October 8, 2024, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. MDT
Living by the Levee: Navigating Flood Resilience with Unsheltered Communities
Webinar Description:
It’s not uncommon to find those experiencing homelessness living in flood zones near levees or along dams. While this poses immediate risks to those unhoused populations, it can also affect safety inspections and certifications of the flood risk infrastructure. Flood risk managers have struggled with how to engage these populations while also managing the dams and levees.
Beginning in 2022, the California U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Silver Jackets team convened a series of interagency and interdisciplinary workshops to explore this issue. These workshops produced actionable steps for care-informed strategies to communicate with homeless populations that live along levees and waterways while maintaining community flood infrastructure.
Join project leaders as they discuss the challenges and risks associated with flood resilience, infrastructure, and unhoused communities. Attendees will learn about project outcomes and tangible actions that flood risk managers can take to provide flood resilience for all members of the community.
Speakers:
Jessica Ludy, United States Army Corps of Engineers
Emily Marcil, United States Army Corps of Engineers
Resources
Environmental Justice Efforts at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Natural Hazards Center Overview Slides
Presentation Slides
Jessica Ludy is the Silver Jackets coordinator and Flood Risk Program manager for the San Francisco District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She has more than 15 years of experience in integrated flood risk management in private and public sectors. She co-chairs the Flood Risk Communication Committee and Social Justice Task Force at the Association of State Floodplain Managers. Her master's research at the University of California, Berkeley on flood risk perception and levees inspired her to work in flood risk management and eventually make her way to the federal government. Ludy acknowledges and respects the wisdom and vibrant cultures of the thousands of environmental justice leaders whose work she has built on today.
Emily Marcil is the lead planner for the Detroit District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Study, a large-scale project assessing resource changes in the Great Lakes basin under different climate scenarios. She also serves as the secondary Silver Jackets coordinator for the Detroit District. Previously, Emily interned with the San Francisco District Silver Jackets where she supported a project aimed at improving flood resiliency for unsheltered communities living near flood zones. She earned her master’s degree in environmental policy and planning from the University of Michigan in 2023.
Continuing Education Credits:
This webinar is eligible for one contact hour of emergency management training within the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) or the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) certification programs. For more information about continuing education credits and how to earn them, please click here.