Partnership for Resilient Communities

The Partnership for Resilient Communities (PRC) works to transform the national urban climate resilience field by increasing the number of leaders of color in the urban field of practice, advancing approaches that build the resilience of people and places through influence-building and policy approaches, community education and engagement, and the installation of clean energy and green infrastructure.

America’s history of racial discrimination, particularly in land-use planning and community development investment decisions, has directly harmed the climate resilience of historic neighborhoods of color, rendering these urban communities most vulnerable to climate change.

Building on the understanding of the three interrelated planning scales: the neighborhood, the community garden network, and the individual community garden, Now Quedamos will provide a foundation for leveraging the existing garden sites into a community wide system of productive open spaces for farming, recreation, social gatherings, respite, horticulture, and resiliency. The Neighborhood Open Space Resiliency Masterplan will be a Melrose Commons-specific roadmap for transforming the gardens into a system of vibrant public open spaces.

The plan will seek ways to leverage these spaces into multi-functional assets that contribute to the everyday well-being of its citizens and overall socio-ecological health. In addition, such spaces will have the potential to serve as easily accessible, critically important community beacons and assistance centers in extreme circumstances, helping to address the immediate needs of neighbors undergoing stresses that may result from severe weather or other harsh events.

During the 6-month planning process, we hope to achieve two primary goals: increasing community engagement and involvement, and increasing organizational capacity.

It has always been the position from Nos Quedamos’s founding, that community engagement is the most important of outcomes that should result from Nos Quedamos’s supportive role in the neighborhoods we serve.

Nos Quedamos serves as a point of contact and support, with the expectation and belief that our ability to impact the conditions within the community is dependent upon developing an informed and engaged constituency.

Our plan includes bringing on Hester Street to provide capacity building support and strategic planning guidance; hiring a Project Manager to ensure that the capital funding projects to not add additional burdens to current staff, and to augment the findings of Hester Street and project completion; providing additional staff development via the Partnership for Resilient Communities; and the identification and pursuit of like-minded funders to support our growth.

Partnership for Resilient Communities (PRC)

  • Building on the understanding of the three interrelated planning scales: the neighborhood, the community garden network, and the individual community garden, Now Quedamos will provide a foundation for leveraging the existing garden sites into a community wide system of productive open spaces for farming, recreation, social gatherings, respite, horticulture, and resiliency. The Neighborhood Open Space Resiliency Masterplan will be a Melrose Commons-specific roadmap for transforming the gardens into a system of vibrant public open spaces.
  • The plan will seek ways to leverage these spaces into multifunctional assets that contribute to the everyday well-being of its citizens and overall socio-ecological health. In addition, such spaces will have the potential to serve as easily accessible, critically important community beacons and assistance centers in extreme circumstances, helping to address the immediate needs of neighbors undergoing stresses that may result from severe weather or other harsh events.
  • During the 6-month planning process, we hope to achieve two primary goals: increasing community engagement and involvement, and increasing organizational capacity.
  • It has always been the position from Nos Quedamos’s founding, that community engagement is the most important of outcomes that should result from Nos Quedamos’s supportive role in the neighborhoods we serve.
  • Nos Quedamos serves as a point of contact and support, with the expectation and belief that our ability to impact the conditions within the community is dependent upon developing an informed and engaged constituency.
  • Our plan includes bringing on Hester Street to provide capacity building support and strategic planning guidance; hiring a Project Manager to ensure that the capital funding projects to not add additional burdens to current staff, and to augment the findings of Hester Street and project completion; providing additional staff development via the Partnership for Resilient Communities; and the identification and pursuit of like-minded funders to support our growth.

Download the network cohort list HERE

PRC Cohort Across the Country (map)