The Resilience Adaptability Feasibility Tool (RAFT)

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What is The RAFT?

The Resilience Adaptability Feasibility Tool, known as The RAFT, helps Virginia’s localities and tribal nations improve environmental, economic, and social resilience through a community-centered, "collective impact," collaborative approach led by a three-university partnership between the University of Virginia, Old Dominion University, and Virginia Tech.

Our three-part process is supported through a mix of federal, state, and private foundation grants and donated services, and is provided at no cost to communities.

What is Resilience?

Resilience is the capacity to anticipate threats, reduce the community’s vulnerability, and respond to and recover from hazardous events (an example is repeated flooding due to hurricanes combined with limited access to major transportation networks). There are many steps localities can take to increase their resilience, from severe weather preparedness to appropriate land-use policies to infrastructure protection systems. 

How Does it Work?

Over 18 months, communities engaged in The RAFT undertake: 

• An independent assessment of their resilience, using The RAFT Scorecard, interviews, and focus groups;
• A community leadership workshop where participants discuss the locality’s strengths and opportunities;
• A Resilience Action Checklist of actions that will make a difference in community resilience and that can be completed and/or initiated within one year; and
• One year of implementation by The RAFT university collaborative and partners.

This approach is holistic, emphasizing all three types of resiliency— social, economic, and environmental— and relies upon quantitative and qualitative data and extensive community input. Find out more under "The RAFT Process," below.

 The goal of The RAFT is to help Virginia's localities and tribal nations increase their ability to respond to acute and chronic hazards and stressors while strengthening their economic and social viability.

_{This website, Task # 91.02, was funded in part by the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program led by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality through Grant #NA25NOSX419C0064 and Grant # NA24NOSX419C0026 of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended.}