The vision of the Scaling Portfolio of the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative is to accelerate climate adaptation in the Northwest, across the Climate Adaptation Partnerships network and in state and federal climate resilience programs and policies. 

The Scaling Portfolio is designed to broaden and strengthen the Collaborative’s work by: 

• Connecting frontline communities with resources, especially staffing, to increase capacity and enhance the ability of organizations to self-organize on climate resilience
• Sharing insights from the Tribal Coastal and Rural portfolios out to similar communities
• Influencing the entities shaping the laws, policies and investment strategies that will determine future community resilience.

The Scaling Resilience Portfolio is one of three areas of work for the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative, a participatory program designed to support frontline communities.
Learn more about the Resilience Collaborative.

Our Team

Portfolio staff:

Esther Min Front & Centered	Jason Vogel UW Climate Impacts Group	Rishi Sugla  UW Climate Impacts Group	Solana (Ruff) Granados UW Climate Impacts Group
Zackery Thill UW Climate Impacts Group

Project Team: Front and Centered, University of Washington Climate Impacts Group

Our Work

The Scaling Portfolio is working on several projects that advance understanding of how frontline and community-based organizations build climate resilience, how frontline organizations characterize or define climate resilience and adaptation, and how decision-makers and natural resource managers can better engage and meaningfully collaborate with frontline organizations on resilience projects. These include:

Connecting with community organizations in Seattle, Wash. The Scaling portfolio is working with the Duwamish Valley Neighborhood Preservation Coalition – a community-based organization focused on housing justice in South Park, Seattle – to provide technical expertise that connects housing policy with climate impacts and climate justice in South Park, and develop communications products that help communicate the linkages between housing policy and climate impacts to local stakeholders.

Developing a Climate Justice summer program.
Climate Impacts Group researchers are designing a summer school program focused on climate and environmental justice and co-production. This four-to-five week program will invite early career researchers from diverse academic backgrounds to meet in person and learn about the theory and practice of climate justice. 

Using storytelling as a method for climate adaptation. Alongside the Pacific RISA and documentary film production company Tikkun Olam, several Climate Impacts Group researchers are testing oral histories and documentary storytelling as a novel method of data-gathering for climate adaptation and resilience. The oral histories will be used as part of a design process that helps inform justice-centered climate adaptation planning, particularly in response to inland and coastal flooding. 

Engaging frontline community-based organizations. Sugla has met with and engaged 12 new community-based organizations and expanded awareness of the Resilience Collaborative across a number of organizations that represent frontline communities. These organizations include food sovereignty organizations in King County, Washington, BIPOC-led advocacy-in-action organizations such as Lake City Collective, and organizations focused on transportation justice and its links to climate such as Transportation Choice Coalition and BikeWorks.

Get Involved 

For any questions or concerns, please contact the project technical lead, Rishi Sugla (rsugla@uw.edu). 

Related Resources

An Unfair Share Report

The result of a unique collaboration among community organizations and researchers, the Unfair Share report aims to support ongoing discussions regarding the climate change-related hazards facing communities in Washington, with a special emphasis on communities of color, indigenous peoples and communities with lower incomes. It clarifies how communities may be exposed differently to climate-related hazards and how factors like race/ethnicity, wealth, income, level of education and health status affect the ability to cope with climate impacts, or related harms.

READ REPORT

Climate Resilience Art Collaboration

The climate resilience art project was a collaborative effort between local artist Claire Sianna Seaman, Climate Impacts Group researchers, tribal representatives and an artist mentor. The painting captures the work of researchers and communities to build climate resilience over the last 25 years and envisions a future Northwest that is healthier, more equitable and more resilient to change.

LEARN MORE

Our funders and supporters

As a component of the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative, the Scaling Resilience Portfolio is supported by the NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships Program (formerly known as the NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments Program). Additional support comes from the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington, the University of Washington, UW EarthLab and the UW College of the Environment.