Despite federal cuts to climate adaptation and mitigation funding, climate resilience work continues in Western Washington. To support communities, municipalities, and businesses already advancing resilience efforts across the region, C2ES is hosting the Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator program in the South-Central Puget Sound. Proactive and equitable resilience requires coordinated, forward-looking investments. In its first year, the South-Central Puget Sound Accelerator cohort is already demonstrating the value of weaving together the resources and relationships that will allow communities to thrive for generations to come.

In mid-September, C2ES traveled to Tacoma, Washington to host the second convening of the South-Central Puget Sound Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator in partnership with the University of Washington’s EarthLab. The Resources Connector Forum brought back participants from July’s Climate Resilient Economies Roundtable, as well as new leaders from the region, to explore resources for advancing resilience priorities and highlight innovative local projects that stack multiple resources for greater impact. The event featured a series of panels that closed the distance between practitioners and resource providers in the region and elevated best practices for designing multi-benefit resilience initiatives.

Importantly, the Forum provided an opportunity to build on the cross-sector dialogue started earlier this year at the July Roundtable. Nearly 60 participants, including climate and public health experts, municipal staff, nonprofit and community leaders, and private businesses engaged in interactive visioning and planning sessions, sharing challenges with extreme heat and wildfire smoke and co-designing solutions. A key feature of the day was the “Advancing Key Action Areas” breakout activity, which allowed participants to come together and build out potential strategies in one of six different key action areas:

• Empower Community-led Disaster Preparedness
• Upgrade the Built Environment
• Prioritize Nature-Based Solutions
• Foster Energy Resilience & Independence
• Leverage Beneficial Local & State Policies
• Prepare Local Businesses

Participants used diverse experiences and perspectives to think about ways to approach building resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke through these action areas. Each group developed strategies, identified necessary resources to bring them to life, and outlined pathways to activate those plans.

Examples of strategies proposed include:

• Combine trusted partner networks with mutual aid for disaster preparedness
• Embed green space preservation and passive cooling into land use planning
• Conduct health impact studies in the region to focus resource deployment
• Map urban heat islands in all urban areas in Washington
• Invest in cooling centers across the region
• Identify and/or develop reliable energy hubs that are known by community
• Incentivize the development of business continuity plans for heat and smoke

These are a small sample of the ideas explored during the Forum. In a full group discussion that took place later in the afternoon, participants emphasized the importance of visible wins, replicable project models, equitable engagement and leadership, and a regionally aligned narrative for resilience, achievable through a strong network that enables collective action. The Forum’s discussions, panels, and action planning will guide C2ES and Accelerator participants in developing the forthcoming Regional Action Roadmap for Heat and Smoke Resilience in the South-Central Puget Sound. The Roadmap will help refine the Accelerator’s focus during its second year in Washington.