ABOUT
Water knows no political or municipal boundaries
Following years of leadership, collaboration, and demonstrated expertise in a wide array of resilience and water-related disciplines, and recognizing that flooding affects the entire Commonwealth, Old Dominion University, the College of William & Mary, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science have established the Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resiliency.The Scientific and Technical Support
The center will provide a one-stop shop for supporting the Commonwealth, state agencies, localities, and other entities with scientific and technical support in furtherance of recurrent flooding resiliency, a challenge that affects all of Virginia.
Federal, State, Local Integration
The center enables short- and long-term decision making by assisting with the integration and coordination of federal, state, local, and nongovernmental data, evaluating best practices, developing and testing innovative interventions, engaging stakeholders throughout Virginia, and providing outreach, training, technical, and non-technical services as requested.
Lead Funding Application
The virtual center also will be well-positioned to maintain liaisons with appropriate agencies of the federal government for purposes of leveraging data and funding opportunities, and will have the capacity to lead specific federal funding applications on behalf of the Commonwealth.
MISSION
The Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resiliency engages the expertise, resources, and intellectual vibrancy of William & Mary and Old Dominion University in support of building resilience to rising waters. The Center serves, advises, and supports Virginia by conducting interdisciplinary studies and providing training, technical and non-technical services, and policy guidance in the area of recurrent flooding resilience to the Commonwealth and its local governments, state agencies, industries, and citizens.
Enabling Legislation
The center was supported by Governor McAuliffe, and legislation was proposed by Delegate Stolle. The General Assembly passed legislation establishing the center, which was signed by the Governor.
The CCRFR
Faculty, staff, and students at Old Dominion University, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and the Virginia Coastal Policy Center at William & Mary Law School work collaboratively on CCRFR projects and initiatives. Many of these projects include other essential academic partners such as The ODU Resilience Collaborative, the Center for Coastal Resources Management at VIMS, and Virginia Sea Grant or other partners in the community such as nonprofits, professional associations, localities, and planning district commissions. Additionally the CCRFR and its institutional partnerships are able to partner to apply for external grants or other opportunities further leveraging limited resources in the Commonwealth.
We believe that a resilient Virginia depends upon collaboration and are open to collaborating with others to building flooding resilience in the Commonwealth.
The CCRFR does not have a physical headquarters and collaborators work out of their respective institutions. Additionally, the CCRFR does not have a director, and ODU, VIMS, and VCPC work together to ensure smooth operation. Please contact Emily Steinhilber (ODU), Mark Luckenbach (VIMS), or Elizabeth Andrews (VCPC) with questions.