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Resiliency
Recovery from economic, natural, and health-related disasters is a long-term process that must start from community action. This section explores strategies and ideas for recovery from disasters.
Many disasters, such as a pandemic, are disasters that ignore political boundaries and regional collaborative approaches are necessary. Yet the changes needed to move toward recovery happen fastest at the local level.
When communities take the time to formalize current recovery efforts into plans, policies, and partnerships, a community becomes more economically resilient to future shocks and stresses. Resilience strategies are a mixture of proven best practices and creative improvisation. RRC will expand these strategies and ideas with additional precedents.
These immediate strategies and ideas are organized by RRC’s Six Best Practices. We’ve broadened the Best Practice categories to include ideas outside of redevelopment.
Resilience is broad and our path forward must be collaborative. No one agency, field or program can or should claim ownership of this space. As such, RRC has created a guide to help communities better understand - and act on - issues applicable to their community.
Each chapter in this toolkit provides an overview of a theme, then breaks down a set of suggested values, goals, metrics and actions you can use in your master plans, capital improvement plans or resilient climate action plans. Look for when a recommendation ties directly to an RRC Best Practice expectation. These resilient strategies are meant to supplement the RRC Best Practices and provide RRC communities a set of resources that go beyond the RRC expectations.
Download the Resiliency Guide
Click hereStrategies by Best Practice
Economic Development & Marketing
Economic Development & Marketing (RRC Best Practice 5) assesses what goals and actions a community has identified to assist in strengthening its overall economic health. This best practice also includes an assessment of a community's marketing strategy and website. For this site, we have expanded the Best Practice to include municipal programming.
Priority Redevelopment Sites
Priority Redevelopment Sites (RRC Best Practice 6) assesses how a community identifies, visions for and markets priority redevelopment sites. A redevelopment ready site is a site targeted by the community and ready for investment. For this site, we have expanded the Best Practice to include municipal investment in infrastructure.
To put the Resiliency Toolkit to the test, we helped Midland and Marquette (our two pilot communities) assess the opportunities and challenges they face today through a series of workshops and conversations with community partners. Building on the input we received, we used the resources in the toolkit to measure their "resiliency baseline,” and outline a path forward for these communities to better withstand the economic, environmental, social, and infrastructure challenges of tomorrow.
The work isn't done yet! Through the Rise and Resilience Program, MEDC will work directly with future communities to provide direct technical assistance for using the RRC Resiliency Toolkit and provide guidance for implementing meaningful action.
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Michigan Green Communities is a statewide network of local government staff and officials that collaborate with one another, through peer learning and information sharing, to promote innovative sustainability solutions at the local, regional, and state level. The annual Michigan Green Communities Challenge is a key part of the program and allows participants to track and benchmark their sustainability progress.
Resilient Communities are those that are prepared to withstand and recover from Great Lakes coastal erosion and flooding events. Through resilient planning, a coastal community can prepare itself to absorb and adapt to changes in Great Lakes water levels, coastal storms and floods; manage social and environmental changes; and build a better and more reliable local economy.
American Planning Association Michigan Chapter
This information portal is designed to help communities plan for, protect, and preserve their waterfronts. Michigan is a state rich in lakes and rivers and home to the longest freshwater coastline in the world. The list of communities that do not have some sort of waterfront is much shorter than the list of communities that do.
This main street program is designed to help businesses, community leaders and organizations navigate reopening strategies for business districts after COVID-19.
