What is a Resiliency Framework?

A resiliency framework provides a community or a region with a path to address the shocks and stresses they face, and provides a process to design and implement activities and projects to help them address their risk and vulnerabilities.

Objectives and Guiding Principles

A resiliency framework is not a standalone plan like a hazard mitigation plan or a comprehensive plan, but rather is a way for a community or a region to explore opportunities to build resiliency into existing plans and actions across multiple sectors. A resiliency framework results in  a snapshot of existing conditions, current thinking around resiliency and community goals, and a guide developing and implementing future ideas that help meet the established goals.

Resiliency Frameworks should consider how the reduction of vulnerability to both shocks and stresses can fit within day-to-day activities and long-term plans and goals. To do this, resiliency plans:

  • Establish a baseline of understanding what resiliency is and baseline existing conditions in the community;
  • Analyze the shocks and stresses that the community faces to highlight vulnerabilities;
  • Present a vision for the community that is supported by forward-looking goals, actionable strategies, and concrete ideas and projects for action; and
  • Provide a roadmap for ongoing implementation and action for communities to build capacity, increase community connectivity, and move forward towards a more-resilient future.

How is this Different?

While a resiliency framework analyzes vulnerability to natural and human-caused hazards, it is not a hazard mitigation plan. The framework does not provide an exhaustive review of every shock and stress that a community might face; rather, it is intended to analyze the inter-relatedness - and potential consequences -  of major shocks and stresses  across multiple sectors. This analysis, when combined with an assessment of existing conditions, provides a clear focus on what strategies may most effectively build resilience.

A resiliency framework is also not an exhaustive checklist of actions a community must take. Instead, it is an identification of a community’s vision; an exploration of strategies and potential projects to meet this vision; and a framework for which local government, community and faith-based organizations, the private sector, and other partners can take collective and individual action to foster a culture of resiliency. Most importantly, it provides a framework for consistent action.