Colorado Resiliency Framework
Click to download.
What is the Colorado Resiliency Framework?
In the wake of the 2012 wildfires and 2013 flooding events, we recognized as a state the need to proactively and holistically address future shock events and stressors to protect lives, property, and livelihoods. The original 2015 Colorado Resiliency Framework showcased Colorado’s ability and determination to build back in a way that moves the State forward from adversity with a resiliency strategy.
The updated 2020 Colorado Resiliency Framework (Framework) serves as the State’s roadmap to a more resilient future. It lays out the State’s resiliency vision and goals and explores risks and vulnerabilities across four themes: adapting to our changing climate, understanding risks from natural and other hazards, addressing social inequities and unique community needs, and pursuing economic diversity and vibrancy. The Framework provides 29 strategies across six priority focus areas that the State will implement to reduce risk and vulnerabilities and be adaptive to changing environmental, social, and economic conditions.
Throughout the Framework, risks and vulnerabilities are analyzed and specific strategies are identified that will strengthen the State’s capacity to adapt and support local communities on their path toward resiliency. Two overarching strategies — establishing a statewide resilient and sustainable community/regional program and attracting and leveraging resiliency funding opportunities — are foundational activities that will connect and strengthen all the resiliency priorities.
The CRO and the Colorado Resiliency Working Group (CRWG) serve as stewards of the 2020 Framework and actively seek opportunities for collaboration, partnership, and capacity-building to enhance resiliency across Colorado.
Resiliency Framework Sectors
The key to achieving resilient and sustainable communities is to consider the six resiliency planning sectors below as an integrated framework; each of these sectors is an integral part of a larger, resilient whole. Hazards that affect one sector are likely to have direct and indirect effects on other sectors and, likewise, strategies will have a cross-sector impact. These sectors are the lenses through which we view resiliency throughout Colorado, and we seek to implement solutions that provide benefits across multiple sectors.
+ Sector 1: Community
Build community capabilities and resources that coordinate and integrate resiliency, equity, and disaster recovery planning efforts and facilitate social connectivity and empowerment, especially focusing on marginalized populations.
+ Sector 2: Economic
Address Colorado’s toughest challenges through regionally diverse, coordinated education and capacity-building that generates a skilled workforce and overall innovation economy that is adaptive and agile.
+ Sector 3: Health & Social
Dismantle structural inequities and integrate efforts across health and social service networks to empower communities, expand access, and improve health outcomes and wellness for all Colorado residents.
+ Sector 4: Housing
Implement a collaborative strategy to create sustainable, affordable housing solutions that address the needs of the whole community while preparing for and responding to changing environmental, social, and economic conditions.
+ Sector 5: Infrastructure
Improve the resiliency and sustainability of infrastructure in Colorado by prioritizing resilience and integrating social equity, investment, planning, and mitigation and recovery efforts across jurisdictions.
+ Sector 6: Water & Resources
Protect, enhance, and restore Colorado’s watersheds and natural resources, consistent with scientific understanding, community priorities, and environmental laws.
Resiliency Priorities
The Framework defines six priority areas in which the State and local communities can take action to enhance resiliency and ensure a vibrant and livable future for all Coloradans. Within each priority, there is a specific goal that the Framework supports, as well as a series of strategies and actions to support the goals. Continue navigating to the priority areas below to learn how CRO will accomplish the goals within the Framework.
Agriculture & Food: Cultivate a robust state and local food system, from agriculture to distribution and consumption.
Buildings & Infrastructure: Reimagine and modernize Colorado’s built environment to be both climate and hazard resilient, and environmentally sustainable.
Climate & Natural Hazards: Reduce Colorado’s risk from climate change and natural hazards through integrated land use, ecosystem, and natural resource planning, management, and investment.
Community Capacity: Empower Colorado communities to improve local resilience, equity, and capacity.
Future-Ready Economy & Workforce: Fortify Colorado’s workforce to support a future-ready, regenerative, circular economy.
Housing Attainability: Increase the supply of attainable housing throughout Colorado, including affordable housing options for workforce populations and those who most experience marginalization.
Agriculture & Food
GOAL: Cultivate a robust state and local food system, from agriculture to distribution and consumption.
Strategy 1: Promote and protect working lands.
What this looks like: Promote and protect working lands for generations to come. Focus on providing incentives for local land use conservation as well as policies and activities that promote multiple benefits of land and resource conservation; prioritize policies and activities that will preserve farms and ranches for food production.
Strategy 2: Advance regenerative farming practices.
What this looks like: Establish frameworks and systems for regenerative farming across different scales that employ market-based solutions and produce multiple benefits, including improving soil health, conserving water, and empowering Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) landowners and agricultural producers.
Strategy 3: Support innovations & new markets.
What this looks like: Advance and promote innovations in the use of forest products that support sustainable and resilient agricultural activities, including the use of biochar, agricultural composting, and processing of agricultural waste.
Strategy 4: Bolster next-generation farm and agriculture workers.
What this looks like: Invest in the next generation of farmers, ranchers, and food producers, with a focus on BIPOC community members. Provide internships, skills-based pieces of training, and mentorship programs to build equitable workforce development. Diversify economic opportunities through technical and financial assistance to support shifting to low-water crops, entering new market opportunities, and expanding agrotourism.
Strategy 5: Integrate food and agriculture in local planning.
What this looks like: Integrate local agriculture and food system considerations into community planning activities to support community food gardens, urban agriculture, consolidated farmers markets, and food pantries that provide equitable healthy food access and security. Identify opportunities to further economic development and natural resource objectives.
Back to Resiliency Priorities
Buildings & Infrastructure
GOAL: Reimagine and modernize Colorado’s built environment to be both climate and hazard resilient, and environmentally sustainable.
Strategy 1: Integrate resiliency in State infrastructure funding.
What this looks like: Prioritize infrastructure projects that advance resilience principles and reduce climate change impacts through funding decisions and organizational practices. Promote local infrastructure decisions that further resilience, including green and blue infrastructure and multimodal transportation; do this through funding, incentives, and the development of resources to help implement resiliency infrastructure projects.
Strategy 2: Improve infrastructure and land use coordination.
What this looks like: Integrate land use, air quality, transportation, water use, equity, and community engagement efforts to promote regional partnerships for growth and development that take into consideration future risks and conditions. Leverage existing State and federal funding sources and partner with organizations to establish new funding mechanisms for resilience projects.
Strategy 3: Establish model climate-resilient infrastructure standards.
What this looks like: Assess, develop, and promote the adoption of local and State standards that allow and encourage new and existing infrastructure that accounts for climate change and natural hazards. Leverage existing models to provide a science-based recommended State model.
Strategy 4: Ensure climate-resilient critical infrastructure.
What this looks like: Upgrade critical infrastructure, including watershed dams, to be more climate resilient. Establish a State buy-out program to incentivize removing high-risk and repetitive loss properties such as floodplains. Build support for green and blue infrastructure.
Strategy 5: Promote adaptive reuse and retrofitting.
What this looks like: Remove barriers to and promote adaptive reuse and retrofit of historic buildings to incorporate energy efficiency and renewable energy. Emphasize preserving historic integrity, while also working toward more equitable and resilient development.
Strategy 6: Grow a network of resiliency hubs.
What this looks like: Support the development of regional state-of-the-art resiliency hubs to serve as community centers for education, services, and community capacity. Provide access to food, shelter, power, and other critical services during emergencies.
Back to Resiliency Priorities
Climate & Natural Hazards
GOAL: Reduce Colorado’s risk from climate change and natural hazards through integrated land use, ecosystem, and natural resource planning, management, and investment.
Strategy 1: Align climate change data, metrics, and standards.
What this looks like: Standardize climate models used for scenario planning and integrate projected climate change impacts into the State, regional, and local planning efforts. Define performance metrics and track results to demonstrate improvements in reducing risks from or improving resiliency to climate change and natural hazards.
Strategy 2: Resilient watershed-based management and best practices planning and project identification.
What this looks like: Integrate stream, watershed, and forest management planning efforts, using a holistic watershed approach to identify crosscutting projects that are a high priority, impactful to improving climate and natural hazard resiliency, and provide multiple resiliency benefits.
Strategy 3: Integrate forest health and wildfire risk mitigation into land use and development processes to reduce wildfire risk and exposure.
What this looks like: Provide tools (e.g., model codes, technical assistance) for land use authorities to use in the wildland-urban interface; prioritize work that will reduce new development in high-risk areas and the number of people exposed to high wildfire risks.
Strategy 4: Build local capacity, resources, and incentives to implement resiliency projects.
What this looks like: Build local capacity, resources, and incentives to implement projects that improve climate and natural hazard resilience.
Back to Resiliency Priorities
Community Capacity
GOAL: Empower Colorado communities to improve local resilience, equity, and capacity.
Strategy 1: Integrate equity into resilience planning & actions.
What this looks like: Build partnerships to integrate equity into State and local resiliency activities through equitable representation, language justice, and community co-production. Partner with community trusted organizations who focus on engaging BIPOC communities to assess systemic issues and identify interventions.
Strategy 2: Develop and deploy community engagement and civic capacity tools.
What this looks like: Strengthen community connections and civic capacity by providing community engagement tools, resources, and training. Emphasize the importance of building community trust through engagement activities.
Strategy 3: Strengthen local resilience planning and peer networks.
What this looks like: Complete local and regional resiliency assessments and promote integrated planning efforts that lead to more resilient infrastructure, economies, and social systems while creating a culture of resilience. Create regional resiliency peer learning and exchange opportunities and ensure that regional plans and actions are grounded in community-driven values, needs, and recommendations.
Back to Resiliency Priorities
Future-Ready Economy & Workforce
GOAL: Fortify Colorado’s workforce to support a future-ready, regenerative, circular economy.
Strategy 1: Expand digital equity, access, and preparedness.
What this looks like: Address regional digital inequities through targeted efforts and by prioritizing the most pressing needs: access to high-speed internet; access to and affordability of web-enabled technology; and access to skill development.
Strategy 2: Advance equitable hiring and modern benefits.
What this looks like: Advance equitable hiring practices through skills-based practices, increased access to training, and the removal of barriers such as drivers’ licenses, lifting requirements, prescriptive experience, and extensive job histories. Promote modernizations of employment benefits and worker protections.
Strategy 3: Develop rural economic diversification roadmaps and strategies.
What this looks like: Identify viable economic diversification opportunities in rural Colorado and create community roadmaps and strategies to develop opportunities. Utilize rural hubs as a model to implement diversification strategies.
Strategy 4: Support communities and industries in economic transition.
What this looks like: Prepare for industry and workforce transition due to market shifts, globalization, climate change, and digital transformation through diversification of economies and workforce development planning. Attract the workforce of the future by developing strategic mentorship, education, and training opportunities.
Strategy 5: Promote resiliency jobs and workforce development.
What this looks like: Promote workforce training and development programs that help businesses become more resilient to climate change and disaster. Focus on programs that develop career pathways, build partnerships across sectors and with educational institutions, and grow a statewide resiliency job corps program.
Back to Resiliency Priorities
Housing Attainability
GOAL: Increase the supply of attainable housing throughout Colorado, including affordable housing options for workforce populations and those who most experience marginalization.
Strategy 1: Build local capacity for developing resilient affordable housing.
What this looks like: Create a toolbox of resources that builds in long-term affordability and resilient design for housing in Colorado, and that empowers local communities to meet their unique housing needs and increase the number of attainable housing units. Ensure that available resources include a spectrum of housing-related actions and opportunities for housing stability, supply, resiliency standards, and model policies.
Strategy 2: Support affordable housing siting and development.
What this looks like: Address the critical shortage of housing supply by providing critical data and resources needed to support the siting and development of affordable and attainable housing throughout the state.
Strategy 3: Increase housing stability.
What this looks like: Ensure Coloradans can remain in their homes and the affordable housing stock is maintained, particularly during disruptive events such as natural disasters and economic disruption, by minimizing evictions and foreclosures and ensuring homes are fortified to withstand disasters. Address barriers to homeownership and housing for people experiencing homelessness.
Strategy 4: Expand residential efficiency & weatherization.
What this looks like: Increase access to residential weatherization programs to provide multiple benefits including lowered energy costs, conservation of water, natural gas, and electricity, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Promote and adopt standards that result in new residential construction that is highly energy-efficient, including provisions for net-zero and resilient design features.
