Coastal Adaptation in Louisiana

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Topic: Adaptation and Livable Communities Series – Issues Facing Coastal Communities Guest & Organization: Liz Williams Russell is the Coastal Community Resilience Director at the Foundation for Louisiana where she designs strategies to support communities influenced by land loss and relative sea-level rise across coastal Louisiana. With a background and training in architectural design, landscape systems, and urban planning, Liz incorporates the complexities of the developed urban ecosystem to promote equitable opportunities in areas altered and affected by land change. Liz manages coastal grant-making areas with an advisory committee and relevant partners that work to help communities face a range of issues and challenges that range in scale from mega-regional networks and hydrologic basins to stormwater management and flood insurance. Risk mitigation and resilience-based programs require an awareness of and participation with these transitioning watersheds. In order to better provide opportunities, establish and cultivate partnerships, and advocate for informed and diverse public engagement, Liz supports fundraising initiatives and guides the common campaign and funding plan across Foundation for Louisiana’s Coastal Resiliency Leverage Fund. Liz previously has worked as a Research Fellow and Affiliate with the Coastal Sustainability Studio at Louisiana State University. In this role she led and collaborated with cohorts of civil engineers, urban planners, coastal scientists, and landscape architects alongside economic, legal, and cultural advisors. Each project engaged a set of unique conditions within the coastal landscape and proposed developments through which residents and communities might advance and thrive in a future with evolving challenges. The mission of the Foundation for Louisiana is to invest in people and practices that work to reduce vulnerability and build stronger, more sustainable communities statewide. Resources: Foundation for Louisiana Local Government Commission