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Sustainable Pennsylvania

Municipal Certification Project

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Home › Action Resources › Strategic Engagement and Resilience › Resiliency Planning

FOCUS AREAS

Related Criteria

SER7 Resiliency Assessment and Plan: The municipality has done a resiliency assessment and has created a resilience plan.
A. The municipality has performed or has participated in a regional assessment of hazards and potential risks of climate change.
B. The municipality has created a resiliency plan either as part of a climate action, comprehensive, or ecodistrict plan, or as a stand alone document.
C. The plan includes a set of implementable actions including listing those responsible for taking actions to mitigate or adapt to the vulnerabilities found in the resiliency assessment.
D. The municipality reports to the public periodically the results of the work laid out in the plan.

SER8 Community Emergency Response Team: The community has created and trained a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) or comparable volunteer response team to assist in the event of a disaster.
A. The community has created a CERT or similar volunteer response team (beyond Vol Fire or EMS teams) to assist in the event of a disaster.
B. The CERT has created a disaster response plan in collaboration with municipal and/or other public safety authorities (for example vol fire or ems services).

SER10 Flood Response Plan: The municipality has created a flood response plan as a part of their emergency response plan
A. The municipality has a flood evacuation or response plan.
B. All municipal staff and volunteers have been trained on the details of the flood evacuation/response plan.
C. The municipality has done practice drills including the general public with the flood evacuation plan.
D. The flood evacuation plan has steps to ensure at risk community members are assisted in the process.

Resiliency Planning

Description: 

As the regional climate of Pennsylvania continues to change in the coming years and decades, response to extreme weather events like floods will become even more critical to ensuring municipal sustainability and public safety. The first step to remaining resilient when faced with potential hazards is to understand the risks (to buildings and infrastructure as well as to systems, social cohesiveness, public health, and more) in your community and create a plan for addressing the various negative impacts that the community might face in an emergency situation. Developing a multidisciplinary team of community members, from municipal staff to emergency responders, human service workers, and other professionals and volunteers with diverse skill sets, will empower a municipality to ensure that even in its most difficult times, the community can persevere together and get through emergencies safely.

How to Get Started with Local Resiliency Planning:

  1. Undertake a Local Vulnerability Assessment – The first step to cultivating resilience locally is understanding both the potential hazards and emergencies likely to hit your municipality as well as the people and systems most likely to be affected by such emergencies. For example, in a municipality with a high probability of flooding incidents, systems like the sewers and roadways may be critically threatened, while residents in floodplain areas, in basement apartments, with lower incomes, and/or with disabilities may be especially vulnerable to flood impacts.
  2. Understand and Engage Social Services and Other Local Resources – Critical to preparing to address needs in a community emergency is understanding what resources are already available to the community in the form of local service providers and agencies. From there, by comparing anticipated needs with local services available, you can begin to anticipate what gaps in service provision might arise in certain emergency situations.
  3. Build a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) – A resilient community is strengthened by leadership that can work together to effectively deliver services and respond to challenges. Establishing a CERT lays the groundwork needed to empower a municipal government to mobilize efficiently and deliver resources effectively in times of need. Additionally, engaging with these service providers, emergency services personnel, and passionate residents can help to illuminate further points of vulnerability in the municipality and additional areas of potential collaboration within the community.
  4. Connecting the Dots and Filling the Gaps – By assessing the key vulnerabilities in your community and understanding the resources needed to address them, your municipality can connect service providers and emergency responders and work together with them to develop plans for when issues arise. In the case of missing resources, together you can develop solutions and new relationships to fill these gaps.
  5. Communicate and Educate – A community resilience plan is most effective when it is clearly communicated to and understood by community members, who should feel empowered to be a part of the solution. If local stakeholders know the plan before emergency strikes, leaders can save precious time and be more efficient and effective in deploying resources. Host community resilience workshops or other celebratory events that bring together a diverse swath of community members to engage with this topic, learn more about plans in place, and give feedback on relevant resiliency issues that they have observed or experienced in the community.

[Please note: There are additional flood related resources available found under the Water topic.]

Resources


Education & Training
Climate Change in PA
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Learn how climate change is projected to affect Pennsylvania specifically over the next 50-100 years. Visit resource website
Pennsylvania Climate Change Impacts Assessment Update April 2020
Environment & Natural Resources Institute An updated assessment and overview of the projected impacts of climate change on Pennsylvania’s economy, energy systems, infrastructure, and more. Visit resource website
Ohio River Basin Pilot Study | USACE
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Report detailing various Ohio River sub-basins of Western Pennsylvania and offering adaptation recommendations for each. Visit resource website
Why Racial Justice is Climate Justice | Grist
Grist Understand the disparate ways in which climate change will impact communities of color and how local officials can combat such outcomes. Visit resource website
A People’s Guide to Transforming Crisis & Advancing Equity in the Disaster Continuum | NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) A broad toolkit detailing the ways municipalities can root their emergency management planning and practices (through post-disaster recovery and redevelopment) in equity for those traditionally most negatively impacted by natural disasters and climate change. Visit resource website

Programs & Tools
Temperate (ICLEI's GHG and Resilience Tool)
ICLEI Allows a municipality to create a climate vulnerability assessment or adaptation planning effort that meets its unique needs. Visit resource website
Community Resilience Building
Community Resilience Building A process and tool created by the Nature Conservancy to enable community practitioners to lead their communities in resilience planning. Additionally facilitated in Pennsylvania by Pennsylvania Municipal League and Sustainable Pittsburgh. Visit resource website
Municipal Management in a Changing Climate - Municipal Implementation Tool #031 | DVRPC
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission Detailed overview of recommendations for local municipal planning efforts in the Delaware Valley metropolitan area with special consideration for specific climate change concerns Visit resource website
Tools | U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit
U.S. Climate Resilience Interactive tools allowing for municipal-level planning around climate-related issues. Visit resource website
Flood Preparedness and Response Guide for Municipalities
Lower Hudson Coalition of Conservation Districts New York Department of Environmental Conservation Visit resource website
Emergency Preparedness for Water and Wastewater Facilities
Pennsylvania Bureau of Safe Drinking Water Flood Response information for Pennsylvania. Visit resource website
Community Emergency Response Team | Ready.gov
U.S. Department of Homeland Security The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills. Visit resource website

Best Practices & Local Examples
The City of Chester Vision 2020 Climate Adaptation Planning Elements
Chester City Council An in-depth and actionable guide for Chester, PA’s strategy for climate resilience amidst its climate change projections. Visit resource website
A Whole-of-Government Approach: Embedding Disaster Resilience into Municipal Operations | IMCA
International City/Council Management Association Best practices from various communities approaching community resilience planning from a systems-thinking perspective. Visit resource website

Financial Assistance/Incentives
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Grants Portal
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) The state offers a variety of grants for communities looking to plan and undertake flood and disaster risk mitigation projects. Visit resource website
Pennsylvania Programs and Funding
Pennsylvania Department of community and Economic development A list of grants, loans and tax incentives for communities looking to improve infrastructure and economic development. Visit resource website
Strategic Management Planning Program
Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Provides matching grant funds to assist municipalities experiencing fiscal difficulties to develop comprehensive multi-year financial plans and establish short- and long-term financial objectives. Visit resource website

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About Sustainable Pennsylvania

Sustainable Pennsylvania, a joint project of the Pennsylvania Municipal League and Sustainable Pittsburgh, is a voluntary performance recognition program designed to help municipalities set and achieve sustainability goals, save money, conserve resources, and foster a vibrant community.

Pennsylvania Municipal League

The Pennsylvania Municipal League is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization established in 1900 as an advocate for Pennsylvania’s 3rd class cities. Today, The League represents participating Pennsylvania cities, boroughs, townships, home rule communities and towns that all share The League’s municipal policy interests.

The mission of the Pennsylvania Municipal League is to strengthen, empower and advocate for effective local government.

Sustainable Pittsburgh

Sustainable PGH is a nonprofit committed to building the knowledge, perspective, and ability needed to create a better tomorrow for our region.

Contact us

Email info@sustainablepa.org or call Leslie Rhoads from PML at 717-236-9469 *237 or Jim Price from Sustainable Pittsburgh at 412-259-5331

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