January 16, 2025

Amid extreme and frequent weather events and risks to coastal economies, families and communities, the need to address related challenges is critical. In response to this need, Congress appropriated funding to NOAA Sea Grant with the goal of strengthening resilience across coastal and Great Lakes communities. NOAA Sea Grant allocated $125,000 to each of the 34 Sea Grant programs in 2024, for a total of $4.25 million, to further build upon and extend coastal resilience work with communities. The funding is being used to enhance engagement, technical assistance, education and research investments to address climate and weather impacts in local communities. These investments will be instrumental in achieving more resilient communities and economies across the nation.

This essential funding will be leveraged by Sea Grant programs and combined with 50% match funding from collaborative partners to establish or expand projects that address resilience needs throughout the U.S. Funded projects include investments in hazard assessment and preparedness, nature-based solutions, local and regional resilience planning and implementation assistance, and increasing staff capacity to improve resilience education and engagement opportunities. Collaboration and co-production are pillars of Sea Grant’s approach to working alongside communities and partners, including Tribal, Indigenous, and economically disadvantaged groups. Below are a selection of the funded projects:

• Alaska Sea Grant is expanding extension activities through the Adapt Alaska program, including technical assistance and workshops in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region of Alaska, where 56 rural communities are challenged by permafrost thaw and coastal erosion and inundation.
• Guam Sea Grant is continuing support for extension staff that facilitate the Guam Green Growth Hub, a collaborative workspace that provides community members with a circular business model to reduce resource consumption and increase resilience.
• Michigan Sea Grant is supporting decision-makers with a suite of coastal resilience resources, including an online resource hub that contains case studies, video and written overviews of planning tools, technical guidance on climate resilience policies and links to funding sources.
• Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium is hosting strategic training sessions for community leaders on coastal hazard mitigation and adaptation.
• New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium is aiding communities and local governments in developing long-term resilience plans, which will help New Jersey constituents understand the risks of and address current and future coastal and climate hazards.
• North Carolina Sea Grant is investigating how drainage infrastructure may contribute to salinity in groundwater and soils, which affects crop production, and working to increase capacity for farmers to address related issues.
• Oregon Sea Grant is documenting traditional and western knowledge regarding ecological and socio-cultural connections between water quality and river health following dam removal in the Klamath River Basin.
• Puerto Rico Sea Grant is implementing community-based participatory action research that aims to build baseline knowledge and collective action on climate-related challenges.
• Rhode Island Sea Grant is expanding and strengthening a resilience community of practice and working collaboratively with municipalities and constituents to address climate-related issues.
• Wisconsin Sea Grant is supporting new staff with expertise in economics, urban and regional planning, geospatial analysis, policy analysis, law, anthropology and/or Indigenous knowledge to address coastal adaptation and resilience issues.

Sea Grant is uniquely positioned to address coastal and Great Lakes challenges as a trusted liaison and an important connector of university, research, government, community and coastal industry decision-making.

Learn more about Sea Grant’s work in resilient communities and economies and coastal hazards preparedness

###

The University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program is part of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s prestigious School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. It supports an innovative program of research, education, and extension services directed to increasing sustainability of coastal and marine resources and resilience of coastal communities of the state, region, and nation. Science serving Hawai‘i and the Pacific since 1968.