Community Capacity Building for Nature-Based Flood Resiliency in Charleston, SC By: Omar Muhammad
The Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities (LAMC), a community- based nonprofit organization, is working to facilitate community capacity building and resilience planning in the predominantly Black and low-wealth neighborhoods of Rosemont and Bridgeview in Charleston, South Carolina. The residents of the Rosemont and Bridgeview neighborhoods frequently experience severe flooding during heavy rain and storm events. The roads become impassable, which restricts the residents’ access to evacuation routes and emergency care. With flooding events projected to become more frequent, the safety and quality of life for residents will continue to be threatened without intervention of community resilience efforts. Rosemont and Bridgeview are both well-established neighborhoods with predominantly Black and elderly populations. Rosemont has a population of approximately 2,188. 83% of its residents are Black.
82%
of
its
residents
report
a
household
income
of
less
than
$50,000, residents reporting a household income of less than $15,000. In comparison, with 44% of Charleston’s population has a median household income of $72,071 and an overall poverty rate of 12.6%. When the City of Charleston announced its plan to construct a sea wall, LAMC partnered with the College of Charleston to reach out to Rosemont residents and understand the community response to the sea wall. This outreach resulted in an extensive report that will act as the basis for LAMC’s nature-based resiliency work in Charleston Neck. LAMC will build community capacity to develop a coastal resiliency plan for the Rosemont neighborhood and lay the groundwork for future resilience initiatives in the Bridgeview neighborhood. Key outcomes of the project will be the development of a nature-based Resilience Plan that incorporates strategies to benefit the living shoreline and complement the existing efforts of the City and local partners.
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