Resiliency

Fara Ilami, Regional Resiliency Manager
Email: filami@nefrc.org
Phone: (904) 279-0880 x113

Baker County Vulnerability Assessment Meeting:           October 18, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Resilient First Coast

Next Meetings:

RFC Full Collaborative Meeting: April 13, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm (in-person)

Northeast Florida has a new Regional Resiliency Collaborative called Resilient First Coast. The purpose of the Collaborative is to bring together people from diverse backgrounds to tackle regional challenges involving resiliency to the effects of climate change, including sea level rise, flooding, and other hazards. This Collaborative is made up of many partners from multiple sectors, including local government, business, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, state and local agencies, utilities, and the military. The Steering Committee of the Collaborative has selected a chair and co-chair and has determined goals and structure, along with finalizing the Partner Agreement form. A new website dedicated to the Collaborative will be coming soon.

Meeting Minutes

August Steering Committee Meeting

September Steering Committee Meeting

October Steering Committee Meeting

December Full Collaborative Meeting

January Steering Committee Meeting

Regional Resilience Priorities Analysis

The NEFRC recently completed a Regional Resilience Priorities Analysis, which was funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Resilient Florida program. The purpose of the project was to develop an understanding of the resiliency work throughout the region, including an inventory of completed, in progress, planned, and needed projects. Chief Resilience Officers and other resiliency points of contact provided information that has helped in assessing where there are data gaps and needs, to aid with future resilience planning for the region. A GIS story map of the project is available at the link below.

 Northeast Florida Regional Analysis of Resilience Priorities (arcgis.com)

Resiliency Services

The NEFRC provides a variety of resiliency services for the public, private and government sectors. This includes but is not limited to the areas of vulnerability assessments, adaptation planning, and climate change awareness.  NEFRC maintains staff with expertise in climate change and resiliency.

  • Administrative support for the Regional Resiliency Collaborative

  • Assistance for member governments seeking to conduct vulnerability assessments and/or produce adaptation plans

  • Partnership on projects to address resiliency at multiple scales

  • Educational presentations and community events focused on sea level rise, adaptation planning, and community preparedness

  • Technical workshops hosted in partnership with local, state, and Federal agencies

  • Support for long-term disaster recovery groups and community organizations active in disaster

  • Coordination between local governments, regulatory agencies and national partners

Earlier Resiliency Work

Northeast Florida COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan

The NEFRC Board of Directors approved the Northeast Florida COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan. The recovery plan, which outlines detailed recommendations for economic recovery, was developed by the Northeast Florida Economic Resilience Task Force, a policy group of more than 20 leaders from across the region.

The Task Force was made possible through Federal CARES Act funding allocated by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) and awarded to the NEFRC in August 2020 to support economic resilience efforts related to the pandemic.

To read the economic recovery plan, please visit the link below:

Northeast Florida COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan (May 2021)

Additional resources related to COVID-19 can also be found below:

COVID-19 Business Resources Guide
REMI Study: Forecasting the Economic Impacts of COVID-19 in Northeast Florida (First Edition, June 2020)
REMI Study: Forecasting the Economic Impacts of COVID-19 in Northeast Florida (Second Edition, February 2021)

Northeast Florida Resilient Highlights

City of Jacksonville Special Committee on Resiliency - Final Report

In addressing community challenges related to resilience in Duval County, there have been several stakeholder engagement frameworks utilized to better inform both short-term and long-term decision-making processes. The purpose of this newsletter is to highlight one of those frameworks, the three Subject Matter Expert Subcommittees of the Special Committee on Resiliency. Click above to learn more!

Public Private Regional Resiliency (P2R2)

The Northeast Florida Regional Council (NEFRC) began efforts to engage the issue of sea-level rise and resiliency in 2014 with recommendations brought forward by its Public Private Regional Resiliency (P2R2) Committee. The P2R2 Committee was formed in response to an action item from the Regional Action Plan on Sea Level Rise. Since then, more recent developments from the NEFRC continue to push regional discussions forward in a proactive manner.

P2R2 Committee

Regional Resilience Exposure Tool (R2ET)

In June of 2019, the NEFRC released the Regional Resilience Exposure Tool (R2ET), an innovative online map tool that allows users to determine if specific resources in Northeast Florida are at risk to storm surge, flooding and sea level rise. The flood layers can be overlaid on a variety of data to graphically analyze where specific vulnerabilities occur – from critical facilities and population density to low income/minority populations and wildlife.

The Regional Resilience Exposure Tool (R2ET) is intended to function as a base-line resource for citizens, businesses, and governmental actors to kickstart conversations about sea level rise and emergency preparedness. Utilizing this tool, as well as other community engagement resources offered by the Northeast Florida Regional Council, local communities will be able to have better-informed conversations about building a resilient future.