Resilience to Economic Disruptions

As seen throughout the pandemic, individual experiences varied widely. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, many lessons were learned that could be applied to mitigate the impacts of other future economic disruptions, such as public health emergencies, the departure of major employers, and cyberattacks. This lens applies to all sectors, from public health to education. Still, when understanding the long-lasting impact of the pandemic on local economies, these learnings can help address historical inequities. 

Considerations

Identify gaps in access to pandemic-related support. When looking backward at what happened during the pandemic and how those factors influenced the region’s economic recovery, understand who did and did not receive relief funding and why. Small businesses in communities of color faced barriers in accessing pandemic relief funding, with barriers spanning a lack of outreach and communication, historical distrust, access to financial institutions they did not previously have relationships with, and digital access. Engage the community to adjust the program design and requirements to ensure equitable access to funding in the future.  

Continue measuring the economic impacts of the pandemic. Early in the pandemic, impact metrics became critical, in both case counts and hospital capacity, but also in understanding the impact on the local workforce and small businesses. As EDDs created data metrics and dashboards, continue using these metrics, alongside disaggregated equity metrics, to understand the longer-term impact of the pandemic on the community. Given that the pandemic is ongoing with new strains and additional public health concerns, these metrics can also help identify trends to build more equitable policies and programs in this new normal. 

Identify programs and models adopted in pandemic recovery. 2020 saw a surge in expanded social safety net programs, including increased unemployment benefits, rental vouchers, financial assistance, and increased healthcare access. Before the pandemic, many of these programs, such as guaranteed income programs, were rare, but during the pandemic and into recovery have flourished and scaled across communities. While many of these programs were short-term, outcomes and successes illustrated the potential for longer-term and larger-scale investment beyond the short-term of the pandemic economic recovery. These programs have powerful equity implications for communities of color, women, and geographies that have faced structural economic exclusion.

Invest in partnerships built through immediate COVID-19 responses. Given the scale and disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, new organizational partnerships were vital in distributing information, creating access to financial relief, and creating access to and building trust in vaccine distribution. These new partnerships, including strengthened public health partnerships and community-based organization relationships, should be just as critical in pandemic recovery as in pandemic response. Identify opportunities to pool resources from these partners to address equity gaps. 

Example: Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization | Indiana, Pop. 2,013,784 (8 counties)

In their 2022 CEDS, the MPO included equitable growth as a guiding principle for their overarching strategy. Their CEDS included a significant economic resilience framework focused on talent, business, and connectivity. Within this framework, staff outlined the creation of an occupational risk tool that incorporated COVID-19 risk and looked at digital access and broadband infrastructure gaps during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CEDS also clearly outlined the qualitative input that led to their strategies, including working group sessions, community newsletters, and roundtable participants. 

Resources 

National Economic Resilience Data Explorer (NERDE): Data on economic distress, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the emergence of industry clusters at the regional and local levels. 

Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker: Combines federal data and anonymized corporate data to provide a timeline of the economic impacts of COVID-19 from 2022 until today. These metrics include consumer spending, small business, employment, education, and public health. 

Natural disaster resiliency relies on strong partnerships between public, private, and non-profit stakeholders, and an understanding of the needs of historically excluded populations. Repeatedly, there are disparities in the ability to evacuate safely, access protective infrastructure, or access financial assistance in recovery. These disparities reflect pre-existing structural inequalities, such as poverty and discrimination. In looking at the recovery process, these structural inequities can expand. Inclusive natural disaster resiliency planning focuses on involving the community in the planning process for relevant resources and support services. 

Considerations

Develop emergency management partnerships. Strategic partner involvement in developing and implementing the region’s CEDS is crucial, and disaster resiliency is no exception. As the region creates hazard mitigation plans, look at opportunities to strengthen and align these plans to the CEDS process. These joint efforts can ensure deeper and broader community engagement and incorporate equity considerations to reduce the potential economic impacts of natural disasters.

Ensure equity in disaster preparedness. To ensure regional equitable resilience, equity must be a core consideration of any preparedness efforts that the EDD/EDO undertakes. To the widening of economic gaps as the result of natural disasters, look across five core areas in planning efforts, including economic, environmental, social, administrative, and legal. 

Resource: What is Environmental Racism?

In looking at the future impacts of climate change, natural disasters, and pandemics, the history of environmental racism puts communities of color at greater risk. Environmental racism refers to the institutional policies and practices that have led to higher rates of hazardous waste disposal and resulting air and water pollution in communities of color. It also refers to the overexposure of indigenous communities to the effects of mining, oil extraction, and gas extraction. This history has led to a range of health conditions and further vulnerability to extreme weather events, environmental degradation, and the effects of climate change for communities of color. 

Example: Kawerak, Inc. | Alaska, Pop. 9196 (20 native villages)

In their 2019 CEDS for the Bering Straits region, a robust resiliency framework shared housing, energy, unemployment, skill development, and geography and distance needs. Given their sizable geographic footprint, work with 20 jurisdictions, and the historic disinvestment of Alaska Native communities, these considerations are crucial. They aligned these needs with strategies within the larger CEDS and outlined key disruptions and early-warning tools. These resilience efforts are also tied to larger efforts to invest in renewable energy infrastructure. 

Idea: Understand the Phases of Disaster

There are opportunities to address equity gaps from disaster preparation to recovery. Consider how the community has taken steps in the past to reduce these gaps at each stage. 

Prevention: Actions taken to reduce the impact of a disaster, including planning, economic, and education measures.  

Preparedness: The planning and preparation of partner roles, and responsibilities that ensure an adequate response reduce the impact of a disaster. 

Mitigation: Actions taken to prevent or reduce the cause, impact, and consequences of disasters. 

Response: The provision of services carried out immediately before, during, and immediately after the occurrence of a disaster or emergency. 

Recovery: Resolving the damage done by the disaster, beyond the initial emergency period, these can take the form of both short-term and long-term recovery strategies for residents and businesses.  

Learn more from IEDC’s RestoreYourEconomy.org platform. 

Resources 

CEDS and Hazard Mitigation Plan Alignment Guide: A collaborative guide from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the EDA, look at the potential to connect and link strategies across economic development and hazard mitigation planning. 

Performance Metrics for Economic Recovery following Natural Disasters: This series of nine case studies, published by IEDC, identifies locally based economic recovery indicators, including social equity indicators. 

Ten Principles for Building Resilience: A report from the Urban Land Institute explores ten economic, environmental, and social factors that contribute to resilience, including promoting equity, understanding vulnerabilities, and the cost of inaction. 

Community Resilience Estimates: This interactive tool from the Census Bureau calculates the percentage of residents facing various risk factors in natural disasters and emergencies, such as lack of health insurance, lack of internet access, and lack of vehicle access. Within the set of online maps, the data is available at the state or county level and for download at the county or census tract level. 

As illustrated by natural disasters, pandemics, and beyond, climate change will bring additional inequitable impacts that reflect systemic failures. Inclusive climate resiliency involves actively engaging underrepresented and vulnerable communities in developing climate adaptation and mitigation plans and providing access to resources and support services. 

Considerations

• Put equity at the center of any climate planning or goals. Research shows that most local government climate and sustainability plans do not include equity goals or treat them as an adjacent component. If equity is not a consideration as regions plan for climate change, historic inequities will only grow and shape social and economic equity for communities of color and geographies for the future. In defining climate goals, ensure that the goals are explicit about equity, including affordability, community engagement, and geographic impacts. Build additional accountability in the plan by reviewing all goals through an equity evaluation framework and crafting metrics that evaluate demographics and socioeconomic results. 

• Address planning and development impacts. As illustrated in the built environment and history of urban planning, climate change will not affect communities and residents equally. Even in the same city, heat islands, resulting from redlining and lack of green space, mean that low-income neighborhoods have higher temperatures, paying more for energy bills in homes that are usually less energy efficient, with significant long-term health concerns. When examining the physical landscapes of the local community, look at the circumstances leading to heat islands, among other environmental factors, and how they can be addressed. Consider infrastructure and urban planning efforts that can be undertaken to mitigate the inequitable environmental and health impacts, including the location of parks and transportation infrastructure.

• Enhance access to efficient and renewable energy options. To reduce the future impact of climate change, create affordable options and incentives to access efficient and renewable energy options, including solar energy, electric bikes, and energy-efficient appliances. Ensure that these programs prioritize and target key demographics and geographic areas in the community that face greater barriers to accessing these solutions. Work closely with community members and strategic partners to ensure these programs reach the intended audience. 

Idea: Create a Climate Equity Plan

Several cities have begun taking steps to identify, address, and mitigate the equity impacts of climate change. In Austin, Texas, the city’s plan, launched in September 2021, includes 17 goals and 74 strategies available to view in a live progress tracker. In creating the plan, the city created a Community Climate Ambassador program for resident engagement and evaluated all of the strategies through an equity tool for greater accountability and impact. Other cities have also undertaken similar planning efforts, including Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Richmond, Virginia; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. These plans may inspire the region to identify goals, strategies, and local community engagement on climate and economic resilience. 

Resource: CEDS Content Guidelines

The EDA has developed guidelines to “assist economic development practitioners with the development or update of a CEDS.” Among these guidelines are considerations to support climate resilience, including assessing risks and vulnerabilities, and prioritizing identified actions and implementation options. Review these guidelines for resources to bolster the CEDS. 

Example: Mid-America Regional Council | Missouri/Kansas, Pop. 1,186,175 (8 counties)

The council builds on the regional collaborative model established with KC Rising to create Climate Action KC. This coalition, with more than 100 local and state leaders, crafted a climate action plan to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 

Example: South Florida Regional Planning Council | Florida, Pop. 4,743,946 (3 counties)

Given their coastal location, the council identified climate change and sea level rise as the region's greatest challenge in their 2022 CEDS. Climate change and several significant hurricanes in recent history have prioritized resilience planning for the council. Critical outcomes identified in the economic resilience plan include creating a new emergency operations center, supporting low-wealth communities in launching sustainable businesses, and developing a coral restoration economy. The council also cited diversifying business and workforce opportunities beyond the hospitality and leisure industries. 

Example: Metropolitan Area Planning Council | Massachusetts, Pop. 4,432,617 (5 counties)

In their 2020 CEDS, the council focused on the issues of equity and inclusion by defining terms, explaining their importance, and framing goals around these issues. Their process and plan have three major themes: racial equity, economic resilience, and climate resilience. 

Resources 

• Headwaters Economics: An independent, non-profit research group with various analysis tools, including maps of climate change impact and maps of wildfire risk. 

• EJ Screen: A mapping and data tool from the EPA designed to provide users with access to a dataset that combines environmental and demographic indicators. 

• Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool: Created by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to help Federal agencies identify communities that are “marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.” 

• Maryland Climate Adaption and Resilience Framework Recommendations: An example of a state-level climate adaption plan that contains goals, policies, and implementation steps with justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion considerations.