving urban communities of color that are most vulnerable to climate change and demonstrating the desire to influence their local climate agenda.
What We Do
Hands-On Technical Assistance
Our team provides tailored expertise, coaching, and practical tools that support community-based organizations in moving from vision to implementation with confidence.
Strengthening Local Leadership
We work alongside leaders and organizations to build the systems, skills, and resources they need to advance locally led climate solutions.
Peer Learning & Collective Problem-Solving
We bring PRC partners together through virtual and in-person gatherings to share knowledge, troubleshoot challenges, and refine solutions.
Connecting Communities to Opportunity
We connect PRC partners with funders, institutions, policymakers, and fellow changemakers across the country. By elevating partner models and lessons learned, we help expand equitable climate resilience approaches.