January 2024

The Resilience Roundup highlights announcements and events along with links to the previous month's state, regional, and national resilience news. 

Learn more about CIRCA at circa.uconn.edu

and the Resilient Connecticut Project at resilientconnecticut.uconn.edu

2023 CIRCA Highlights

As we start a new year, we want to thank all Resilience Roundup readers for staying tuned in! The following are highlights from our Institute's work over the past year:

• The first 7 planning projects that were initiated under Phase III of Resilient Connecticut 1.0 came to a close and the final reports have been released.



• Hosted the Resilient Connecticut Innovative Design Workshop to collaborate with municipalities, COGs, state agencies, technical planning teams, and community stakeholders to develop innovative solutions to local and regional climate challenges.

• Hosted a two part Municipal Energy Resilience Web Series, informing communities how the Inflation Reduction Act and state programs have incentives for communities to assist in funding renewable energy project.

• Published the 2023 Policy Guide to Local Energy Resilience In Connecticut to help guide Connecticut communities through the morass of existing federal and state incentives.

• Published Conservation Commission Fact Sheet, reporting about the role and authority of Conservation Commissions and how natural resource conservation can help build climate resilience.

• Released the Environmental Justice Screening Tool 2.0, an interactive resource that combines both community and data-driven approach that incorporates environmental burdens and demographic indicators.

• Hosted CIRCA Summit: A Climate Resilience Roadmap for Connecticut , providing updates on projects including the Environmental Justice Mapping Tool and the Resilience Roadmap policy recommendations for Connecticut.

• Launched a new tool, a Climate Resilient Zoning Library, which provides factsheets that cover explanations of policies and how they apply to climate resilience with examples of towns where they have been adopted.

Grants

2023 Inflation Reduction Act

Climate-Ready Workforce for Coastal States and Territories Competition RFI

The Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy (OWS) is developing a grant application to receive federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Climate-Ready Workforce for Coastal States and Territories Competition. Connecticut is eligible to participate as a coastal state per 16 U.S.C. § 1453(4).

The goal of this Request for Information (RFI) is to identify the in-demand and emerging climate resilience skills needs of employers; potential strategic partners, including community-based organizations and employers; job placement or promotion commitments from potential employers; and other funding or investments that can be leveraged. OWS is seeking this information through written comments. Submissions will inform the RFI but are not a guarantee of funding or inclusion within the program. The grant activities are not limited to coastal communities within the state. The goal of this grant is to “prepare and place workers in good jobs that enhance climate resilience and will advance environmental justice.” The deadline to submit responses is January 11, 2024 at 5:00pm.

Restore America’s Estuaries Announces RFA for the Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund

Letter of Intent Due: December 1, 2023

Full Proposal Due: March 15, 2024

The Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund (LISCIF) is a partnership between Restore America’s Estuaries, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Long Island Sound Study (LISS). Funding for LISCIF is provided by EPA through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will help meet the goals of the Justice40 initiative which calls for 40% of certain Federal investments to flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. The purpose of LISCIF is to build capacity for organizations located in communities affected by disproportionate environmental and human health risks. Additionally, the fund seeks to provide technical assistance for organizations in historically underserved areas and support proposals which ultimately improve access to the Long Island Sound, while reducing overall environmental health risks. Eligible projects and activities will be community driven and address challenges/risks faced by communities experiencing environmental justice issues.   Prospective applicants should read the RFA in totality before applying.

Long Island Sound Stewardship Fund (LISSF) 

Proposal Deadline: February 2, 2024

The Long Island Sound Stewardship Fund (LISSF) is a competitive grant program seeking proposals to restore and protect the health and living resources of Long Island Sound. The Long Island Community Foundation are interested in empowering communities of all kinds (including communities typically underrepresented in environmental programs and projects) to access, improve and benefit from Long Island Sound, its waterways, and surrounding lands. The most competitive proposals will incorporate multiple values including sustainability, resilience, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Grants will be awarded to increase the effectiveness of organizations that focus on restoration and protection of the health and living resources of Long Island Sound. Capacity building can occur in every part of an organization, including programs, management, operations, technology, governance, fundraising and communications. Up to $500,000 is expected to be available for grants in 2024, with grants expected to range from $15,000 to $200,000. Few, if any, grants will be made at the maximum award level.

NOAA’s Climate Ready Workforce for Coastal and

Great Lakes States, Tribes, and Territories Initiative

Letters of Intent Deadline: November 30, 2023

Full Proposals Deadline: February 13, 2024.

Sea Grant and the NOAA Climate Program Office, with support from the NOAA Office for Coastal Management, seek to establish programs aimed at at placing people across the country into good jobs that advance climate resilience and assisting employers in developing a 21st century workforce that is climate literate, informed by climate resilience, and skilled at addressing consequent challenges. NOAA will assist communities in coastal and Great Lakes states, territories and tribes so they may form partnerships that train workers and place them into jobs that enhance climate resilience. NOAA envisions making between 10-20 awards under this competition, at amounts ranging from $500,000-$10 million each. NOAA expects projects to range in duration from 24 months to 48 months, beginning no earlier than August 1, 2024. This opportunity is open to state, tribal, territorial and local governments, institutions of higher education, and non-profit organizations in coastal states or territories. Resources from NOAA’s Climate Program Office, Office for Coastal Management, and National Sea Grant Office and its partners will be available to provide technical assistance to applicants and recipients to support these innovative efforts. 

FEMA: Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities

Application Deadline: February 29, 2024

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program will support states, local communities, tribes and territories as they undertake hazard mitigation projects, reducing the risks they face from disasters and natural hazards. The BRIC program’s guiding principles are to support communities through capability and capacity building, encourage and enable innovation; promote partnerships, enable large projects, maintain flexibility, and provide consistency.

Awards made under this funding opportunity will be funded, in whole or in part, with funds appropriated by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also more commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The BIL is a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure, which will grow a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable economy by enhancing U.S. competitiveness, driving the creation of good-paying jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union, and ensuring stronger access to economic and environmental benefits for disadvantaged communities. The BIL appropriates billions of dollars to FEMA to promote resilient infrastructure, respond to the impacts of climate change, and equip our nation with the resources to combat its most pressing threats.

DOT: Rebuilding American Infrastructure with

Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant Program 

Application Deadline: February 28, 2024

The U.S. Department of Transportation has published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for $1.5 billion in grant funding through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program for 2024. The popular program helps communities around the country carry out projects with significant local or regional impact. RAISE discretionary grants help project sponsors at the state and local levels, including municipalities, Tribal governments, counties, and others complete critical freight and passenger transportation infrastructure projects. The eligibility requirements of RAISE allow project sponsors to obtain funding for projects that may be harder to support through other U.S. DOT grant programs. As was the case in previous years, the Department is encouraging applicants to consider how their projects can address climate change, ensure racial equity, and remove barriers to opportunity. The Department also intends to use the RAISE program to support lowering costs for household budgets, wealth creation and the creation of good-paying jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union, the incorporation of strong labor standards, and training and placement programs, especially registered apprenticeships. 

EPA: Community Change Grants

Application Deadline: November 21, 2024

The Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant program (Community Change Grants), created by the Inflation Reduction Act, offers an unprecedented $2 billion in grants under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The Community Change Grants will fund community-driven projects that address climate challenges and reduce pollution while strengthening communities through thoughtful implementation. This historic level of support will enable communities and their partners to overcome longstanding environmental challenges and implement meaningful solutions to meet community needs now and for generations to come. There will be two tracks of funding under this opportunity. Track I will fund approximately 150 large, transformational community-driven investment grants of $10 million - $20 million. Track II will fund approximately 20 meaningful engagement grants of $1 million - $3 million. Grants cannot exceed 3-years in duration. Please review the NOFO for further information about the exciting opportunities under the Community Change Grants program and details about the application process.

Events

CIRCA's UConn Faculty & Staff Research Symposium on Climate Change: Challenges and Innovations

CIRCA invites UConn faculty and staff to the Storrs campus on

Friday, January 12, 2024, 8:45 am-12:15 pm

to learn more about the seed grants

The goal of CIRCA's research symposium is to expand the participation of UConn researchers in addressing the complex challenges climate change is creating for the diverse communities of Connecticut. The forum will include presentation of some on-going projects and the exchange of innovative ideas, this gathering seeks to foster a collaborative academic environment.

Continued..

NE CASC Partner Webinar Series Rooted in Research:

Adapting to Extreme Weather “Wild Cards"

Join the Northeast Climate Adaption Science Center and its partners-- the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, USDA Northeast and Northern Forests Climate Hubs, and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS)--for Rooted in Research: Adapting to Extreme Weather “Wild Cards”. Between floods, severe storms, and wildfires, nearly everyone in North America has recently experienced an extreme weather event firsthand. Extreme events will become more commonplace as the climate continues to change. These events pose new challenges for forestry and natural resource management that may require new, adaptive ways of thinking to address them. This webinar mini-series will explore different types of extreme weather events, showcasing the latest research on these topics and discussing relevant management implications. Webinars will take place in January 2024 on the Wednesdays of each week from 10:30-11:30 AM ET.

January 10: Wild Cards and Adaptation Workbook

January 17: Incidence of Fire

January 24: Extreme Precipitation and Flooding

January 31: Ice Storms in the Northeast

CT DEEP: Connecticut’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program: Priority Climate Action Plan Notice of Request for Public Comment

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) issues this Request for Public Comment with a survey to inform the development of a Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) and a grant application to implement that plan with funding from the EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG), designated by the federal Inflation Reduction Act (2022). This request for public comment follows a public meeting on December 18 that provided an overview of the CPRG and the proposed actions in the PCAP the state may implement to reduce air pollution that is warming our planet known as greenhouse gases, clean up our air, and provide important benefits to communities in the region, such as reduced energy bills, improved public health, and more jobs. This public comment survey can take less than 10 minutes to complete with the option to spend more time to provide detailed comments on each climate action proposed by the state. The public comment survey is due January 12, 2024.

$12 Million in Grants Awarded to Improve the

Environment of Long Island Sound

NFWF - December 4, 2023

The federal and state environmental agencies and officials from New England and New York, including the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), announced 39 grants totaling $12 million to organizations and local governments to improve the health of Long Island Sound. The grants are matched by $8 million from the grantees themselves, resulting in $20 million in total conservation impact for projects in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

Best of 2023: Climate Change Has Hit CT Hard This Year.

Are We Ready for More?

CT Mirror - December 27, 2023

On July 17, the very same day a host of Connecticut officials and farmers stood alongside the mud and deep water inundating farms along the Connecticut River and lamented the second flood in a week, Willie Dellacamera surveyed his 120-acre farm in the Northford section of North Branford. Yeah, there was mud in a few spots from the torrential rain the day before, along with a couple of zucchinis that hadn’t been picked in time. But the basil, tomatoes and cucumbers were tall and dry, thanks to what Dellacamera called the climate change “armorization” he did before the last summer of floods two years ago. If he hadn’t, “It would be a mess,” he said. Dellacamera learned his climate-change lesson and has shown that planning for it can work. But much of Connecticut has been learning the hard way.

Recommendations to Make Mystic

More Resilient to be Unveiled at Jan. 4 Workshop

The Day - December 27, 2023

After more than a year of studying the vulnerability of downtown Mystic to climate change and ways to make it more resilient, project leaders will present potential strategies to the public next week. The draft recommendations are intended to help protect the area from the effects of flooding, sea level rise, storm surge, and heat.

The final in a series of workshops for the Town of Groton's Downtown Mystic Resiliency & Sustainability Plan will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 4 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 15 Pearl St., Mystic

National Climate Assessment Offers New Insights on

Community Resilience and Adaptation

PHYS . ORG - December 4, 2023

A major weather event such as a hurricane or wildfire can have lasting, visible impacts on communities, but the longer-term, compounding effects of a changing climate can be harder to see. In its contributions to the recently released Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) highlights ways that communities can adapt and become more resilient as the climate changes.

Flooding Drives Millions to Move as Climate Migration

Patterns Emerge

AP News - December 18, 2023

Flooding is driving millions of people to move out of their homes, limiting growth in some prospering communities and accelerating the decline of others, according to a new study that details how climate change and flooding are transforming where Americans live. 

2023 Will Be the Hottest Year on Record.

Is This How it's Going to Be Now?

NPR - December 28, 2023

As 2023 draws to a close, it's going out on top. "It's looking virtually certain at this point that 2023 will be the hottest year on record," says Zeke Hausfather, climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, a non-profit that analyzes climate trends. Though temperature records from December have yet to be finalized, climate scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have found there's a more than 99% chance that 2023 will have the hottest recorded global average temperature, beating out 2016, the previous leader.