Executive Summary
The aim of this project is to better understand how frontline communities define climate resilience and identify perceived factors that support or undermine resilience. Frontline communities are communities most affected by the impacts of climate change, and are disproportionately Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and lower-income compared to state averages. Resilience related to climate change is defined by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions as “the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate.” Better understanding community perspectives on resilience can open our understanding of potential solutions. Resilience is highly subjective, and to meaningfully capture it, it is imperative to center the perspectives of frontline communities. To fit the scope of this funding opportunity, this project will focus on Puget Sound, and findings will guide future engagement around Washington. This project will use a series of qualitative interviews with representatives of frontline communities and organizations that work with frontline communities around the Puget Sound region. From these interviews, themes will be developed to guide future indicator development and identify future pathways for research in this area. Our ultimate goal is to build on this enhanced understanding of resilience to support programming and policy development related to the Washington Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA), that will transition the state to clean electricity by 2045.