Baton Rouge, Louisiana – The Community Resilience Center at The Water Institute is expanding its Community Resilience Catalyst Program beyond Louisiana to support resilience work with coastal communities across the Gulf Coast.
Launched in spring 2025, the Community Resilience Catalyst was designed to rapidly deploy resources for addressing community resilience in often overlooked communities. Building on the momentum of its initial Louisiana-based effort and generously supported by a significant gift from an anonymous donor, the program is now expanding Gulf-wide to connect local governments and community-based organizations with additional capacity for resilience in coastal communities throughout Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
“Across the Gulf Coast, communities already know what they need to prepare for, respond to, and adapt to the complex challenges they face,” said Renee Collini, Director of the Community Resilience Center at The Water Institute. “Expanding the Catalyst Program is adding another pathway for community leaders to advance resilience efforts.”
Coastal communities across the Gulf face increasing risks from flooding, hurricanes, extreme heat, coastal change, and other hazards. At the same time, many communities encounter barriers such as limited staff capacity, technical expertise, funding access, or aligned resources needed to turn resilience goals into action.
The Community Resilience Catalyst is designed to help address those barriers. Communities can schedule tailored educational opportunities with Center staff that collaboratively explore pathways for community resilience. In addition to the educational support, communities can apply for direct technical and capacity support from the Center to propel the next phase of resilience planning and action efforts or to close identified knowledge gaps.
The Catalyst expansion reflects the Community Resilience Center at the Water Institute’s continued commitment to advancing community-led resilience across the Gulf and supporting the networks of local leaders, organizations, agencies, and partners working to reduce vulnerability and strengthen long-term resilience.
“This work is rooted in the understanding that communities know their own needs, priorities, and opportunities,” said Beaux Jones, President and CEO of The Water Institute. “Our role at The Water Institute is to support that leadership with actionable science, practical tools, and trusted collaboration so that communities can build capacity and take significant next steps in their resilience planning.”
The Community Resilience Center invites community leaders and organizations interested in learning more about the Gulf-wide Catalyst expansion to contact Alexis Patell, Outreach Specialist, at apatell@thewaterinstitute.org.
ABOUT THE WATER INSTITUTE
The Water Institute is driven by the mission to reduce the vulnerability of people, communities, ecosystems, and economies through transformative approaches to interconnected environmental and social challenges. As an independent, applied research organization, the Institute advances actionable research, technology, and planning to support science-informed decision making. The Institute serves as a thought partner, leveraging expertise in multiple disciplines and engaging across multiple sectors — government, private industry, academia, and communities. The Institute was founded in 2011 in the aftermath of devastating hurricanes and oil spills. Headquartered in Louisiana, the Institute draws on its roots in the Mississippi River Delta and the Gulf Coast, where water is both a strength and a vulnerability, to tackle challenges wherever they are. The Water Institute envisions a future where all of humanity can adapt and thrive alongside nature in a changing world. Learn more at www.thewaterinstitute.org.
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY RESILIENCE CENTER AT THE WATER INSTITUTE
A community center is a place where people go for resources, opportunities, and connecting with others. The Community Resilience Center at The Water Institute (the Center) strives to serve in this role for Gulf Coast communities on topics related to resilience. The Center works with communities to move beyond the assessment and study of risk towards the exploration, co-development, and implementation of community-focused strategies to increase resilience at every level: individual, household, neighborhood, city, state, and nationally. Learn more at www.thewaterinstitute.org/crc.