Lane County

At a Glance

Industry

Government/Public Administration

Project Types

Climate Justice/Energy Equity, Engagement and Behavior Change, Goals/Targets

Year

2024

Location

Eugene, OR

Summary

Brooke Rose created a rural community engagement framework to enhance both community and climate resilience.

Goals

The goal of this fellowship was to design a participatory engagement framework tailored for and co-designed with rural residents in the Coast Range area of the County. This framework focused on identifying community needs and assets for establishing resilience hubs and a broader resilience network to serve residents daily, during emergencies, and can assist with a disaster recovery effort.

Solutions

Rose approached this project with a three-part process: - Resilience hub research: By understanding the history of resilience hubs, how they are developed, and how they are defined,Rose was able to synthesize key characteristics of resilience hubs to be used in developing the rural resilience network. - Community engagement in the target area: Building relationships with community partners was the heart of the fellowship. This included attending community events, completing tours of the region, and a series of virtual interviews. - Framework development: The rural community engagement framework synthesizes findings from community engagement activities and provides recommendations for establishing a resilience network in the target area.

Potential Impact

Creating a network of resilience hubs within the County is a priority identified through Lane County's Climate Action and Natural Hazards Mitigation Plans, thus this project helps them achieve their sustainability goals. Lane County is also the recipient of one of the inaugural Community Change Grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, which will fund the creation of six resilience hubs in the county. The work done for this fellowship will directly contribute to developing this county-wide resilience network and inform future approaches taken in other rural communities.

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