C2ES

Abstract

Community efforts to adapt to the physical impacts of climate change are lagging despite unprecedented financing available for resilience in the United States. Local and state governments and organizations are pioneering approaches to address key challenges and improve community access to resilience funding. These innovative strategies include:

• Boosting local capacity to plan projects and access funding, featuring Colorado’s Regional Grant Navigators
• Stacking public and private funding to implement and scale projects, featuring Downtown Denver Partnership’s Urban Forest Initiative
• Streamlining access to multiple financial resources for end users, featuring Impact Development Fund’s Disaster Recovery Program

Case studies from Colorado illustrate on-the-ground examples of these strategies, which can be applied across a wide range of geographies and resilience needs. These successful approaches can be further supported by included recommendations to federal agencies.