The RAFT: Get Involved
The RAFT relies on its team of staff and faculty from our three sponsoring institutions and a network of engaged experts and citizens from across the Commonwealth. Find out how you can get involved:
- For Communities
Since it was founded in 2015, The RAFT has worked with more than 30 localities throughout Virginia, from the coast to Southwest Virginia. We are also working with federally- and state-recognized Virginia Indian Tribes. We welcome your interest, no matter where you are. Through The RAFT, we seek to build models of resilience planning and implementation that can be applied to other states across our nation. Please reach out to any of us!
- For Faculty
Over the last 10 years, The RAFT has worked with localities throughout coastal Virginia and is now expanding to Southwest Virginia localities and Virginia Indian Tribes. To help communities implement their resilience priorities, The RAFT partnership is building a Virginia-wide roster of faculty interested in community resilience. In addition to supporting The RAFT via your curriculum in the classroom, we welcome faculty who can provide technical support or are involved in related research. If any of these opportunities interest you, we invite you to fill out our interest survey or contact us directly.
For more information, view a webinar hosted in February 2025 (links to YouTube) that introduced interested faculty to The RAFT, highlighted examples of past engagements, and suggested ways faculty could get involved.
- For Students
Student interns are an important part of The RAFT team; IEN hires between 10 and 20 undergraduate and graduate student research assistants every year. Interns have supported community engagement and outreach activities, developed graphics for communications outreach and reports, analyzed and drafted findings from qualitative interviews and focus groups, and served as project managers. You can apply to join the IEN team to support The RAFT’s work on coastal resilience with localities and tribes by visiting the Cooper Center's intern recruitment page.
- For Funders
RAFT's funding comes primarily from annual grants. Anchor sources include federal NOAA 309 funding via the Virginia CZM Program, and private funding from the Virginia Environmental Endowment. In addition, the Virginia Sea Grant program has provided support for RAFT team members. The following funders also support The RAFT:
- Funding for this project is provided by:
- The Jessie Ball duPont Fund
- UVA's Environmental Institute (EI)
The RAFT is grateful for this support and welcomes interest from all donors and funding agencies. To learn more about how you can support The RAFT, email us at TheRAFT@virginia.edu.