The City of Raleigh’s Office of Sustainability and Stormwater Management Division received a $441,760 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Environmental Literacy Program (ELP) for a three-year education and outreach project to support community resilience. Raleigh’s is one of six projects to receive ELP funding in 2023. ELP projects all use education to build the foundation for resilience to extreme weather and climate change in their communities. This grant will support the implementation of Raleigh’s Community Climate Action Plan which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve climate equity and build community resilience to the impacts of climate change.
“NOAA values education, empowerment, and equity, and these awards give an important boost to NOAA’s commitment to build a climate-ready nation,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy NOAA Administrator, Jainey Bavishi, “Because NOAA’s climate science helps communities become climate smart and identify what they need to build resiliency, and it enables NOAA to partner with them to build it all with a sharp eye on equity and environmental justice.
The Community Climate Education for a Resilient Raleigh (CCERR) project will give climate-vulnerable Raleigh residents the data and resources necessary to build their resilience, engage with decision-makers, and build connections within their community. The project will develop cohorts of Raleigh residents who are informed about watershed management, flood risk, heat risk, climate resilience and environmental justice; increase community capacity to take their own resilience action, particularly in vulnerable communities; and support the City of Raleigh’s climate resilience planning efforts.
The City of Raleigh will partner on this project with the North Carolina State Climate Office, and Partners for Environmental Justice (PEJ), a community-based environmental education and advocacy organization. “Our partnerships in the community are key to this work,” said Nicole Goddard of the City’s Office of Sustainability, and project lead. “PEJ is a longtime partner for the City, and they have been working to engage, educate and advocate for communities in Southeast Raleigh on environmental justice issues in the Walnut Creek Watershed for decades. They are deeply trusted and connected to the community and they will be invaluable to the success of this project. This project will help to bring our Raleigh communities together and give them resources to be our partners in resilience building as we feel climate impacts more and more over time.”
This grant also supports continued education and outreach to communities in Raleigh to increase climate resilience and give people the tools to prepare, respond to and recover from climate-related emergencies. Through the CCERR project, the City will disseminate the Ready Raleigh Emergency Preparedness Guide in community preparedness workshops. The guide provides resources and information to help residents be informed, be connected and be prepared for emergencies and weather events.
Opportunities for residents to participate in the CCERR project will be posted on the CCERR Project webpage.