Study: New York state's disaster response approach unique and effective.

• Position: News & Numbers

The State of New York's innovative model for blending community and state-level engagement in post-disaster planning should be considered as a potential foundation for replicable long-term resiliency policy, according to the Rockefeller Institute.

Researchers from the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery (GOSR) and the Rockefeller Institute of Government of the State University of New York (SUNY) released a study evaluating New York State's planning efforts to reduce the state's vulnerability to future disasters. Such efforts form part of the state's adaptations to climate change. The study analyzed New York State's "NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program" (NYRCRP), an initiative that uses a "Managed-Participatory" approach to community resiliency. The approach is notable for integrating bottom-up, community-based planning with a more traditional top-down, government-based method.

In the wake of a series of major storms, including Superstorm Sandy, policymakers used the managed-participatory approach to assist 124 disaster-assisted communities to "develop and implement comprehensive reconstruction and resiliency plans through a unique combination of bottom-up community participation and state-provided facilitation, technical expertise, and significant financial support." More than 1,100 storm recovery projects were developed through 650 committee meetings and 250 public engagement...