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Emerald Coast RC Leads Resilience Review of Military Installations
The Emerald Coast RC kicked off a Regional Military Installation Resilience Review (MIRR) which will assess resilience threats to infrastructure that supports the Emerald Coast’s military assets. The military relies on transportation, electricity, stormwater, and other infrastructure managed by local governments or utilities. The project will identify and analyze potential vulnerabilities to key off-base infrastructure that supports military facilities, service members, civilian employees, and their families. The goal is to develop action plans and identify funding to mitigate risk and increase community resiliency in the face of these hazards.
 
Northwest Florida is home to some of the nation’s most significant military facilities. The Gulf Coast is subject to many potential threats to military readiness. These include, among others, flooding, wildfire, extreme heat events, and increased frequency and severity of storms. The Department of Defense – Office of Local Community Cooperation and the Florida Defense Support Task Force are funding the MIRR to support and deepen the close relationship among the military installations and communities of the Emerald Coast. The goal of the process is to increase collaboration among military installations and the surrounding communities to ensure that commonly used infrastructure is dependable even in extreme weather events.
 
The MIRR for the Emerald Coast regions will:
 
  • Identify, assess, and map natural and made-made threats to military installations.
  • Model potential military mission consequences of identified vulnerabilities.
  • Create a comprehensive strategy to address and mitigate risks.
  • Develop a framework for ongoing collaboration to support resilience for the Emerald Coast’s military installations and surrounding communities.
 
To support this planning process, ECRC will establish Policy and Technical Advisory Committees. Local workshops and direct outreach will provide additional feedback and comments.
Tampa Bay RPC Wins National Award
The National Association of Regional Councils presented its 2023 Leadership and Achievement Awards on June 6th during an awards ceremony held at the NARC 57th Annual Conference & Exhibition.  The Tampa Bay RPC won an Achievement Award for its Regional Resiliency Action Plan. The Action Plan is a living document created to address resilience challenges prioritized by intergovernmental and community collaboration and intended to guide action over the next five years. The Regional Resiliency Action Plan aligns with federal agency resiliency goals and international best practices. It includes 11 high-level goals with dozens of objectives and recommended actions for local implementation and regional collaboration.
Central Florida RPC Hosts Economic Recovery Workshop
Causing more than $109 billion in damages statewide, Hurricane Ian impacted the counties of the Central Florida RPC as a major hurricane. To facilitate coordinated inter-agency response and recovery activities and supplement state, tribal and local response efforts in the affected areas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency activated the National Disaster Recovery Framework. As a part of this framework, the Economic Development Administration works with federal, state, and regional partners on the post-disaster recovery mission. Partnering with Florida’s Regional Planning Councils and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, EDA facilitated regional events to enable strategic conversations between local, state, and regional stakeholders and federal agencies.

The Central Florida RPC hosted the Central Florida Economic Recovery and Resiliency Workshop in Arcadia on March 23, 2023. The workshop provided an opportunity for local policy makers, county administrative staff and economic development planners to discuss the framework for implementation of goals, strategies, and actions the region may pursue to achieve economic recovery and resiliency.