March 19, 2014

6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Syracuse University Fisher Center, New York City

RBD blends philanthropic and government funding to support the development and implementation of ten projects, with each source treated as yet another layer of innovation. In engaging the philanthropic sector to fund the research and design process, RBD has also incorporated these organizations and their vast network of information and support in the process itself. As advocates for a collective goal, they have become participants in the larger conversation that Rebuild by Design attempts to generate, that is, the campaign on building regional resilience by design.

Community Development Block Grants (CDBG‐DR) are the primary federal dollars that will fund the implementation of RBD proposals. To Grantees (governments) are typically asked to develop an action plan for these funds only after they are allocated. RBD informally changes this procedure by developing innovative proposals, and thus resilience input, for action plans before funding is given. Federal dollars thus become not simply a mechanism of implementation, but another catalyst for innovation.

This is dovetailed by team efforts to secure their own funding for additional research and design development, fueling the extension of their outreach and the scope of their research.

What does funding mean in the face of risk? Why should teams invest in such a demanding process? How do you align funding streams to garner multiple benefits (the infrastructural with the civic, for example)? How can implementation funds structurally embrace this larger phase of research by design for better implementation, a new standard of resilience and real innovation?

Panelists and Respondents to this session include David Burney, Michael Berkowitz, Shalini Vajjhala, Gary Hattem, Denise Hoffman-Brandt, Scott Davis, Robert Pirani, Marc Norman, Kristin Giantris, and Mary Rowe.