MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI
City of Los Angeles
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2014
CONTACT: Communications Office, 213-978-0741
MAYOR GARCETTI ANNOUNCES NEW ‘CHIEF RESILIENCE OFFICER’ COMING TO L.A.
Garcetti and Rockefeller Foundation’s ‘100 Resilient Cities’ Host Resilience Agenda Workshop at L.A. City Hall; L.A. is a Founding Member of $100M+ Challenge to Build Urban Resilience in 100 Cities Around the World
LOS ANGELES – Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced that he will appoint Los Angeles’ first “Chief Resilience Officer” at the Resilience Agenda Workshop at City Hall, which was organized in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, which created the “100 Resilient Cities” (100RC) initiative, of which Los Angeles is a Founding Member.
Mayor Garcetti was joined by 100 Resilient Cities President Michael Berkowitz, as well as key stakeholders from government, private sector, NGOs, civil society groups, and 100RC staff.
“I’m making sure that Los Angeles, threatened by 13 of the 16 federally designated natural disasters, gets serious about resilience and sustainability,” said Mayor Garcetti. “This partnership will help us get ahead of the curve on resilience, where a city that faces ‘the Big
One’ needs to be. It’s not a question of ‘if’, it’s a question of ‘when,’ and when disaster strikes, we must be prepared now to keep our water, communications and other key infrastructure operational.”
“City governments are on the front line of dealing with acute shocksand chronic stress. Los Angeles is part of a group of cities leading the way on resilience to better prepare for, withstand, and recover more effectively when disruption hits,” said Rockefeller Foundation
President Judith Rodin.” Through this type of inclusive resilience planning cities can be better prepared for the unexpected. They can also realize the resilience dividend, the economic and competitive advantages that come from taking a resilience mindset. Your commitment
to resilience thinking, planning and action will set a global example.”
“Los Angeles is helping fuel global momentum around building urban resilience, and leading by example,” said Michael Berkowitz, President of 100 Resilient Cities. “The agenda workshop will clarify the city’s needs, surface innovative thinking, and give us a blueprint for engaging partners from across sectors to bring [CITY] the tools and resources needed to become more resilient.”
Through an unprecedented partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, Dr. Lucy Jones, one of the world’s foremost seismologists, is working for one year within Mayor Garcetti’s administration as his Science Advisor for Seismic Safety with an emphasis on earthquake preparedness and resiliency. The new Chief Resilience Officer would build on her work to ensure Los Angeles greatly expands its resilience capacity.
100RC is an organization dedicated to building resilience in 100 cities around the world. As a founding member of the 100RC network, Los Angeles will partner with 100RC and fellow member cities to bring resilience experts, private sector tools, and financing to help build
a comprehensive resilience plan that will enable the city to better survive, adapt, and grow despite chronic stresses and acute shocks. Today’s “Resilience Agenda Workshop” brings stakeholders from across city government and from the private sector, non-profits, NGOs and
civic groups into the planning process for a single, comprehensive resilience plan. In December of 2013, Los Angeles was announced as one of the 32 inaugural members of the 100RC network, out of almost 400 cities that applied.
About 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation, and the 100 Resilient Cities Challenge
100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) is dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. 100RC supports the adoption and incorporation of a view of resilience that includes not just the shocks – earthquakes, fires, floods, etc – but also the stresses that weaken the fabric of a city on a day to day or cyclical basis. Examples of these stresses include high unemployment; an overtaxed or inefficient public transportation system; endemic violence; or chronic food and water shortages. By addressing both the shocks and the stresses, a city becomes more able to respond to adverse events, and is overall better able to deliver basic functions in both good times and bad, to all populations.
Cities in the 100RC network are provided with the resources necessary to develop a roadmap to resilience along four main pathways: 1) Financial and logistical guidance for establishing an innovative new position in city government, a Chief Resilience Officer, who will lead the city’s resilience efforts; 2) expert support for development of a robust resilience strategy; 3) Connecting member cities to solutions, service providers, and other partners who can help them develop and implement their resilience strategies; and 4) Membership in a global network of member cities who can learn from and help each other. Through these actions, 100RC aims not only help individual cities become more resilient, but will facilitate the building of a global practice of resilience among governments, NGOs, the private sector, and individual citizens.
The 100 Resilient Cities Challenge was launched in 2013 as a $100 million commitment to build urban resilience. Officials or leaders or major institutions from almost 400 cities applied to the Challenge, and the initial 32 cities were announced in December 2013. Results of the second round of the challenge – open from July to September of this year – will be announced in December. Information on the Challenge itself will be available here: www.100resilientcities.org/challenge.
100RC is financially supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and managed as a sponsored project by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides governance and operational infrastructure to its sponsored projects.
For more information about 100RC, visit www.100resilientcities.org and RPA at www.rockpa.org. Press contact: Maxwell Young ([email protected])
About The Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation aims to achieve equitable growth by expanding opportunity for more people in more places worldwide, and to build resilience by helping them prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. Throughout its 100 year history, The Rockefeller Foundation has enhanced the impact of innovative thinkers and actors working to change the world by providing the resources, networks, convening power, and technologies to move them from idea to impact. In today’s dynamic and interconnected world, The Rockefeller Foundation has a unique ability to address the emerging challenges facing humankind through innovation, intervention and influence in order to shape agendas and inform decision making. For more information, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org.
