Centering Equity in Community Resilience
Citation:
Reilly, I., B. Kiessling, K. Maxwell, E. Eisenhauer, S. Julius, M. Fry, M. Matsler, L. Oliver, M. Shacklette, P. Varner, AND K. Roemer. Centering Equity in Community Resilience. Presented at 2023 EPA International Decontamination Research and Development Conference, Charleston, SC, December 05 - 07, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
The Equitable Resilience Builder (ERB) was created to address the importance of equity in community resilience plans. This presentation for an audience of decontamination waste researchers and practitioners will showcase the ways in which the ERB tool is unique through centering equity in the resilience planning process.
Description:
Hazardous and polluting sites have historically been disproportionately sited in low-income and underrepresented communities, placing these communities at the frontlines during contamination events. Coupled with the increasing threat of other disasters like flooding and extreme heat, these communities have an even greater need to build resilience. Unfortunately, few tools exist that address the important connection between social vulnerability, equity, and resilience. The Equitable Resilience Builder (ERB) was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development to address this need. The ERB tool is designed to help local planners and decision-makers build community resilience by guiding them through all phases of a resilience building process – from identifying and recruiting members to the core team and setting goals to implementing community prioritized resilience projects. ERB centers equity in resilience planning processes by guiding users through identifying and conducting outreach to disproportionately impacted community members, reducing barriers to engagement, and actively encouraging participation in workshops. ERB encourages users to recognize traumas that exist among members of their community and actively work to understand the root causes of social, economic, and health inequities that contribute to them. ERB utilizes established social science practices like storytelling to promote respect and empower local voices, particularly those that have been historically underrepresented, underserved, and disproportionately impacted by hazards. Additionally, ERB users are regularly prompted to reflect on their progress and re-evaluate if any community perspectives are missing from workshop activities so that they can actively work to fill such gaps with appropriate voices. Through emphasizing community engagement, empowering local knowledge, and respecting and incorporating underrepresented perspectives from the community the ERB helps users build a stronger sense of community trust and develop resilience plans and projects that have benefits equitably distributed across the community. Decontamination poses significant challenges to U.S. communities, particularly those that experience significant equity challenges. In this presentation, we will detail specific ways that ERB incorporates equity in resilience planning and explain how decontamination practitioners can apply ERB to their own work.