CHARLOTTESVILLE — Historic Triangle residents are invited to attend a Community Resilience Workshop at the James City County Rec Center Monday, Aug. 18.
Led by the University of Virginia, Old Dominion University and Virginia Tech, the workshop, taking place from 4-7 p.m., is part of the Resilience Adaptation Feasibility Tool, or RAFT. According to the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, the RAFT is an innovative “collective impact” collaborative approach to climate resilience that brings together multidisciplinary partners and diverse stakeholders to aid coastal localities.
The event will introduce the results of a resilience assessment of Williamsburg, James City County, and York County by the RAFT team, followed by a discussion to help each community identify resilience priorities to implement over the coming year.
“The RAFT team led a six-month process that included a review of local government planning documents and community interviews to determine the Historic Triangle’s resilience strengths, challenges, and opportunities,” said Tanya Denckla Cobb, director of UVA’s Institute for Engagement and Negotiation. “We are excited to share our findings with as many community members as possible so they can determine the resilience actions they want to implement.”
During the interview process, the center said Historic Triangle residents highlighted some of the unique challenges faced by the region, including a lack of affordable housing, an economic emphasis on tourism that creates a wage gap between hourly and salaried workers in the area, and inadequate transit frequency and options.
Additionally, the RAFT team said it reviewed planning documents as part of its “scorecard” assessment and found that Historic Triangle localities have difficulty coordinating hazard planning with businesses and reaching vulnerable populations to share government services. Community members can review the assessment findings on the RAFT website.
The workshop is planned to be highly interactive, the center said, with attendees having the opportunity to prioritize and identify projects to improve the area’s resilience and will generate a draft Resilience Action Checklist, or RAC.
“The RAC guides how the RAFT team will work with the community to implement action items that improve resilience over the next 12 months,” said Wendy Stout, director of the Virginia Tech Coastal Collaborator.
The RAFT team has also invited faculty as guest speakers on relevant environmental issues.
“We are pleased to bring experts to present on the risks and causes of coastal flooding and other vulnerabilities in the region. This information is extremely helpful for policy makers, planners, and community members alike as they make decisions about implementation,” said Jessica Whitehead, the Joan P. Brock endowed executive director of the ODU Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience, a RAFT partner.
The program is free and open to the public and geared toward those who live and work in York County, James City County, and/or the City of Williamsburg. Registration is required, and can be completed online or by calling Meredith Keppel at 434-924-9192.
Light refreshments will be available throughout the evening and childcare for children aged 3 years or older will be provided by James City County.
The RAFT is led by the Institute for Engagement & Negotiation, the Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience at Old Dominion University, and the Coastal Collaborator at Virginia Tech. IEN is a unit of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.
The Cooper Center offers nonpartisan, reliable research and services that help policymakers and elected officials, governments, and community leaders in Virginia and beyond.
