Resilience Roundtables Wrap-up

Sharyn Main, photo by Sarita Relis courtesy of the Community Environmental Council

In the summer of 2019, Sharyn Main took the lead on creating a new program at the Community Environmental Council focused on building community climate resilience. Sharyn, climate resilience program director and CEC’s chief executive officer, Sigrid Wright, planned to launch the program with a roundtable series bringing together key leaders and climate practitioners responsible for climate change planning and decisions that determine how we respond to the climate crisis. Many of the agencies and community based organizations working on climate resilience were still operating in silos, working to meet their own individual mandates, but CEC felt it was necessary to seek common goals and ways to work together. They wanted to design the series in a way that would be catalytic and open up pathways to the change needed.

 As they considered that goal, Sharyn asked if LegacyWorks would partner with them to design and facilitate the roundtables series. We were just eighteen months out from the Thomas Fire and 1/9 Debris Flow, and Australia was burning like never before. Our team answered with a resounding YES. We dove in and co-created a roundtable series that supported participants to show up openly and authentically with their hopes, fears and grief about the climate crisis. We designed each roundtable to surface the key actions and undertakings needed to build resilience through a process that forged trust, strengthened ties, and promoted collaboration. 

photo by Sarita Relis courtesy of the Community Environmental Council

 We launched the series with a Wildfire and Smoke Roundtable in November 2019, gathering 130 community leaders including elected leaders, fire chiefs, foundation leaders, and environmental and social justice advocates. The event met or exceeded all of our hopes and goals. We had a second roundtable in March 2020 on Sea Level Rise and Flooding with another 130 community leaders, days before the pandemic shut down in-person gatherings. We pivoted to virtual events and shifted to a focus on equity and frontline communities, co-hosting the remaining roundtables in Spanish and English with climate justice and social justice organizations. In total the five roundtables engaged more than 580 community leaders who generated more than 700 resilience initiative ideas. 

 “LegacyWorks created a beautiful inclusive space for rich dialog and meaningful input to occur, When all voices and perspectives are equally considered and respected you really begin to build trust -- from the social justice advocate to the County CEO, and that’s what’s needed to create just and equitable climate resilience.” – Sharyn Main

You can learn more at CEC’s website dedicated to the series at resource.cecsb.org.

 When we launched the series, we were entering into a fire season unlike any other in the history of the western United States. And we were just six months out from the emergence of COVID-19. Now, two years later, resilience to these complex challenges is our top community priority. Building resilience takes all of us showing up authentically, prioritizing projects that address climate and equity, and working together to implement them. Sharyn, the CEC team and all the partners who made the Resilience Roundtable Series a success understand that. It’s our pleasure and privilege to be part of that growing movement. Despite the fear and grief the climate crisis brings, we’re deeply optimistic about what’s ahead thanks to the growing network of partners committed to building a resilient and equitable community.