The CSCI is a new, national enterprise designed to increase the capacity of communities across the United States to address climate-related impacts, with a central commitment to prioritizing the needs and engagement of communities on the front lines of the climate crisis. The four-year initiative will facilitate the development of equitable climate resilience plans and projects by providing direct support through a competitive grantmaking program, as well as a host of other resources, including a dynamic training program for climate resilience practitioners and community champions, and coming soon, an online Knowledge Sharing Platform.

2024 Pilot Year Opportunities

The CSCI is currently seeking candidates for the 2024 pilot phase of the program. In this phase approximately ten communities will be selected to receive capacity building support and technical assistance from expert climate services professionals. 

CSCI awards will enable communities to better understand and address their vulnerabilities to climate-related impacts by working with a trained climate resilience practitioner over a 12-month period. Practitioner-community teams will work together to develop or advance a climate resilience plan or project using the Steps to Resilience (StR) framework.

How to Apply

There are three ways to pursue funding, represented by the graphic below.

Who Should Apply

Communities 

Community and local government leaders: Act now! Complete this short quiz to find out if your community is eligible and indicate interest in applying for funding. If a community is eligible, they will receive instructions for the next step in the application process. 

Communities at any step in the Steps to Resilience process can apply. While Communities will gain capacity, customized guidance and technical support if selected, they must be prepared to dedicate time to working directly with a Climate Resilience Practitioner on a defined project over a 12-month period.

Eligible communities interested in participating in the 2024 pilot phase must complete a matching form. CSCI also welcomes indications of interest from communities for future rounds of funding, anticipated for 2025, 2026, and 2027.

Communities working together with a climate resilience practitioner then complete a full application.

Practitioners

To qualify for funding a Climate Resilience Practitioner must have completed the Steps to Resilience (StR) training.

• Climate practitioners: Coming soon! CSCI will announce the launch of an Adaptation and Resilience Practitioner Registry where you can list you or your organization and its expertise for interested communities to learn about you. In future years, CSCI will use the registry to help match qualified practitioners with communities based on their interests and needs. 

CSCI Funding Priorities

The overarching vision for the CSCI is to mobilize the dissemination and use of climate science and information to support equitable, effective community-based climate resilience planning and implementation that features nature based solutions and sustainable outcomes.

CSCI will prioritize communities that are vulnerable to climate-related impacts and include historically underrepresented populations. The Initiative will prioritize communities with FEMA Community Disaster Resilience Zone (CDRZ) designations, the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool [CEJST], as well as other federal, state, and regional designations. Prospective Project Teams also will be provided an opportunity to describe how underrepresentation and vulnerability are experienced within the community in their own words during the application phase, after initial interest and eligibility are determined. 

In service of this vision, the Initiative will:

• Provide direct support to climate resilience practitioners through training in the Steps to Resilience (StR) framework, summarized in the chart above, and offering structured support to cohorts of adaptation practitioners and community champions.

• Build the capacity of local and regional decision-makers to develop and employ customized climate resilience plans or projects with the goal of increasing the resilience of their communities to climate-related risk and impacts.

• Feature a rigorously evaluated, replicable framework of practitioner engagement, community support, and resources (including funding and technical support) to accelerate the pace and effectiveness of climate resilience building planning
  

Additional Information about the Climate Smart Communities Initiative

CSCI awards will be made on a competitive basis to project teams (“Project Team”) composed of a climate resilience practitioner (“Practitioner”) and a community (“Community”), that is vulnerable to climate-related impacts, and includes historically underrepresented populations. Project Teams will be funded for one year to work together to develop or advance a finance-ready, equitable, climate resilience plan or project. Practitioners will be required to ground their capacity building efforts in the Steps to Resilience (StR) framework.

The CSCI Partnership

Announced by the White House in the fall of 2023, the CSCI operates under a cooperative agreement with NOAA, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act as a component of the federal government’s approach to the climate crisis. 

The CSCI is managed by a consortium of partners, including the Climate Resilience Fund (CRF), EcoAdapt, Fernleaf, Geos Institute, and ICF. The CSCI partnership works closely with the NOAA Climate Program Office on the administration of the initiative.  Other funders and agencies interested in partnering with the CSCI should contact info@climateresiliencefund.org.