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Geos Institute helps communities build resilience in the face of climate change
Climate Ready Communities

Helping small to medium sized communities create climate resilience plans with an assisted “Do-It-Yourself” approach:

The Practical Guide to Building Climate Resilience

The core element of the Climate Ready Communities program is the comprehensive Practical Guide to Building Climate Resilience. This Guide is structured as a task by task, step by step framework that includes many on-the-ground ideas and free resources for implementing each task. This framework is based on the Whole Community Resilience approach that the ClimateWise team has developed over its years of experience helping communities.

The Guide is available at no cost, making it accessible to all communities regardless of size or budget.

Support Package

For those communities that want additional support and resources when using the Guide, we offer a 2-year Support Package:

  • Access to downloadable templates for many of the Tasks under each Step in the Guide
  • Video tutorials for key concepts in the Guide
  • Access to a library of climate resilience webinars
  • A 1 hour get-acquainted phone call with Geos Institute staff
  • Access to a subscriber portal
  • An online forum for communications between subscriber communities and with the Geos Institute
  • Allows users to track progress as they move through steps and tasks

Other Services

Other Services may be used to supplement the Guide and the Support Package or may be used independently.
  • Blocks of consulting time
  • Local climate change projections
  • On-site facilitation, with optional documentation of workshop results
  • Webinars on climate and resilience-related topics
  • Final report writing

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“The Climate Ready Communities program is off to a great start. I was one of the Beta reviewers for this program in March 2018, and was impressed by the breadth and detail of the information provided in the Practical Guide for Developing Climate Resilience. The Geos Institute’s 7-step framework for developing climate resilience provides a systems approach that a community can actually use and the Guide covers a range of useful topics from community engagement to developing a task force. The tutorials, templates and website will help a community like ours navigate the resilience building process.”

Dena Winslow, tribal planner and grant writer, Aroostook Band of MicMacs, Presque Isle, ME

“Climate Ready Communities has given the City of Warren the means and resources necessary to begin meaningful dialogues about climate change, mitigation, and adaptation in a way that leads to community-driven actions that can be implemented by way of local and county governments through actions organized by steering committees.”

City of Warren, MN

“The Climate Ready Communities program has been extremely relevant and useful for Sierra CAMP as a regional collaborative. The comprehensive guide with its step-by-step organization helps us and our member communities break the climate resilience planning process into manageable steps and build our internal technical expertise. We’ve found the Annual Support service to be valuable for our Peer Group in demonstrating specific adaptation case studies, and we’ve had a chance to utilize the consulting hours to conceptualize and plan key regional initiatives like the regional vulnerability assessment.”

Nikki Caravelli, Sierra CAMP Project Manager, Sierra Business Council

“We find these tools to be effective and designed with a community user’s perspective in mind. We appreciate the step-by-step approach as well as the fact that the program is flexible, allowing us to make modifications as needed to fit our specific circumstances. We also appreciate the opportunity to consult with the experts at the Geos Institute as we go through the process.”

Diana Maneta, Missoula County’s Energy Conservation and Sustainability Coordinator

“The Climate Ready Communities program has been an excellent tool for Corinth. It provides clear steps and expert guidance. The backing of the Geos Institute provides credibility and helps to build momentum for our resilience planning. Our participation in the Climate Ready Communities pilot has put us much further along in the climate resilience planning process than I believe we otherwise would be.”

Patrick Hubbard, Development Coordinator for the City of Corinth, TX