Alliance for National and Community Resilience

Disasters—natural and man-made—can cause devastating damage to a community’s physical infrastructure, economy, and social services. To better recover, a community must assess and strengthen its resilience before disaster strikes; however, few practical tools exist for doing so. Meridian set out to fill this void in partnership with the International Code Council and the U.S. Resiliency Council, co-founding the Alliance for National and Community Resilience (ANCR) and helping to create an innovative self-assessment tool.

ANCR provides communities with a common-sense, comprehensive way to evaluate their strengths and vulnerabilities—and identify pathways for improvement. In total, ANCR—with significant input from committees of experts—will develop 19 community resilience benchmarks. Each will focus on different functions, such as buildings, communications, and healthcare. Meridian’s deep experience working on resilience through the Community and Regional Resilience Institute (CARRI) was instrumental in helping ANCR develop its “whole community” approach.

Meridian led the formation of ANCR with key partners in 2018. Today, we provide ongoing strategic advice through a seat on its Board of Directors. We also facilitate and advise the benchmark development process: we are the primary liaison between ANCR leadership and the committees of experts drafting the benchmarks; we oversee the committees’ work; we document and organize committee member feedback; and we host committee meetings. In addition, Meridian has created a step-by-step roadmap for benchmark development, strengthening ANCR’s internal capacity to continue building and releasing this crucial tool.