One Block at a Time
One Block at a Time
Great Lakes communities experience frequent severe storms, flooding, and degraded water quality from expanding urbanization. Marginalized communities of low income, communities of color, and those lacking access to safe and stable neighborhoods are most impacted yet often have the fewest means to adapt to water quality and quantity concerns. Three Sea Grant programs (Illinois-Indiana, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania) and key collaborators and community partners addressed the impacts of flooding and extreme weather events through paired projects in four communities, focusing on local project coordination at the scale of a city block.
The Google Site linked in resources shares the One Block at a Time community engagement toolkit and summary information on accomplishments in four project communities. The toolkit includes process agendas, education and visualization resources, findings, outcomes, lessons learned, and recommendations for replication.
One Block at a Time is designed to engage local government and residents in developing community-planned green infrastructure projects within one city block to address flooding. The Once Block at Time project phases center on equitable, community-driven engagement and planning. The toolkit is organized based on each project phase:
- Background Assessment: Identification of climate hazards and vulnerabilities
- Community Visioning: Equitable, community-driven listening and visioning sessions to prioritize future opportunities to address hazards
- Implementation: Implementation of multi-benefit green infrastructure project and runoff education for community members
Kara Salazar
Assistant Program Leader for Community Development
salazark@purdue.edu