WASHINGTON — The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine today announced an award of more than $1.43 million to support 15 collaborations from Houston, Texas, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, in the planning of science-based and community-driven projects that advance disaster adaptation at the local level.

These awards are issued through the Adaptive Capacities for Transformation (ACT) Initiative, which leverages sciences, collaborations, and investments to promote health, resilience, and disaster adaptation. In its initial phase, the ACT initiative brought together representatives from different community sectors — local nonprofits, foundations, academia, and government — to collaborate on advancing shared disaster-related priorities that affect the health and resilience of their communities. With these awards, cross-sectoral working groups will be supported in strengthening relationships and developing innovative approaches for future project implementation.

“Integrated challenges need integrated solutions, and that requires collaboration,” said Francisca Flores, program officer and ACT lead. “The project ideas supported through these awards will provide groups, organizations, and institutions from across community sectors the opportunity to find common ground, pool assets, and act collectively in adapting to disasters.”

The awarded collaborations (by location) are as follows:

Houston

From Silos to Community-Centered Systems: Transforming Disaster Data and Communications Regionwide
Project Director: Brooke Campbell, United Way of Greater Houston
Award Amount: $100,000
Project Team:

• Air Alliance Houston

• American Red Cross

• City of Houston Office of Emergency Management

• Connective

• East End Communities

• Greater Houston Community Foundation

• Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

• Houston Public Media, University of Houston

• Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University

• Texas A&M University

• Texas Gulf Coast Regional Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)

• United Way of Greater Houston

• UTHealth School of Public Health

Resource Access Planning in Disaster (RAPID)
Project Director: Lharissa Jacobs, Fit Houston Inc.
Award Amount: $100,000
Project Team:

• Fit Houston Inc.

• Friends of Columbia Tap

• Houston Tool Bank

• McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston

• Spring Branch Family Development Center

Weathering the Storm Together: A Community-Based Planning Initiative to Develop Mental Health Resources for Houston
Project Director: Robert Bullard, Texas Southern University
Award Amount: $99,999
Project Team:

• Achieving Community Tasks Successfully (ACTS)

• Environmental Defense Fund

• Northeast Houston Redevelopment Council (NEHRC)

• Texas Southern University

• University of Houston

Strengthening Community Disaster Planning Capacity in Harris County*
Project Director: Rahbe Simmons, Harris County Public Health|
Award Amount: $71,500
Project Team:

• Air Alliance Houston

• East End Communities

• Harris County Public Health

• University of Texas Health Science Center Houston

*Pending final approval of the Harris County Commissioners Court

Closing the Data-to-Action Gap: Turning Survivor Reports into Coordinated Recovery with the Connective Survey*
Project Director: Elaine Morales, Connective
Award Amount: $98,952
Partnering Organizations:

• American Red Cross

• City of Houston, Office of Emergency Management

• Connective

• Harris Center for Mental Health & IDD (Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities)

• Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University

• Mi Familia en Accion

• Texas Gulf Coast Regional Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)

• United Way of Greater Houston/Greater Houston Disaster Alliance

*Pending final agreements

New Orleans

17th Ward Resiliency Plan: Community-Driven Design to Improve the Health and Wealth of OUR Neighborhood (OURWARD)
Project Director: Raymond Sweet, Hollygrove-Dixon Neighborhood Association
Award Amount: $100,000
Project Team:

• City of New Orleans Office of Resilience and Sustainability

• Hollygrove Neighbors Association

• Hollygrove-Dixon Neighborhood Association

• Teddleton Consulting

• Together Gert Town

• ·Xavier University of Louisiana

Planning Local Actions for Networked Solutions in Greater New Orleans (PLANS GNO)
Project Director: Regardt Ferreira, Tulane University – Consortium for Emergent Disaster Resilience
Award Amount: $99,938
Project Team:

• Bayou Community Foundation

• Common Ground Relief

• Grace at the Green Light

• Innovative Approaches Counseling Center

• Louisiana Just Recovery Network

• lowernine.org

• Tulane University – Consortium for Emergent Disaster Resilience

• Ubuntu Village NOLA

Catalyzing Green Infrastructure Implementation Through the Southeast Louisiana Adaptation Forum
Project Director: Joshua Lewis, Tulane University
Award Amount: $98,973
Project Team:

• City of New Orleans

• Greater New Orleans Foundation

• Louisiana Greencorps

• Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development

• Tulane University

• Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans

A Hurricanes Learning Ecosystem: Scaling Education for Collective Resilience
Project Director: Claire Anderson, Ripple Effect Water Literacy Project
Award Amount: $99,935
Project Team:

• Coalition for Compassionate Schools

• Greater New Orleans Foundation

• Ripple Effect Water Literacy Project

• Tulane University

• Urban Conservancy

Creating the Next Generation of Disaster Data Tools to Support Nonprofits, Foundations, and Government Agencies
Project Director: Andrew Holbein, VIA LINK Inc.
Award Amount: $62,348
Project Team:

• American Red Cross

• Benevolent Rural Alliance for Cultural and Environment Strategies

• Florida Parishes Regional Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)

• Greater New Orleans Foundation

• Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

• NECHAMA-Jewish Response for Disaster

• New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

• Ochsner Health/Louisiana Emergency Professionals Association

• Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana

• Together Louisiana

• University of New Orleans

• VIA LINK Inc.

Mobile 

Mobile County Disaster Health and Resilience Taskforce (DHRT)
Project Director: Ashley Williams, University of South Alabama
Award Amount: $99,949
Project Team:

• Bay Area Women’s Coalition

• Gulf States Health Policy Center

• Lifelines Counseling Services

• Mobile County Emergency Management Agency

• Mobile County Health Department

• Rising Phoenix Community Development Corporation

• University of South Alabama Health Trauma Division

• USA Health

Building a Community Resilience Network for Disaster Preparedness in Mobile County (M-CORE)
Project Director: Chandra Brown, Lifelines Counseling Services
Award Amount: $100,000
Project Team:

• Activate-Build-Connect Inc.

• Bay Area Women’s Coalition

• Gulf Coast Creation Care

• Gulf States Health Policy Center

• Lifelines Counseling Services

• Mobile County Health Department

• Rebuilding Together of South Alabama

• Rising Phoenix Community Development Corp.

• RUNWAY

• University of South Alabama

Community Health Workers for Broader, Resilient, and Improved Communities
Project Director: Tokie Dunn, Mobile County Health Department
Award Amount: $100,000
Project Team:

• Bay Area Women’s Coalition

• Gulf States Health Policy Center

• Mobile County Health Care Coalition

• Mobile County Health Department

• Rising Phoenix Community Development Corp.

• USA Health – Center for Healthy Communities 

Safer Places Working Group
Project Director: David Gilkeson, Community Foundation of South Alabama
Award Amount: $99,308
Project Team:

• City of Mobile

• Community Foundation of South Alabama

• Mobile County Emergency Management Agency

• The Nature Conservancy

• University of South Alabama 

A Collaborative Working Group Using Asset, Hazard, and Vulnerability Mapping to Advance Shared Resilience Strategies
Project Director: Mike Evans, Mobile County Emergency Management Agency
Award Amount: $100,000
Project Team:

• Bay Area Women’s Coalition

• City of Chickasaw Fire Department

• Mobile County Emergency Management Agency

• R. Cyril Services LLC

• Rebuilding Together of South Alabama

• Town of Dauphin Island

• University of South Alabama

The National Academies’ Gulf Research Program is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The GRP’s mission is to develop, translate, and apply science to enhance the safety of offshore energy, the environment, and the well-being of the people of the Gulf region for generations to come. It supports innovative science, guides data design and monitoring, and builds and sustains networks to generate long-term benefits for the Gulf region and the nation.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering, and medicine. The National Academies operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln.

Contact:
Pete Nelson, Director of Public Engagement and Communications
Gulf Research Program
email PNelson@nas.edu