Rockefeller Foundation Not Providing Grant to Alameda
For 100 Resilient Cities Network
On December 3, 2013 the Rockefeller Foundation selected Alameda as one of its inaugural cities for their 100 Resilient Cities Network. However, on March 25, 2014 the Foundation withdrew their support citing Alameda’s strategy as incompatible with the Foundation’s vision.
The grant’s centerpiece was funding for a Chief Resilience Officer to establish Alameda’s resilience plan for bouncing back after a disaster. “It’s very unfortunate that after having gone through a lengthy application process, receiving notice of acceptance, and engaging a diverse group of community members for the kick-off, we now cannot agree to a program that will work for Alameda,” said Assistant City Manager Alexander Nguyen. “We certainly hope to collaborate with Rockefeller in the future.”
“There is a silver lining,” said Fire Chief Mike D’Orazi. “The application helped us focus on the need to create a resilience plan to go hand-in-hand with our disaster preparedness planning. The Rockefeller initiative was designed primarily for large cities. This set-back will not deter our commitment to community resilience planning. We will collaboratively build a resilience strategy that makes sense for Alameda. The beauty of Alameda’s plan is that it will be shared with other, similarly situated small cities throughout California and nationally.”
