$1.5 Million for business winners of RISE Coastal Community Resilience Challenge in Norfolk, VA

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on 4/18/19 announced $1.5 million in funding for six businesses that will receive between $160,000 and $310,000 to develop innovative products, services, and workforce development programs to help coastal communities adapt to climate change. These approaches will be demonstrated in the Hampton Roads region with the goal of building economically viable businesses and solutions that are scalable to other communities.

The six businesses were the winners of the first Coastal Community Resilience Challenge conducted by RISE, a non-profit organization addressing coastal resilience problems.

 In 2017, the Commonwealth of Virginia was awarded $120.5 million through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC) for innovative projects in the Hampton Roads region. Of this award, HUD allocated $5.25 million to support the development of the nation’s first-of-its-kind resilience innovation hub.

“This initial challenge revealed the promise of our competition model for identifying innovative solutions and growing resilience-focused businesses,” said RISE Chief Strategy Officer Dr. Katerina Oskarsson. “We are currently preparing to open the next Challenge Competition cycle in the summer.”