Virginia faces challenges related to coordinating state-level resilience planning, programs, and funding efforts, which are dispersed across multiple agencies and secretariats. Additionally, many of Virginia’s localities lack the capacity to address resilience in their communities. Finally, Virginia’s current structure hampers the Commonwealth’s ability to capture federal dollars and does not provide localities with the support they need to address challenges at a local level.
Under the direction of the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources of Virginia and the Governor’s appointed Chief Resilience Officer (CRO), Travis A. Voyles, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) convened the Resilience Coordination Working Group (RCWG), an administrative working group. The CRO charged the RCWG to develop a set of recommendations on improving strategies for interagency and intergovernmental coordination and maximizing funding opportunities in planning for and implementing flood resilience throughout the Commonwealth.
The Center for Public Policy (CPP) within Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs facilitated monthly working group sessions by guiding a collaborative and productive process.