Digital Coast Connects is a partner-led effort to bring together local networks in a meaningful way to improve their effectiveness in addressing coastal issues. With available funding, NOAA supports on-the-ground projects focused on flood resilience. Project partners are also encouraged to bolster or bridge preexisting efforts that benefit underserved communities.
Completed Projects
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A Comprehensive, Coordinated Educational Campaign for Nature-Based Solutions
Developed by the American Planning Association, this report includes an inventory of Digital Coast partnership educational programs, related stakeholder feedback, and recommendations for the educational campaign.
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Identifying Open Space to Improve Resilience and Earn Community Rating System Credit
The Nature Conservancy and NOAA provided technical assistance to communities in the Gulf of Mexico to identify eligible open space within the floodplain to enhance resilience and lower insurance premiums. These communities were incorporated into the Conservancy’s web-based visualization tool— Community Rating System Explorer.
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Current Funded Projects
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Development of the Coastal No Adverse Impact How-to Guide
The Association of State Floodplain Managers will update the former Coastal No Adverse Impact Handbook and develop training opportunities in collaboration with other Digital Coast partners.
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Delaware’s Resilience Hub
With support from the Coastal States Organization, the Delaware Resilience Hub is hosting disaster preparedness trainings, distributing resilience kits with important emergency supplies, and providing shelter services for community members during a disaster.
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Wisconsin’s East River Collaborative
Led by The Nature Conservancy in partnership with Wisconsin's Coastal Management Program, this community of practice comprises local, state, and federal staff, nongovernmental organizations, and academic partners who have worked regionally to improve flood resilience, water quality, and community well-being in the East River watershed. This project will support information- and technology-sharing workshops focused on vulnerable communities in the watershed.
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Engagement Strategy Development to Support the Scuppernong Study in North Carolina
The North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve is leading the development of a collaborative engagement strategy. Through a series of community listening events, this effort—funded by the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association—will incorporate local flooding knowledge from rural, under-resourced, and underserved coastal communities into regional water management planning.
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Empowering Underserved, Frontline Communities through Knowledge Exchange, Narrative, and Tools in Rural Virginia
With funding from the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association, the Chesapeake Bay–Virginia Reserve is hosting regional workshops with local residents to discuss hazards and risks to generate community-led solutions to coastal inundation impacts in Virginia’s Middle Peninsula.