SCC-CIVIC-PG Track A: Enhancing the Capacity for Environmental and Social Resiliency in Overburdened Communities

有色人种社区往往处于环境危害的前沿。研究表明，这些社区中所有年龄段的人都不成比例地受到环境危害的影响，包括恶劣的空气和水质。随着极端高温、干旱、洪水和野火等日益恶化的气候相关灾害威胁着美国各地的社区，这些一线社区往往首当其冲，受到的影响也是最严重的。在城市和农村社区，气候变化和相关的环境危害都对当地经济和人们的身心健康产生负面影响。为了应对这些对繁荣和人类福祉的威胁，需要采取新方法，使社区能够设想和建设一个有复原力的未来。该项目将开发解决这一问题的工具，特别是使社区能够参与复原力规划的方法。该方法以地方为基础，注重社区价值和愿望，并强调为自己设想一个有弹性的未来的方法——更健康的生活、工作和娱乐场所。这种方法将使社区能够确定它们自己的挑战和解决方案，从而改善与技术专家和决策者的对话。该方法是多生命周期和交叉的，因此转换可以跨代持续进行。如果成功，这项研究将在当地社区建立设想复原力的能力，并将导致可在许多其他地方采用的有效方法。2021年，华盛顿州立法机构通过了《人人享有健康环境法》，旨在解决环境不公正问题。它在一定程度上通过将国家机构必须为“有意义地参与”负担过重的社区创造条件来实现这一目标，即那些受到气候危机不成比例影响的人。然而，《治愈法案》并没有说明公众参与是多么有意义。为了弥补这一差距，该项目建议开发一个设想复原力工具包，并在社区驱动的研讨会上进行测试，让社区成员学习如何为有意义的参与创造条件。这将通过设想基于地的复原力，并根据社会、技术和生态特征定义基于地的解决方案来实现。“设想复原力工具包”将在华盛顿州进行试点，其目标是成功实现四项研究和实践成果：1)提高规划社会和环境复原力的能力；2)基于地域的多生命期弹性概念模型；3)社区成员和利益相关者之间相互学习和对话的方法；4)一个多功能工具包，使负担过重的社区能够与国家机构互动。该项目是对公民创新挑战项目（track b）的回应，旨在弥合基本资源与服务和社区需求之间的差距，是国家科学基金会、国土安全部和能源部之间的合作项目。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Communities of color are often at the frontlines of environmental hazards. Research shows that people of all ages in such communities are disproportionally impacted by environmental hazards, including poor air and water quality. As worsening climate-related disasters, such as extreme heat, drought, floods, and wildfires, threaten communities across the United States, these frontline communities often experience the first and the worst of the impacts. In urban and rural communities alike, climate change and interrelated environmental hazards negatively affect local economies and people’s physical and mental health. To address these threats to prosperity and human well-being, new approaches are needed that enable communities to envision and build a resilient future. This project will develop tools to address this, specifically methods that empower communities to engage in resilience planning. The approach is place-based, focused on community values and aspirations, and emphasizes methods for envisioning a resilient future for themselves – more healthy places to live, work, and enjoy recreation. The approach will position communities to identify their own challenges and solutions, thereby improving dialogue with technical experts and policymakers. The approach is multi-lifespan and intersectional, so that transformations can be sustained across generations. If successful, this research will build capacity in local communities for envisioning resilience and will lead to effective methods that can be employed in many other places. In 2021, the Washington State Legislature passed the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act, which seeks to address environmental injustice. It does so in part by putting into law that State agencies must create the conditions for “meaningful involvement” with overburdened communities, that is, with people who are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. However, the HEAL Act does not say how meaningful public involvement is to take place. To address this gap, the project proposes to develop an Envisioning Resilience Toolkit and test it in community-driven workshops where community members learn how to create the conditions for meaningful involvement. This will be done by envisioning place-based resilience and defining place-based solutions in terms of social, technological, and ecological features. The Envisioning Resilience Toolkit will be piloted across the state of Washington with the goal of successfully achieving four research and practice outcomes: 1) improved capacity to plan for social and environmental resilience; 2) place-based, multi-lifespan conceptual models of resilience; 3) methods for mutual learning and dialog between community members and stakeholders; and 4) a versatile toolkit, which empowers overburdened communities in their interactions with State agencies.This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program—Track B. Bridging the gap between essential resources and services & community needs—and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.