Campaign Calls on Local Leaders to Enact Resilience Policy

More than 80 mayors and local officials have committed to advancing resilient principles in their communities, and numbers are expected to grow.

A new campaign called Resilient Communities for America (RC4A) is drawing on the power of mayors and other local officials to make communities across the nation more resilient. Quickly gathering momentum, the campaign has already collected more than 80 signatories since its launch in June 2013 and has the support of the ICLEI, the National League of Cities (NLC), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

The campaign promotes strategies that include transitioning to renewable energy sources, upgrading critical infrastructure, and diversifying local economies. Supporting partners are currently working on building a more specific policy agenda for leaders to create “customized, place-based policy platforms,” according to USGBC’s Jason Hartke, vice president of national policy and advocacy. Tools and resources will also be organized on an online platform that ICLEI will maintain.

Recently commanding a national stage at USGBC’s National Leadership Speaker Series, Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento, California, and national chair of RC4A, urged fellow mayors and county leaders to join the resiliency movement, and Hartke expects the RC4A campaign to gain even more exposure at the National League of Cities’ annual meeting in November 2013. “Ultimately, the campaign won’t be judged by the echo chamber of Washington, D.C.,” Hartke told EBN.“Local leaders, who have the most control over building codes, incentives, and zoning,” he said, “are in a unique position” to promote greater resilience.