California, since 2019
Resilient Cities Catalyst advances high-impact climate resilience projects that benefit historically marginalized and climate-vulnerable communities, facilitate actionable knowledge exchange, and elevate California’s global climate leadership.
The flagship of RCC’s Regional Resilience Partnerships program, the California Resilience Partnership was born in 2021 to generate meaningful partnerships and bolster existing efforts at the local, regional, and state level.
Through deep work in greater Los Angeles, greater San Diego, greater Sacramento, and the Central Coasts, the program uncovered funding and implementation challenges that underscored the need to strengthen innovative partnerships and catalyze philanthropic funding alongside public resources.
Anchored by the California Resilience Implementation Accelerator, the Partnership now serves as the umbrella for RCC’s work in and related to California—braiding complementary efforts into stronger project development and resilience action across the nation and beyond.
Program snapshot
The challenge
The plans exist. The path to implementation does not.
California communities face intensifying wildfire, extreme heat, flooding, sea-level rise, and other climate impacts. Projects can stall because of fragmented funding, limited implementation capacity, and challenges coordinating across jurisdictions and sectors. The Partnership closes this gap by strengthening partnerships, preparing projects for investment, and connecting local priorities with public and philanthropic resources.
Our approach
Partnerships designed to move work forward.
01
Build Regional Partnerships
Connect local leaders, community organizations, funders, and technical experts around shared regional resilience priorities.
02
Accelerate Implementation
Help promising resilience projects overcome funding, coordination, and delivery barriers so they can move into action.
03
Advance Coastal Resilience
Support coastal communities as they develop practical, locally grounded responses to erosion, sea-level rise, and changing shorelines.
04
Support Equitable Recovery
Center communities and long-term resilience in recovery efforts following climate-driven disasters such as wildfires.
Why it matters
How can strong partnerships turn climate ambition into lasting local action?
California has substantial climate expertise, ambitious policy, and committed local leaders. Yet the path from planning to implementation remains difficult, especially for historically marginalized and climate-vulnerable communities.
By braiding together regional knowledge, community priorities, technical support, public funding, and catalytic philanthropy, the Partnership helps projects advance faster and with greater impact. Its lessons can strengthen resilience implementation across California, the nation, and beyond.
Programs
Ten connected initiatives.
A portfolio that works across geographies, hazards, and stages of implementation.
California Resilience Partnership
California Resilience Implementation Accelerator
California Coastal Accelerator
Goleta Slough Resilience Project Acceleration
Los Angeles Wildfire Resilient Recovery
RE:BEACH Oceanside
Resilience Districts Incubator
California Project Preparation Initiative
Binational Resilience Initiative
Mediterranean Climate Action Partnership
Advisory board
Guided by California leaders.
The CRP Advisory Board provides strategic guidance and represents philanthropy, nonprofits, the private sector, academia, and regions across California.
Bernadette Austin
CEO, CivicWell
Darbi Berry
CRP Board Chair & Director, The San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative
Louise Bedsworth
Executive Director, Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment, Berkeley Law
Erin Coutts
Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability
Abby Edwards
Senior Deputy Director, Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation
Jessica Hitt
Associate Director, ClimateWorks Foundation
Nuin-Tara Key
Executive Director of Programs, California Forward
Jonathan Parfrey
Executive Director, Climate Resolve
Robert Miyashiro
Ex-Officio, Program Officer, International Programs, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Kiara Reed
Executive Director, Civic Thread
Impact
Progress built across the state.
RCC has advanced resilience solutions, built partnerships, convened practitioners, and channeled technical and financial support across California.
Resources
Research for implementation.
Open each resource to learn what it contributes to California’s resilience practice.
01Coastal Monitoring: Needs Assessment for California Communities
The California Coastal Accelerator brought together cohort members to discuss their individual and collective challenges to coastal monitoring practices, identifying gaps and surfacing common needs. This report synthesizes existing monitoring mechanisms, data quality and accessibility, governance and funding challenges, and opportunities for greater statewide alignment.
Read the full report
02Resilience in the Goleta Slough Coastal Area: Synthesizing Climate Hazards & Regional Priorities
The Goleta Slough supports ecological diversity and important watershed and shoreline processes while remaining deeply shaped by urban expansion. This report synthesizes technical studies, governmental plans, climate impacts, and regional priorities to support the Initiative’s next phases.
Learn more from Goleta
03The Case for Coastal Resilience Investment: Quantifying Oceanside Beach as an Economic Asset
Oceanside Beach attracts millions of visits, supports jobs, and produces tax revenue for essential services, yet erosion and sea-level rise threaten that value. RCC commissioned this study to quantify the beach as an economic asset and identify the cost of inaction.
Learn more from Oceanside
Looking ahead
From climate leadership to visible, lasting results.
The California Resilience Partnership will continue expanding implementation support, strengthening innovative partnerships, and elevating the experience of local communities. Its goal is to build a durable pipeline of equitable resilience projects.