Planning a Resilience Hub With a Tribal Government in Virginia

Publication Date: 2024

Translating Research Into Action

The planning and resource guides were co-produced with members of the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and Reservation to create a resilience hub planning process that engaged the community in the project. Click on the image below to see the materials.

Resilience Hub Story Map

Introduction

Climate hazards pose significant health risks to coastal populations, ranging from injuries and deaths directly caused by acute onset disasters to worsening economic, food, and housing insecurity associated with slower onset coastal erosion and extreme temperatures. A holistic approach to resilience is essential for addressing these health implications. A resilience hub is a multifunctional community center that offers one way to build resilience holistically. During “blue sky days” or non-disaster periods, the hub provides social and educational services that meet community needs and help build resilience. During emergencies, the hub doubles as an emergency shelter and provides emergency supplies and vital communication.

Tribal nations are at heightened risk because of higher exposure to climate hazards and increased social vulnerability. Due to distinct tribal governance structures and resource constraints, their climate resilience planning and resourcing options are different from those of state or local governments. In this project, our research team engaged with the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and Reservation to plan a resilience hub that meets their unique needs.

This project builds on findings from our previous Public Health Disaster Research award, Resilience Planning with Two Tribal Governments in Virginia for Climate Hazards and Health Impacts. During this initial project we engaged with the Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe and the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and Reservation to assess community preparedness for climate-related health hazards. We adapted our resilience assessment tool to accommodate the unique cultural and administrative attributes of tribal nations and worked with community members to develop (a) a Resilience Action Checklist of actionable goals and (b) an integration model for resilience building and resource leveraging that demonstrates how resources can be maximized through projects such as a Resilience Hub. Several goals on the Resilience Action Checklist can be jointly addressed via the hub, such as the inclusion of healthcare resources, emergency services and communication, emergency planning, and resilience training.

While both tribal nations expressed an interest in the resilience hub concept, the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and Reservation participated in this continuation award project. Two deliverables were co-produced with the tribe during the resilience hub planning process: (1) Resilience Hub Design Story Map to visually demonstrate resilience hub concepts (e.g., examples of existing hubs, design guides, planning templates, and resource and training options), and (2) Funding Resource Guide to provide information on potential funding sources and planning tools, access to supporting literature, and a template to evaluate and track funding for implementation.

Community Partners

Members of the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and Reservation are the descendants of the original stewards of Tesenacomoca (i.e., Tidewater, Virginia). The sovereign nation has had a government-to-government relationship with the Commonwealth of Virginia since 1646. The reservation consists of approximately 150 acres along the Mattaponi River with residences and community buildings. A chief and tribal council govern the sovereign nation. Tribal staff are hired to perform specific functions, such as environmental protection, housing, and archival work, as funding is available.

Our research team has a history of working with liaisons from the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and Reservation who are selected by the Chief based on expertise and capacities. From 2021 to 2023, tribal liaisons participated in resilience activities in King William County and the Middle Peninsula region, engaging with the research team and community partners (e.g., nonprofits and representatives from local, regional, and state agencies). For this continuation award we worked with a tribal liaison, who is a citizen and representative of the environmental staff, to establish a ten-member Planning Committee involved in resilience hub design. The liaison selected and recruited committee members based on their institutional knowledge, expertise, and capacities, including tribal staff, diaspora (i.e., citizens that live far away), local citizens, the tribal chief, members of the tribal council, and traditional ecological knowledge holders (i.e., elders with decades of experience with cultural practices involving environmental interactions). It was important to include the diaspora in order to understand the needs and potential services that can be provided in a resilience hub with a virtual component in addition to a physical facility.

Project Objectives and Activities

This project consisted of four activities: (1) strategy meetings with the tribal liaison, (2) forming the planning committee, (3) holding a planning workshop, and (4) developing the Story Map and Funding Resource Guide.

The research team hosted five hour-long monthly strategy meetings and one planning workshop in a hybrid format (i.e., via Microsoft Teams and in-person at the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and Reservation community building) to plan a resilience hub that will serve the tribe’s unique needs. Strategy meetings included the research team, tribal liaison, and health, ecosystem, geospatial, and engineering subject matter experts from area universities. These strategy meetings focused on the Story Map and Funding Resource Guide, which, once developed, were reviewed by the liaison before distribution to ensure the security of proprietary information and materials. To further ensure privacy and security, the liaison engaged the Planning Committee members privately throughout the process to request their consent to share institutional knowledge or proprietary materials with the research team. The liaison and research team convened the Planning Committee in a two-hour planning workshop to adapt the resilience hub concepts in the Story Map and explore funding needs and opportunities for the Funding Resource Guide.

Table 1: Project Activities and Timeline

Results

The planning workshop and strategy meetings allowed the research team to learn institutional knowledge from the tribal liaison and planning committee members. Our team used the institutional knowledge shared with them to inform and contextualize the Story Map and Funding Resource Guide. During the planning workshop, participants used the Story Map to explore the different forms and purposes of a resilience hub and the flexibility in how the hub can be curated to fit the community’s needs. A list of questions pertaining to perceived risks and resource availability (see Appendix for details) was developed and presented to the Planning Committee, which then informed development of the Resource Funding Guide. The Planning Committee has since utilized these resources and taken initial steps toward creating emergency information materials, exploring precautionary actions for high wind events, and planning a community garden. They will also oversee future resilience expansions such as renovating and adding additional safety features to an existing community building to serve as an emergency shelter and communications center as funding becomes available. The Funding Resource Guide offers references and tools covering various aspects of resilience planning and identifies funding sources applicable to a range of phases and circumstances.

Reflections and Lessons Learned

Having a liaison improved our ability to support planning for a resilience hub that is responsive to the unique needs of the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and Reservation. Co-producing the Story Map and Funding Resource Guide with the liaison and Planning Committee through their respective participation in strategy meetings and planning workshop allowed for culturally relevant solutions (see Appendix for examples of tribal-specific needs surfaced during the planning workshop). These experiences contributed to the collective understanding of how we can design and implement resilience hubs with tribal nations.

Throughout the project, several engagement components were instrumental for successful outcomes:

• Successive meetings with the liaison
• Collaboration with staff, citizens, diaspora, officials, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge holders
• Our long-term commitment to assist with resilience hub efforts as determined by the Planning Committee, such as developing a newsletter or written manuals, and incorporating renewable energy into the physical facility

As there is little literature regarding the planning of a resilience hub for tribal nations, the hub framework was largely informed by engaging with the Planning Committee. The inclusion of the liaison and community representatives on the Planning Committee throughout the project allowed us to refine the Story Map and Funding Resource Guide to meet their needs. The liaison served as a necessary contact point and filter between the research team and the tribal council and planning committee. Working with a liaison also ensured that all steps of the process were executed in a culturally sensitive manner and that proprietary information was protected. Questions asked in the planning workshop were informed by prior work and served as a guide to draw the planning committee’s attention to the community’s wants and needs.

Translating Research into Action: Planning and Resourcing Tools

The Story Map presents materials for designing, implementing, and maintaining a resilience hub. Also included are emergency management tools and examples of existing hubs. The Funding Resource Guide provides a collection of reference literature on resilience hubs, emergency management, climate science, and information about potential funding sources.

• Story Map
• Funding Resource Guide

Acknowledgements. This Resilience Adaptation Feasibility Tool (RAFT) product was created with funding from the Natural Hazard Center Public Health Disaster Research Award Program. We are grateful to our funders—including the Environmental Institute at the University of Virginia, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, Virginia Environmental Endowment, Virginia Sea Grant Climate Adaptation and Resilience Program, Jessie Ball DuPont Fund, the School of Public Service at Old Dominion University, and anonymous donors—for supporting various phases of The RAFT from 2015-Present. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders.