Resilience Building in Action

Neighborhood Economic Resilience Assessments

In 2018, more than 100 million Americans lived in neighborhoods that suffered chronic economic distress. Then the 2020-2021 COVID-19 crisis hit, imposing substantially  greater health and economic harm to the residents and businesses of these communities than in middle class and upper income areas. The depth of the crisis, together with the rise of grassroots social justice movements, has begun to force investment, innovation, and reform at all levels to help these communities recover and address their exposed economic vulnerabilities. Furthermore, it has also begun to  build neighborhood-level financial and institutional mechanisms, spurring the design of initiatives that can restore economic vitality. 

To support communities and municipalities to build such economic resilience, RCC began implementing Neighborhood Economic Resilience Assessments in mid-2020. These assessments provide a data-rich evidence base that can be used by community leaders and governments to prioritize community-level actions, to validate ideas, and to design initiatives for immediate recovery and for longer-term economic vitality. 

The first assessment was completed for the 38th Street District neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota-- the location of the horrendous murder of George Floyd by local police, and subsequent civic mobilization. That assessment was designed to provide additional evidence base support for the further design of initiatives advanced by the neighborhood’s 38th Street Thrive strategy. A second assessment was completed for the downtown district of Hackensack, New Jersey, in partnership with the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation and Concordia, who are together preparing a plan for equitable revitalization of this once-central regional commercial district.

Having refined the economic resilience assessment approach and developed unique data partner relationships, RCC is now able to cost-effectively prepare Neighborhood Economic Resilience Assessments for a range of communities as they begin to organize their recovery plans and update their local economic development strategies and official plans.