City Council Accepts $10,000 Grant from National League of Cities for Leadership in Community Resilience Program

The National League of Cities (NLC) has selected the City of Portsmouth and its collaboration with the NH Coastal Adaptation Workshop (NHCAW) as one of eight communities to participate in the national 2021 Leadership in Community Resilience (LCR) program. NLC has awarded a $10,000 grant to the City to support engagement with NHCAW and residents and for new research, training and education materials.

The NLC notes, “The public sector is increasingly embracing a holistic resilience approach as a proactive framework to reduce coastal risk, protect frontline communities from disproportionate harm and improve public services. The purpose of the LCR program is to develop and advance the emerging city-level models for pursuing resilience objectives and foster partnerships with community-based organizations.”

The City of Portsmouth Coastal Resilience Initiative, launched in 2011, was one of the first coastal hazards vulnerability assessments completed in the region. The findings of that detailed assessment resulted in the inclusion of “resilience” as a priority in the City’s Master Plan, subsequent vulnerability assessment work related to the city’s historic resources and the adoption of new floodplain regulations.

“The partnership with NHCAW has provided an opportunity for our coastal communities to learn from each other about how to build resilience to climate hazards. This grant provides important support to document and share those lessons and the remaining challenges our coastal communities face as sea levels continue to rise and weather patterns change,” said City Manager Karen Conard in accepting the grant. “This grant enables the City and NHCAW to engage with other New Hampshire coastal communities that have not yet benefitted from the Federal resilience-building resources and staff capacity. We are excited to be able to share and learn from these communities who are critical to building an effective regional strategy.”