Last year, the Multicultural Center of Marin organized the Canal Community Resilience Council (CCRC) in order to create a space where residents of the Canal community can engage with stakeholders and policy makers regarding issues impacting them. Before the pandemic, we were hosting monthly meetings discussing issues such as climate change resiliency, sea level rise, emergency preparedness, and housing displacement. The workshops empower residents to share their concerns and input, and allow them to have a voice at the table around the challenges that face the community. Members from government agencies, community partners and local organizations are invited for an exchange on targeted discussions. Prioritizing community feedback, we conducted an assessment in order to identify shared areas of concerns like water quality, flooding, and trash and pollution. We are developing our strategy based on those responses, and have conducted our meetings with them in mind. We hope to resume hosting the CCRC after the pandemic regulations ease in order to continue to support community empowerment and for residents to further advocate for their needs. – Marco Berger, Community Resilience Coordinator, Multicultural Center of Marin, City of San Rafael
