Skip to section navigation
Skip to page content

Media and News

RAND's work in building and promoting resilient communities has been documented in a podcast series and other material collected below.

Podcasts

Resilient Communities: Building Strong Communities Through Affordable Housing
In this Resilient Communities podcast, we hear from Heather Schwartz, a policy researcher based in RAND's New Orleans office who studies the effects of integrating low- and middle-income families on the school experiences of children from low-income families.
Jul 16, 2012
Adapting to Climate Change on the Coast: Lessons from Louisiana for Federal Policy
In this January 2013 Congressional Briefing, Jordan Fischbach discusses how RAND helped Louisiana develop its 2012 Coastal Master Plan and key lessons that can make other communities more resilient in the face of natural disasters.
Jan 23, 2013
Remaking a School System in the Wake of Natural Disaster
In this Resilient Communities podcast, Jennifer Steele discusses the differences in policies and practices between charter and traditional schools in New Orleans, where charter-based reform spread in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
May 15, 2012
Resilient Communities: Creating Resilient Coastal Communities
In this Resilient Communities podcast, Jordan R. Fischbach discusses recent research that has helped the city of New Orleans address the challenge of reducing flood risk and is relevant to many other coastal communities that are concerned with water resources, infrastructure planning, rising sea levels, and flooding.
Feb 28, 2012
Resilient Communities: Creating a Community of Practice
In this Resilient Communities podcast, Admiral Thad Allen discusses the critical questions confronting the field of community resilience as well as a new toolkit developed by RAND researchers to support community disaster planning.
Dec 12, 2011

Blog Posts

State of the Union 2020: Insights from RAND
The final State of the Union address of President Trump's four-year term may be viewed through the lens of the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the evening. But the speech touched on a range of policy challenges that will remain, regardless of how politics play out in 2020.
Feb 5, 2020
Community Resilience Is Key in the Aftermath of Flint's Lead Water Crisis
For Flint to recover from this latest disaster, it will be critical for the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to invest in and implement strategies to build on existing community resilience and strengthen Flint's ability to bounce back.
Mar 9, 2016
Learning from One City's Effort to Transform Community
RAND researchers have partnered with the city of Santa Monica, California to redefine not just how cities measure success, but how they assess their very purpose for being. This “Wellbeing Index” posits that cities can improve not just the safety and comfort of their residents, but also their happiness.
Mar 8, 2016
What Hurricane Katrina Taught Us About Community Resilience
Hurricane Katrina left a path of destruction, death, and suffering in its wake. Its recovery, halting and incomplete as it has been, has taught us valuable lessons about resiliency.
Sep 8, 2015
Ebola Shows America Needs Better Disaster Preparedness
Crafting an effective, whole-community strategy to respond to Ebola could stop the spread of the disease now and lay groundwork for responses to future outbreaks and other emergencies. In the long run, this could make public preparedness and resilience valuable assets for the U.S.
Nov 7, 2014
3 Terrorism Risk Insurance Act Facts for Congress to Consider
With the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act set to expire this year, Congress is currently revisiting a crucial question: What is the appropriate government role in terrorism insurance markets? As the debate unfolds on Capitol Hill, policymakers should consider three key research findings.
Jun 12, 2014
One Year Later: Hurricane Sandy's Lessons in Resilience and Recovery
The recovery from Sandy shows once again that how well communities bounce back from disasters depends not just on how they react after a crisis, but on how resilient they have made themselves beforehand. Building community resilience should be part and parcel of disaster preparedness.
Nov 15, 2013
Translating Policy Into Action to Build Community Resilience
The philosophy and motivation surrounding community resilience has strongly resonated with community leaders but there remains a divide between how experts articulate resilience policy and how that policy translates to on-the-ground implementation. Building Community Resilience: An Online Training addresses that tension.
Sep 4, 2013
Moore Must Be Ready for Psychological Aftermath
Ensuring the availability of needed mental health resources was critical in the immediate aftermath and recovery phase of the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado. Authorities in Oklahoma must ensure that such services are in place early so that Moore's residents can begin the long journey to recovery.
May 31, 2013
Resources for Schools and Parents Following the Deadly Oklahoma Tornado
The toll of the tornado on school students in Moore, Oklahoma, cannot be overstated. To assist with recovery, RAND's CBITS program offers resources on psychological first aid for schools, as well as additional materials for educators and parents.
May 29, 2013
Planning for Superstorms, Wildfires, and Deep Uncertainty
The path to climate change preparedness should start at the intersection of resilience and robustness — that is, building resilient communities with the individuals and organizations within those communities making robust decisions, ones designed to work well over a wide range of ever-changing conditions.
Apr 18, 2013
In Connecticut, Recovery and Healing Will Take Time
With an event like this, “recovery” doesn't mean a return to normal, because lives have been permanently altered. Recovery can only mean finding a new normal, a new path forward. And schools, those places of safety and healthy development, can help with that process, by providing a structure and community to support healing, writes Lisa Jaycox.
Dec 20, 2012
What Louisiana Can Teach New York and New Jersey
“Super Storm” Sandy has created a rare moment when New York City and surrounding areas are singularly focused on the infrastructure needed in a changing environment. It is a moment to look south at Louisiana.
Nov 9, 2012
Helping Displaced Students in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy
If Hurricane Sandy causes extensive disruptions in public schools—particularly in hard-hit New York City—our research shows that choices made by parents and policymakers could significantly limit the negative short-term effects of changing schools under such difficult circumstances, writes John Pane.
Oct 31, 2012
Why Aren't Americans Listening to Disaster Preparedness Messages?
Given the recent spate of highly publicized disasters, why don't more Americans pay attention to the advice of public health officials? The messages they are getting are largely based on unverified assumptions, not hard evidence. Equally concerning, these assumptions may inadvertently hinder preparedness.
Jun 29, 2012
Human Side of Katrina Recovery Still Needs Work
Four years after Hurricane Katrina, many people in the Gulf Coast region are still "just surviving," struggling with the economic devastation and the physical and psychological toll of these kinds of disasters, write Anita Chandra and Joie Acosta.
Oct 19, 2009