Adaptive and Resilient Communities Cohort
Overcoming Barriers. Implementing Actions.
January – December 2025
Apply for the 2025 Cohort
Join us to implement local climate adaptation and resilience projects
The Adaptive and Resilient Communities Cohort (ARCC) is designed to catalyze community-level actions to advance local climate adaptation and resilience projects. The cohort will bring together 15 collaborative teams (i.e., collaborations between at least two partners) for a year-long journey of applied learning and action that includes communities of practice, tailored coaching, and access to the latest thinking, tools, and resources, all designed to help you overcome your barriers to action.
Through the ARCC journey, participating teams will dive deep into a local climate adaptation and resilience project to achieve at least one significant implementation milestone by the end of the 12 months. This progress will build a strong foundation and momentum for continued work beyond the cohort.
We will do this together by exploring:
- Implementation Barriers – how to understand, prioritize, and mitigate your local implementation challenges;
- Community Assets – how to leverage what is strong and weave in local knowledges and leadership to overcome barriers to action;
- Equitable Engagement – how to meaningfully engage those most impacted by climate change in implementing and evaluating this work;
- Strong Partnerships – how to build, resource, and steward resilient, cross-sectoral collaborations throughout implementation;
- Progress Evaluation – how to capture and learn from the process and outcome impacts that emerge during implementation.
The ARCC is open to both English- and French-speaking teams. Cohort-wide offerings will be delivered mostly in English, with French breakout spaces available during the monthly sessions. A Francophone learning and action stream will regularly convene for French-speaking participants throughout the 12-month journey.
This cohort journey would not be possible without the catalytic support and thought partnership of Climate Caucus and Partners for Action. We are excited that both Climate Caucus and Partners for Action will be supporting this journey with their technical and network expertise.
Guiding Principles and Approaches
A focus on action over planning
The Adaptation Cycle
Low Carbon Resilience
Deep collaboration and partnership as essential
Climate adaptation and resilience are whole-of-community endeavours that rely on the ingenuity and support of all sectors and communities, especially those most vulnerable and impacted. The cohort is committed to supporting participants to ensure projects and actions meaningfully build local infrastructure for collaboration (e.g., Collective Impact) to overcome barriers to action and unleash the sustainable and durable impacts of action taken collectively.
Equity at the centre
Multisolving
As we experience the convergence of multiple globalized crises, our adaptation and resilience efforts must be responsive to these increasingly diverse and complex realities. This means finding ways that our adaptation projects help communities weather a changing climate as well as other challenges like inflation, housing shortages, and an aging population. Woven into the cohort curriculum and supports is a commitment to this type of inter-issue solutions work.
Asset-Based
The cohort builds upon this approach to community development that asks us to start with what is locally strong and abundant. It involves connecting the individual, collective, natural, and physical strengths, knowledges, and resources already present in a community to galvanize local change. Teams will explore how they can deeply engage with the community as active changemakers in projects that concern their livelihoods and well-being.
Applying to the Cohort
We invite Tamarack’s network of members, learners, and others interested in becoming a part of the network to complete the ARCC application form. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis.
Before applying, we encourage you to watch the recording of our Q&A session that took place on November 6, 2024. Hear from members of the ARCC cohort planning team to have your questions answered and ensure you are a good fit for this applied learning and action journey.
Please contact Kieran Maingot at kieran@tamarackcommunity.ca (EN) or Astrid Arumae at astrid@tamarackcommunity.ca (FR) if you need support completing your application or have any questions. All applicants will be notified by email of their application status.
Selection Timeline
- Launch call for applications: October 17, 2024
- Q&A session: November 6, 2024
- Timeline to apply: Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis
- Acceptance confirmations: December 2024 - January 2025
- Launch adaptation and resilience cohort: January 2025
About Tamarack Membership
To join the ARCC, participants must currently be or become a Tamarack member at the Everything Tier in 2025. More information on Tamarack’s membership tiers, perks, and costs can be found here.
Please note that Tamarack members include teams, collaboratives, and organizations who are members of any of our Networks for Change, including Community Climate Transitions, Communities Ending Poverty, Communities Building Belonging, and Communities Building Youth Futures.
Please indicate in your application whether you are currently a Tamarack member or would like to become one. For existing Tamarack members at the Everything Tier, the cohort will not add any additional costs to your Tamarack membership. Members at the Essential Tier may be required to pay an additional fee to participate. Support is available through CCT’s Community Contributions Fund for those who may face financial barriers to participating.
If you have questions about memberships or costs associated with the cohort, please contact Kieran Maingot at kieran@tamarackcommunity.ca (EN) or Astrid Arumae at astrid@tamarackcommunity.ca (FR).
1. Be a community collaborative group with at least two different partners represented.
What do we mean by “two different partners”?
This refers to organizations or groups across the community, public, and private sectors. Each participating cohort team should have representation from at least two distinct partner organizations or groups which may include, but are not limited to, community organizations, co-operatives, grassroots or resident-led groups, municipalities, First Nations, Inuit, or Métis governments and councils, public agencies (e.g., health and education), provincial or territorial governments, and/or corporations.
2. Have completed some climate adaptation and resilience planning and wish to implement an action or project that emerged from this work.
This refers to any activities and projects concerning:
- community response to climate risks and hazards;
- emergency response to unnatural disaster events;
- asset management and resilience of the built environment;
- impacts on community health and healthcare systems;
- stewardship of the natural environment and biodiversity;
- workforce transformation and industry adjustment to climate hazards;
- social connectedness to engage in climate action and emergency response.
3. Able to articulate the implementation barrier(s) and local challenge(s) that they wish to address through the cohort journey.
What do we mean by “implementation barrier(s)”?
This refers to a challenge or setback that hinders local adaptation or resilience projects from seeing progress. While barriers can vary across contexts and projects, there are many common barriers such as human resources, financing, and governance. For more details on common implementation barriers, see Table 4 in section 2.6 of Canada in a Changing Climate: Synthesis Report.
4. A stated commitment to centring climate equity in your adaptation and resilience work.
What do we mean by “climate equity”?
Climate equity refers to the goal of addressing the unequal burdens of climate change, while ensuring that all people share the benefits of climate protection efforts. Achieving equity means that all people – regardless of their ancestry, race, gender, age, sexuality, immigration status, ability, or income – live in safe, healthy, just communities. It also recognizes that because of historic and contemporary injustices, extra care must be taken to ensure those made most vulnerable by current systems are not further marginalized by climate action, and that their lived knowledges and experiences help guide decision-making. This definition was adapted in part from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
5. The local commitment and capacity to participate in an intensive cohort focused on implementing existing plans, priorities, and actions.
What do we mean by “local capacity and commitment”?
After three years of hosting cohorts, we have learned that one of the difficulties of participating is having the capacity to fully participate and make the most of the experience. We strongly encourage those applying to consider their own resources to participate in the month-to-month journey and whether the timing is right for them.
On an average month, participants can expect to partake in:
- One community of practice call (2 hours) OR one 1-hour coaching call and one 1-hour peer input process session
- 1-2 hours of next steps and assignments from CoPs and coaching calls
- A minimum of one hour of reading materials (with options to go deeper)
- 1-2 hours of connecting and checking in with your Tamarack lead
Click the dropdown for each criterion to see how we define each of the requirements. If you are still unsure about meeting any of these, please reach out to Kieran Maingot at kieran@tamarackcommunity.ca (EN) or Astrid Arumae at astrid@tamarackcommunity.ca (FR) to discuss.
Why join the ARCC?
What you can expect:
Teams will benefit from access to deep learning, peer exchange, expert coaching, and capability-building opportunities throughout the program. These include:
- Exclusive bi-monthly Community of Practice (CoP) sessions with guest speakers and technical experts
- A tailored learning and action stream group with 3-5 communities working through similar challenges, similar actions, and in similar contexts
- Regular Peer Input Process sessions and member matching to receive feedback from and strategize with cohort participants
- Tailored coaching calls and support from Tamarack Learning Centre Consultants, Climate Caucus, and Partners4Action
- Month-to-month support from your Tamarack lead to apply learnings from experts and peers via a co-developed learning agenda, check-ins, and regular calls
- Asynchronous learning via a curated cohort library of tools and resources, and Tamarack courses
- Access to the members-only Community Innovation Fund and Community Contributions Fund
What you’ll achieve
Cohort participants will achieve at least one significant, on-the-ground milestone related to their selected climate adaptation and resilience project. This will be achieved by overcoming identified implementation barriers and building deep and equitable partnerships to accelerate local action.
While progress will look different depending on your projects and context, some examples include:
- An insurance company, resident-led group, community foundation, and the borough team in a Montréal neighborhood team up to develop community-owned visualization tools to forecast flood risks and identify households that are particularly vulnerable. The group then develops resources for residents to better understand risks and prepare for an emergency, disseminated through an education and awareness campaign.
- A new working group is established between a First Nation, municipality, BC Wildfire Service, and a local citizens group to respond to local wildfire risk. The group co-designs and implements a series of cultural and controlled burns to reduce the risks of future wildfires, improve local air quality, build public support for these interventions, and deepen connections between organizations and community members.
- A group of residents, municipal staff, and regional health authority workers in rural Saskatchewan build social capital and improve collaboration to improve emergency preparedness for extreme heat. The group focuses their efforts on building a network of volunteer drivers to transport high-risk individuals to cooling stations during extreme heat alerts and connect this service to local social and health service providers to better connect it to vulnerable community members.
- A local nonprofit and community college in New Brunswick partner to engage youth in using natural techniques to protect the coast from erosion and biodiversity loss. Youth attend workshops where they learn about nature-based solutions and then put their learning into practice to restore their coasts, increasing their sense of ownership and pride in their coastal environment and strengthening climate resilience.
The Cohort Journey
What to expect during an average month
- One community of practice call (2 hours) OR one 1-hour coaching call and one 1-hour peer input process session
- 1-2 hours of next steps and assignments from CoPs and coaching calls
- A minimum of one hour of reading materials (with options to go deeper)
- 1-2 hours of connecting and checking in with your Tamarack lead
Learning and Action Streams
We plan to take a holistic approach to our learning and action streams for the cohort. Streams are meant to provide further tailoring to the journey for participants, allowing them to connect with a tight-knit group of peers that share similar challenges, climate risks, and/or geographies. While streams will be determined during the selection process following thorough analysis of all participating collaborative teams, they will consider a variety of factors, including:
- Language (we plan to have one Francophone-specific stream)
- Geography/region
- Size of community
- Climate hazards/risks (e.g., wildfire, heat, coastal erosion, etc.)
- Project implementation stage
“Participation in the Community Climate Transitions Cohort significantly increased our knowledge and toolbox of information for Town staff to draw upon as we move through the process of developing a (community-wide) Climate Change Action Plan. The program also strengthened an existing relationship between the Town and a local climate change volunteer organization.”
– CCT Member
“The resources, teaching, networking, coaching sessions and incredibly sensitive and personal responsiveness of Tamarack (not to mention the world class resources) have helped us gain confidence and endurance… Being part of the Tamarack network and focusing on what is possible has kept me positive and proactive.”
– CCT Member
“CCT provided frameworks and networking opportunities that were instrumental in fostering our community's collaborative relationships. The CCT Network's structured approach to shared learning and its emphasis on collective impact were particularly beneficial.”
– CCT Member
Learn More About Past Cohorts
Since 2024, we have had 73 communities participate in our English- and French-language cohorts. Read our three-year impact report and the linked blog posts here (2022, 2023, and 2024) to learn more about the communities and our accomplishments together.
Climate adaptation
Climate adaptation refers to the action of adjusting to the current and/or expected impacts of climate change. It refers to making changes to processes, practices, and structures that will help limit harm posed by a changing climate. Actions can include both those that are short- and long-term and incremental and transformative. This definition was adapted in part from the UNFCCC and Grantham Research Institute.
Climate resilience
Climate resilience refers to the actual capacity to prepare for and recover from the current and/or expected impacts of climate change. Resilience is more associated with a worldview that advocates for system-wide changes and long-term capability-building to enhance the ability to absorb changes and recover from their impacts. This definition was adapted in part from the UNFCCC and Grantham Research Institute.
Climate equity
Collaborative
A group of partners in a community (e.g., municipality, community groups and non-profits, individuals with lived/living experience, businesses, etc.) working together towards a common goal.
Implementation barrier
A challenge or setback that hinders local adaptation or resilience actions or projects from seeing progress. While barriers can vary across contexts and projects, there are many common barriers such as human resources, financing, and governance. For more details on common implementation barriers, see Table 4 in section 2.6 of Canada in a Changing Climate: Synthesis Report.
Partners
This refers to organizations or groups, across the community, public, and private sectors. Each participating cohort team should have representation from at least two distinct partner organizations or groups which may include, but are not limited to, community organizations, co-operatives, grassroots or resident-led groups, municipalities, First Nations, Inuit, or Métis governments and councils, public agencies (e.g., health and education), provincial or territorial governments, and/or corporations.
CONTACT THE COHORT TEAM
Have questions about the cohort? Please reach out to Kieran Maingot at kieran@tamarackcommunity.ca (EN) or Astrid Arumae at astrid@tamarackcommunity.ca (FR).
You can also check out the recording of our Q&A session that took place on November 6, 2024.