Resilient Communities Research Consortium

Background

The Resilient Communities Research Consortium (RCRC) was formed to develop and perform an integrated, interdisciplinary research agenda for producing new knowledge and processes for helping rural and urban communities become resilient to: understand how communities view themselves; understand barriers and what factors commit a community to resilience building and maintenance engagement; understand what tools are effective for helping communities change resilience status; understand what specific hazards and vulnerabilities communities face, and to understand indicators of resilience. The Consortium is a forum for academic, industry and government entities to explore common interests and develop programs for applying knowledge and technologies to helping communities become more resilient to adverse events.

The Consortium research agenda addresses community participation and resilience knowledge gap in these areas:

Understanding how communities view themselves.
Identifying barriers and incentives that are factors for community engagement in resilience building;
Defining and developing effective tools for helping communities change resilience status;
Understanding specific hazards and vulnerabilities that communities face;
Understanding what the indicators of resilience are; and,
Evaluating research-based approaches to outreach technical assistance programs for helping community establish and maintain resilience.