UO IPRE

The success of post-disaster recovery hinges on coordination and clear communication across multiple geographies, agencies, and political divisions. The first phase of this University of Oregon Institute for Policy Research and Engagement-led project will document and visualize existing or emerging recovery coordination structures at local, regional, state, and federal scales. Ideally, the outcome of this work would lead to the creation of statewide network of regional resilience collaboratives, referred to here as the Collaborate Oregon Resilience Network (COReNet). The network would provide capacity-building mechanisms needed to support rapid deployment of mitigation funding and community resilience resources across the whole of Western Oregon following the unprecedented Labor Day fires of 2020. The basic premise of COReNet is to use a collective action approach in which regional resilience collaboratives will be supported in each region impacted by wildfires. At this time, many elements of these networks already exist. However, in some cases they lack formal structure resulting in inefficiencies and challenging communication at times. Under COReNet, the network of collaboratives will seek to link, leverage, and align local actors (governments, business groups, land managers, nonprofits, and engaged residents), philanthropic partners, and others with state and federal post-wildfire hazard mitigation, recovery, and community resilience resources. COReNet will focus on ensuring that physical, social, and economic resilience become hallmarks of the post-fire mitigation-informed recovery process by supplementing emerging regional, state, and federal capacity and financial support.