Medford Resilience Hubs
Medford, MA
From 2018 - 2022, the Linnean team worked with the City of Medford and the Medford community to identify vulnerabilities to climate hazards, develop a citywide climate action and adaptation plan, and to build a process for local community-based organizations to become resilience hubs, as defined by the priorities and vision of environmental justice communities in Medford. As part of the resilience hubs planning process, Linnean worked with the Medford Health Department and a team of community liaisons–individuals from and with strong relationships with Medford’s Haitian, Brazilian, Black and African American, Latina/o, and Arabic-speaking communities–to identify community resilience needs, and to work with organizations to create safe spaces that support resilience both day-to-day and during climate hazards.
Drawing on the guidance and priorities of the community, Linnean developed a tool for the City of Medford and community-based organizations to collaborate and assess the suitability of the organization in becoming part of the resilience hub network, actions the organization can take to support the community’s resilience, and ways the City can support the organization in building the resilience of its facility or operations. Linnean also worked with the Medford Health Department and community liaisons to develop an operations plan for the Resilience Hub network that outlines the purpose of the network, commitments and expectations of the City and partner organizations, process for new organizations to join, and a governance structure for the network that centers equity and climate justice.