Announcing The State Resilience Partnership

We, the undersigned organizations, hereby establish the State Resilience Partnership to develop and curate expertise and research supporting state leaders as they craft resilience plans, policies, and programs across the United States. Together our organizations represent nonprofits, academic institutions, and networks of practitioners working at all levels of government, pooling our collective resources and expertise to catalogue, propose, and elevate best practices and approaches supporting state resilience leaders – including governors, legislators, cabinet secretaries, and resilience officers.

As the costliest and most common natural hazard, flooding has cost our nation more than $900 billion in damages and economic losses since 2000, with no state spared. State officials, the linchpins between federal resources and local needs, are exploring more proactive roles to better prepare communities for the rising impacts of natural hazards. With more than 15 states devising comprehensive approaches to resilience, including at least 10 launching efforts in the last two years, current demand for state-scaled plans, policies, and programs is unprecedented. These recent state initiatives are working to break silos across agencies and localities to better understand risks and create new systems that support solutions. Despite the growing trend, there is no established practice or network of experts to inform statewide resilience frameworks.

The State Resilience Partnership will address this need by offering resources, expertise, and curated research to fill knowledge gaps identified by public officials, practitioners, and the undersigned organizations. Although our initial focus is on flooding, the State Resilience Partnership’s aim is to support state leaders holistically – recognizing the multi-hazard mandates established in many states and reflecting a multisectoral approach to address the comprehensive impacts of natural hazards on communities.

Mission

The undersigned organizations commit to collaborating and leveraging resources and capacity to achieve the following shared objectives:

The State Resilience Partnership is a non-lobbying, non-advocacy resource to inform the work of state resilience practitioners and officials. Therefore, no lobbying activities at any level or within any unit of government will occur under the Partnership’s banner.

Values

The undersigned organizations of the State Resilience Partnership mutually agree to advance the following values foundational to effective state resilience.

As communities around the country continue to experience the economic and humanitarian impacts of flooding, state governments must take an active stance to ensure equitable and effective approaches. By launching the State Resilience Partnership, we commit to supporting state-level stakeholders as they move the needle towards much-needed comprehensive resilience solutions.

Signed,