The Gulf of Mexico Climate and Resilience Community of Practice (COP) gives Spirit of Community Awards to recognize commitment to promoting environmental resilience in the Gulf of Mexico region. This year, the group added a new award category: leadership in equity. The intent of this award is to recognize individuals and organizations working to amplify the voices among the Gulf Coast’s most vulnerable and underserved communities.
Members of the COP recognized Jonathan Green and the Steps Coalition with the first Spirit of Community Award in the leadership in equity category. The Steps Coalition was organized in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina and comprises more than 20 different nonprofit organizations and community members. Green, the executive director of Steps, assumed the leadership role in February 2019.
Most resilience professionals who have been actively involved in coastal Mississippi over the years are familiar with the Steps Coalition and its active leadership in environmental planning. Green and Steps were instrumental in helping organize Resilient East Biloxi, a project that is the result of collaboration between the Program for Local Adaptation to Climate Effects (PLACE:SLR), the Steps Coalition, the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, the Biloxi Chapter of the NAACP and the East Biloxi Community Collaborative. The project works to increase organizational capacity through community-led redevelopment projects and to provide resilience training events to contribute to a safe and sustainable East Biloxi. Notable accomplishments of Resilient East Biloxi include a community cleanup, a community planting day and the creation of an annual community festival celebrating the cultural importance of East Biloxi.
Resilient East Biloxi is just one example of the Steps Coalition’s dedication to positive environmental change. In 2015, the Steps Coalition partnered with Oxfam America and the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio to produce a mitigation action plan. Staff with Steps helped organize stakeholder meetings in 2016 and 2017, and the input from those events helped inform the content and scope of the mitigation plan.
Steps is also actively involved in the creation of additional affordable housing for coastal Mississippi. The coalition is looking to develop at least 50 multi-family rental units across the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In pursuing this goal, Steps is working with organizations, such as the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio and Smart Home America, to ensure that any affordable housing built is environmentally sustainable and can withstand adverse environmental events. Steps also is helping coastal Mississippi become more resilient in many other ways and works to advance equitable outcomes.
For more information about the Climate and Resilience Community of Practice.
Meet the author
Stephen Deal
Extension Specialist (Land Use Planning)
Stephen works with floodplain managers, building officials, city officials, scientists and Sea Grant partners to provide information and training related to flood and storm resilience. He holds a... Read more
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