Former executives of 100 Resilient Cities have just launched a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit – Resilient Cities Catalyst (RCC) – made up of urban practitioners, strategic conveners, and resilience experts. RCC is receiving initial funding support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and Facebook.
The Board of Directors will include Dr. Judith Rodin – the former President of The Rockefeller Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania, author of The Resilience Dividend, and founder of 100 Resilient Cities – and Henk Ovink – Special Envoy for International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Principal of Rebuild by Design.
“Cities represent our greatest opportunity for impact, while also posing the greatest risks to future shocks and stresses,” said Michael Berkowitz, founding principal, RCC and former president, 100 Resilient Cities. “RCC is proud to launch today with a staff and board comprised of leading thinkers and practitioners in urban resilience, all optimistic about the potential in the world’s cities.”
RCC plans to raise funds to do more transformational projects, focusing less on ideas that could make a city more resilient and more on the actual implementation and follow-through of such efforts. RCC will focus on helping cities build partnerships to understand, prioritize, and address their risks and stresses through three service areas:
- Resilience Roadmaps designed to create enabling environments for action through participatory resilience planning processes;
- Project Incubators to develop projects that maximize resilience impact, ensuring cities and communities have access to the technical, financial, and project preparation expertise required to move from concept to implementation; and,
- Catalyst Labs to facilitate the next generation of solutions and create new communities of practice in the urban resilience field.
“Michael and the Resilient Cities Catalyst team played a critical role in elevating the practice of urban resilience worldwide through 100 Resilient Cities. I look forward to building on those efforts with them directly and through their support for a range of city collaborations, including the Global Resilient Cities Network,” said Toby Kent, chief resilience officer, Melbourne, Australia.
