Crisfield Resilience Academy Digital Binder
The Crisfield Resilience Academy was initiated in response to a need for more education about coastal resilience issues and solutions, which was expressed and requested directly by the city and community members of Crisfield. Accordingly, the Academy provided an opportunity for roughly 30 community members ranging in ages from 17-75+, including leaders of non-profit organizations, churches, local businesses and local high school students to learn about relevant topics such as flooding, ditch drainage and stormwater infrastructure maintenance, and local economic development across two cohorts (one in Fall 2024 and one in Spring 2025). Following best practices in co-production, a local on-the-ground partner, BEACON (Business Economic & Community Outreach Network) out of Salisbury University assisted with refinement of all associated Academy materials and facilitation of the 12 Academy workshops. Similarly, speakers for workshop sessions were recruited from local organizations and universities in the Eastern Shore of Maryland to help build the community's network of connections with nearby experts.
Co-production is a process that involves integrating scientific information with other forms of knowledge such as local knowledge, thereby jointly producing public products and facilitating social learning (Bremer and Meisch 2017). Common techniques include engaging local experts in the research process, opportunities for community involvement, and development of public facing products. The EPA research team employed co-production strategies with BEACON, city representatives and officials, and local Academy participants, to ensure that the Academy succeeded in addressing the community's needs while also supporting community capacity to implement identified solutions in the future.
Over the course of two cohorts across 12 workshop sessions, the Academy provided opportunities for participants to interact with researchers and experts and gain practical knowledge of environmental challenges, policies, and programs that participants then shared with their community networks, thereby supporting increased capacity for local leadership and participation on environmental issues.
Please note that these materials have been previously approved, and this sub-product is merely pulling them all together for use by the community.
The materials attached in this sub-product are a compendium of all Crisfield Resilience Academy materials, including agendas, activity guides, homework handouts ("community building handouts"), follow-up emails, flyers, associated webpages, and facilitator instructions. The compendium is in a "Digital Binder," so that Crisfield community members and leaders could re-use the material in future sessions of their own design. In short, the Compendium ("Digital Binder") is an archive of what was conducted in the Crisfield Resilience Academy from 2024-2025 and is meant to be used and distributed freely for use.
Impact/Purpose
The goals of the Crisfield Resilience Academy were to 1) increase the knowledge of Crisfield community members about nature-based solutions, benefits and capabilities relevant for Crisfield, and 2) provide feedback on EPA research to ensure that it was responsive to community needs. EPA evaluated the effectiveness of the program in order to improve our own capacity for engaging community members in research and education. Analyzed data to-date (April 10, 2025) can be found in the back of the compendium, or the “Digital Binder.” The larger goal for these materials was to adjust them such that they could be transferred to other communities with similar flooding issues across the country, but we didn’t get that far. Those who might be interested in the results or could apply the compendium materials are encouraged to do so, especially those in communities across the country that face consistent and/or nuisance flooding, the EPA’s Office of Water, or other partners with an interest in flooding and community capacity.Citation
Hartley, J., J. Daniel, E. Eisenhauer, Rose Leek, M. Chapman, AND K. Gootman. Crisfield Resilience Academy Digital Binder. Crisfield Resilience Academy - Final Celebration and Graduation Session, Crisfield, MD, April 26, 2025.Download(s)
- CRISFIELD RESILIENCE ACADEMY DIGITAL BINDER.PDF (PDF) (NA pp, 24.5 MB, about PDF)