Forging Resilience
We build free toolkits to encourage local, collaborative problem-solving for local environmental challenges.
Our vision
At the heart of Forging Resilience is the belief that healthy, vibrant communities can adapt to changing circumstances—including climate impacts. Such communities are resilient, inclusive, and resourceful—able to discuss difficult concerns and identify and enact solutions that work for the entire community.
Our goal is to bridge the gap between climate solutions posed by experts and the on-the-ground obstacles that prevent individuals and communities from adopting those solutions.
What we do
We support public libraries, museums, and other cultural institutions as community anchors by providing free resources for building civic participation around environmental challenges.
Forging Resilience starts with a host institution—usually a public library or a museum—but relies on community members to actively participate, engage in good faith, and enact solutions. Use of the toolkit involves many actors:
- Host institutions use our toolkits to engage their community.
- Community members experience the tools in many ways:
- By visiting the exhibits
- By participating in and hosting Living Room Conversations
- By participating in and facilitating Skills Workshops
- By building consensus around and advocating for solutions
- Local institutions, groups, and leaders can participate as individuals and help host and facilitate the use of our tools.
- Local and regional experts can be called on for special lectures or collaborations to supplement the tools in this kit.
Our Toolkits
We are creating toolkits based on eleven topics, each one representing an environmental challenge faced by communities across the United States. While we tailor each toolkit to the community we send it to, we will soon make available for download a generalized toolkit guide for each topic.
In the meantime, you can learn about our inaugural toolkit on inland flooding and extreme rainfall and our upcoming toolkit on changing growing seasons! Click on the images below.
Inland Flooding & Extreme Rainfall
Inland flooding can ravage infrastructure, destroy farms and businesses, and upend daily life. Click on the image above to learn more.
Changing Growing Seasons
Changing frost patterns, pollination cycles, and precipitation can wreak havoc for farmers and home gardeners. (Webpage coming soon!)