Like the proverbial acorn, something big—like resilient and sustainable communities—can grow from seemingly small beginnings.
Delaware’s Resilient and Sustainable Communities League (RASCL) has been growing since 2016 with a simple goal: help communities navigate the challenges of a changing climate by connecting them with the people, resources, and expertise they need. It’s about responding to the impacts communities are seeing today, while also helping them prepare for the challenges of tomorrow.
RASCL was born out of a need for better coordination. In Delaware, the nation’s second smallest and lowest-lying state, many organizations were working on climate resilience, sustainability, hazard mitigation, and planning issues, but often independently. The opportunity was clear: bring those efforts together, reduce duplication, and make it easier for communities to access support.
That idea brought together a who’s who of Delaware resilience leaders, including the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Delaware Department of Transportation, Delaware Sea Grant, the Delaware Office of State Planning Coordination, and the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. Together, they formed the steering committee that continues to guide RASCL today.
Since then, the network has expanded to include nearly 30 organizations representing state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions. Quite the brain trust.
But RASCL’s approach is not about experts swooping in and telling communities what to do. It’s about listening first. Communities identify their needs, and RASCL helps make the right connections—whether that means finding technical expertise, sharing resources, connecting local officials with researchers, or introducing them to peers who have tackled similar challenges.
As RASCL describes itself, it is a collaborative network that convenes partners, leverages limited resources, and coordinates efforts to build a more resilient and sustainable Delaware. In practice, that means collaborating, convening, and coordinating. Those three ideas are at the heart of everything the network does.
A major part of the work involves helping communities adapt to changing conditions, new regulations, and emerging resilience challenges. If a municipality or community organization needs help moving a project forward, RASCL is there to share information, facilitate conversations, and connect people with the resources they need. Its work focuses on three core areas: climate resilience, sustainable land use and infrastructure, and hazard mitigation and emergency management.
That support takes several forms. Through its Project Guidance Group, RASCL provides free technical assistance to communities looking to advance resilience projects. Rather than simply pointing people toward a website or contact list, the network helps bring the right people together and fosters the relationships needed to move projects forward. RASCL also develops resource guides that translate policy, legislation, and best practices into practical tools local governments can use.
The network also places a strong emphasis on outreach and information sharing. Quarterly Coffee Hours and the annual RASCL Summit create opportunities for local officials, practitioners, researchers, nonprofit leaders, and residents to learn from one another. Participation has grown steadily, with Summit attendance increasing to more than 225 participants and municipal involvement more than doubling in recent years.
Another initiative, the Community-Based Research Needs program, helps turn local challenges into actionable research questions. By bringing together community leaders and researchers, RASCL helps ensure academic research is informed by real-world needs and can be leveraged to pursue funding opportunities and practical solutions.
Perhaps the most important lesson from RASCL’s first decade is that resilience networks do not grow on enthusiasm alone. Sustained state support has allowed the network to build coordination capacity, expand programming, strengthen community engagement, and grow its membership. What started as a forum for information sharing has evolved into a statewide platform for technical assistance, collaboration, and resilience planning.
That evolution may offer a roadmap for others. RASCL demonstrates that when agencies, nonprofits, universities, and communities work together through a shared framework, they can accomplish far more than they could alone. By investing in coordination, building trusted relationships, and keeping communities at the center of the work, Delaware has created a model that other states may be able to adapt as they work to build resilience in the face of environmental change.
