(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser joined 100 Resilient Cities - Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation (100RC), City Administrator Rashad Young, Senior Vice President of City Solutions Andrew Salkin, and local stakeholders at the Resilience Agenda-Setting Workshop. In 2016, Washington, DC was selected from more than 1,000 cities around the world to become part of the 100RC network, along with cities like Paris, New York, Bangkok, and Buenos Aires. As part of the 100RC network, the city receives technical support and resources to develop and implement a Resilience Strategy for handling natural and manmade challenges.
“As the nation’s capital, Washington, DC must be prepared to withstand any natural or man-made challenges that threaten our communities,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser. “This partnership will not only enable us to increase the resilience of our citywide systems, it will also help us tackle the social challenges that come with being a fast-growing city. As we continuously work to address these challenges, the 100 Resilient Cities network and The Rockefeller Foundation will be invaluable partners.”
The Resilience Agenda-Setting Workshop is one of the District’s first public engagements in the partnership with 100RC. The workshop brought a diverse set of stakeholders from across city government and the private sector, non-profits, NGO’s, academia, and civic groups into the planning process. The goal of the workshop was to uncover all the threats the city is facing, including those previously unknown, while unveiling resilience building tools and plans to address those threats.
“Washington, DC is helping fuel global momentum around building urban resilience, and leading by example,” said Andrew Salkin, Senior Vice President for City Solutions, 100 Resilient Cities. “Today’s agenda workshop clarified the city’s needs, surfaced innovative thinking, and gave us a blueprint for engaging partners from across sectors to bring the District the tools and resources needed to become more resilient.”
The District’s resilience strategy will be a holistic, action-oriented plan to build partnerships and alliances as well as financing mechanisms, and will pay particular attention to meeting the needs of vulnerable populations. The Resilience Agenda-Setting Workshop began the process of identifying priorities, actions, and metrics, and the plan will be drafted over the next year. Following the workshop, the District will name a Chief Resilience Officer who will lead the city’s resilience efforts and continue to engage stakeholders, resilience experts, and 100RC staff in drafting a comprehensive Resilience Strategy.
To date, 100RC has invested over $164 million to support urban resilience in 100 cities around the world.