CSA Joins 100 Resilient Cities

The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) announced a partnership with CSA Group which will offer resilience technical support for infrastructure pre-feasibility studies to 100RC’s member cities. These services will be available to members of 100RC’s network, as the cities prepare to design and implement comprehensive Resilience Strategies.

CSA Group joins a prestigious group of other “Platform Partners” that have committed to helping cities around the world prepare for, withstand, and bounce back from the ‘shocks’ – catastrophic events like hurricanes, fires, and floods – and ‘stresses’ – slow-moving disasters like water shortages, homelessness, and unemployment – which are increasingly part of 21st century life. The Platform Partners are a vital component of 100RC’s efforts, both providing cities with the tools and services they need to build resilience and influencing the market as other resilience tools are developed. Current Platform Partners represent a wide array of private sector, public sector, NGO, and academic community leaders.

“We are extremely proud and honored to be part of the RC100 initiative as we celebrate our 60th anniversary as a firm. As a minority-owned company, we understand the impact a program like this can have on communities,” said JJ Suárez, CEO and President of CSA Group. “We look forward to supporting this great initiative and serving the communities we live in.”

CSA Group has extensive experience in working within large metropolitan cities such as Miami, Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Panama City, Panamá and New York City, where they have provided support for buildings and infrastructure affected by Hurricane Sandy and helped implement both repairs and long-term improvements. CSA Group has substantial expertise in providing disaster recovery services throughout Southeast and Northeast United States, Central America and the Caribbean. They have performed studies, assessments, planning and execution of infrastructure and building repairs and upgrades to address shocks such as coastal and rainfall flooding, hurricanes, tropical storms, earthquakes, droughts and infrastructure failure due to age or natural disaster events. CSA Group’s Program Management capabilities allow them to provide a holistic approach to solve complex, interrelated issues and objectives where there may be multiple stakeholders with potentially differing priorities.

“In an increasingly complex and challenging world, cities need partnerships with companies like CSA Group to withstand the shocks and stresses of the 21st century,” said Michael Berkowitz, President of 100 Resilient Cities. “By providing infrastructure pre-feasibility studies to our network cities, CSA Group is leading by example, and is helping to build a global resilience movement, at a critical time for cities worldwide.”

CSA will provide a team of experienced professionals, including architecture, planning, land use, permitting and infrastructure technical experts, to work with a city to identify and assess possible solutions to a built environment or infrastructure challenge (e.g., transport, water, waste, energy, etc.), and assess their technical and economic feasibility including siting, hydrology/hydraulics, evaluation of environmental permitting requirements, estimated construction costs, funding opportunities, and other opportunities or risks. CSA will also issue a roadmap to guide the city in taking the project from a pre-feasibility stage to a feasibility stage.

100RC is dedicated to helping cities become more resilient to the shocks and stresses that are a growing part of the 21st century. Each city in the 100RC network receives four concrete types of support:

  • Financial and logistical guidance for establishing an innovative new position in city government, a Chief Resilience Officer, who will lead the city’s resilience efforts
  • Technical support for the development of a robust Resilience Strategy
  • Access to solutions, service providers, and partners from the private, public, academic and NGO sectors who can help them develop and implement their resilience strategies; and
  • Membership of a global network of member cities who can learn from and help each other.

About 100 Resilient Cities—

Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation, 100 Resilient Cities helps cities around the world become more resilient to social, economic, and physical challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. 100RC provides this assistance through funding for a Chief Resilience Officer in each of the cities who will lead the resilience efforts; resources for drafting a Resilience Strategy; access to private sector, public sector, academic, and NGO resilience tools; and membership in a global network of peer cities to share best practices and challenges. For more information, visit www.100ResilientCities.org.

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