{"id":34196,"date":"2026-08-31T19:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?p=34196"},"modified":"2026-11-10T14:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T19:27:07","slug":"fall-2026-resilient-coastal-communities-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/fall-2026-resilient-coastal-communities-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Resilient Coastal Communities Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

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Credit: Dan DiNicola.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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\u201cWe see these challenges too often. Storms, excessive heat, drought, and, of course, flooding, and not just from rainfall and storm surge, but from king tides and sunny day flooding. These challenges result in huge social and economic costs. They disrupt our daily lives, and they can cause property loss and other economic impacts.”
\u2014 Tancred Miller, Director, NC Division of Coastal Management<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The<\/strong> Resilient Coastal Communities Program<\/strong><\/a> (RCCP), administered by North Carolina\u2019s Division of Coastal Management (DCM), creates a path to mitigate the coastal hazards communities face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program helps communities set resilience goals, assess their capacity to reach them, and then identify and prioritize projects. Once projects are chosen, DCM facilitates their design and implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RCCP was initiated by the North Carolina State legislature in 2019 and through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation\u2019s Emergency Coastal Resilience Fund after Hurricane Florence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Tancred Miller, \u201cThe Division of Coastal Management and our partners recognized that the coast was experiencing new challenges that we simply weren\u2019t adequately prepared to handle. The RCCP meets communities where they are whether they are just beginning to think about resilience or are already implementing projects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new film highlights the value of collaborations between state government and local communities. Community members share their stories about the RCCP process as well as the ways partnerships can solve complex problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have seen communities start the planning process in this program and in less than four years they\u2019ve completed resilience projects on the ground,\u201d says Sarah Speigler, coastal resilience specialist for North Carolina Sea Grant. \u201cThose can be things like stormwater wetlands projects or tree bioswales and that\u2019s what we want to continue to do for communities in North Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the Building Coastal Resilience<\/em><\/strong> video here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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