28 Jan, 2026

Lessons from the First Adaptive and Resilient Communities Cohort 2025

By the Tamarack Institute

This case study was drafted by the Community Climate Transitions (CCT) team at Tamarack. We extend our sincere thanks to the participants of the first Adaptive and Resilient Communities cohort in 2025, whose openness, feedback, and leadership shaped these learnings and led to the reflections captured in this case study. 

AT A GLANCE: WHY THE ADAPTIVE AND RESILIENT COMMUNITIES COHORT (ARCC) MATTERS 

Across Canada, communities are increasingly facing climate change impacts such as flooding, extreme heat, and wildfire smoke. While many municipalities and local organizations recognize the urgency to act, they often face persistent barriers: fragmented partnerships, limited capacity, insufficient resources, and challenges to embedding equity and reconciliation into adaptation efforts.

The Adaptive and Resilient Communities Cohort (ARCC) was created to respond to these challenges. 

In 2025, ARCC brought together 10 community-based collaborative teams for a 10-month applied learning journey designed to strengthen local capacity for climate adaptation and resilience. Each team consisted of at least two partners, typically a municipality or regional government working alongside a local non-profit, community group, or neighbourhood association. 

Rather than focusing on planning alone, ARCC supported communities to build the relationships, skills, and confidence needed to move from intention to action. 

 

Key outcomes from this first cohort included: 

  • Stronger cross-sector collaboration within and across communities 

  • Increased confidence in engaging equity-denied communities in adaptation work 

  • Practical application of tools for engagement, conflict transformation, and storytelling 

  • Momentum to advance or launch locally grounded resilience initiatives 

ARCC aligns closely with Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy and its guiding principle of advancing equity, reconciliation, and climate justice.  

 

CONTEXT and PURPOSE 

ARCC was designed to catalyze community-led climate adaptation and resilience projects across diverse Canadian contexts. The core objective was to support teams not only to strengthen their immediate projects but to establish solid foundations for collaboration that would endure beyond the cohort itself. In 2025, 10 collaborative teams were engaged in a journey of applied learning and action. Participants joined the cohort at varying stages, some with emerging ideas, others with established initiatives – but all shared the common challenge of navigating complexity while working across systems, sectors, and communities. 

CCT-Cohort-2025-EN

The ARCC journey offered a structured yet flexible learning environment that emphasized: 

  • Relationship-building and trust 

  • Equity-centred engagement 

  • Shared leadership and collaboration 

  • Learning-by-doing, supported by coaching and peer input 

 

LEARNING JOURNEY 

The ARCC journey consisted of monthly community of practice sessions, peer input processes, group and individual coaching, as well as guided support to access Tamarack’s tools and resources, designed to help communities work through barriers to action. After onboarding the 10-member communities, the cohort held its first monthly meeting in February 2025, and meetings ran through December 2025. 

Month-to-Month-Journey-graphic-EN-horizontal

The topics addressed during the community of practice sessions included: 

The power of collaboration, climate equity, and local strengths to build project momentum

This first session, led in collaboration with Partners for Action, explored “Whole of Community Approaches” to think holistically about climate adaptation and resilience. Partners for Action introduced the concept of equitable resilience, a practice that "takes into account issues of social vulnerability and differential access to power, knowledge, and resources" (Matin et al., 2018). Participants also explored factors influencing vulnerability and resilience, such as income, which can have an impact on an individual’s capacity to cope with climate risks. Heather Keam, one of Tamarack’s Consulting Directors, introduced the lens of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) and how it can be used to map local assets, strengths, and vulnerabilities in climate action work. 

Relevant links to the theme of this session: 

Tamarack Webinar | Collaboration – Beginnings and Endings  
Partners for Action | Let’s Talk About Disasters and Social Vulnerability Tool & Full Report 
Tamarack Tool | ABCD at a Glance  (également disponible en français ici) 

Building strong foundations for engagement: power, trust, & dialogue

In this second session,  Daren Okafo, Consulting Director at Tamarack, presented the role of trust as an activator and cultivator of collaboration. Participants explored how to navigate situations where trust has been broken and how to rebuild to grow their collaborations. By engaging in practical exercises and learning about tools for trust-building, such as The Circle of Trust or TRIZ – An Innovative Reframing Tool, participants reflected on their own biases, power dynamics, and obstacles getting in the way of achieving their climate action goals. 

Relevant links to the theme of this session: 

Tamarack Article | Turf, Trust, Co-Creation & Collective Impact (également disponible en français ici) 

Tamarack Webinar | Social Barriers to Climate Action  

Tamarack Tool | Critical Shifts (également disponible en français ici) 

Community engagement beyond typical spheres of connection

This third session, led by Lisa Attygalle, Consulting Director at Tamarack, focused on supporting teams to integrate authentic engagement strategies in their work. These strategies include: building relationships and engaging those ‘hard to reach’ by reducing barriers to participation; engaging the right people on the right things; conducting decision-making together with communities; and building community leadership and partnership opportunities. Lisa emphasized the importance of ensuring opportunities for dialogue and community ownership in climate action initiatives. 

Relevant links to the theme of this session: 

Tamarack Article | Why Community Engagement is Essential to Climate Adaptation and Resilience (également disponible en français ici) 

Tamarack Tool | Community Engagement Planning Canvas (également disponible en français ici) 

Spitfire Strategies Report | Replenishing Trust: Civil Society’s Guide to Reversing the Trust Deficit 

Overcoming collaboration barriers through good governance and collaborative evaluation tools

In this session, participants explored their assumptions about conflict as a barrier to collaboration with the guidance of Yas Hassen, Associate Director at Tamarack. Participants were introduced to different conflict styles and keys to adopting a transformative conflict lens. To learn more about this specific session, which was led in collaboration with the Emergency Preparedness community of practice, check out the related case study here. 

Relevant links to the theme of this session: 

Tamarack Tool | Building an Accountability Matrix to Guide your Collaboration (également disponible en français ici) 

Tamarack Tool | Conflict Navigation: A Guide Towards Transformation 

Fostering sustainable collaboration and cultures of care in the face of resource constraints

This session focused on three interconnected themes: understanding how to build sustainable collaborations, addressing burnout and fostering cultures of care, and turning funding scarcity into innovation. Participants were introduced to tools on these topics to support them in their work. They also had the opportunity to discuss strengths and challenges when it comes to working towards the sustainability of their collaborations, as well as strategies to practice care and rethink current funding models.  

Relevant links to the theme of this session: 

Tamarack 10 GUIDE |  A Guide for Building a Sustainable and Resilient Collaboration 

Tamarack Tool | Sustainability Self-Assessment (également disponible en français ici) 

Collective Impact Forum Podcast | Mental Health Is Important for Every Collaborative 

Telling your collaboration story to deepen trust, attract support, and scale impact

The last community of practice session focused on the power of storytelling, including essential elements which form a great story and key storytelling components. The six conditions of FSG’s Waters of Systems Change (policies, practices, resources, relationships, power dynamics, and mental models) were presented as a framework which participants can use to map the impacts of systems change in their stories. Participants explored steps to lead a meaningful co-writing process with communities, spotlighting their collaborative work, and began to brainstorm potential story ideas. 

Relevant links to the theme of this session: 

Tamarack Tool | Building a Collaboration Impact Story 

 

In addition to the above community of practice sessions, teams had the opportunity to engage in emergent learning sessions, which included receiving support from Tamarack’s Learning Center coaches and participating in the peer input process to receive feedback from their peers. 

 

PARTICIPANT REFLECTIONS  

At the end of the journey, participants were asked to reflect on the highlights of the cohort, the challenges they faced, and their main takeaways. Overall, participants were satisfied with the ARCC community of practice sessions, including the content presented, the facilitation of the sessions, and the topics discussed. 

“I learned so much information to apply directly to my work.”

ARCC Participant  

 

“The national calls providing knowledge and resources to support the work and the individual consultations were very helpful.”

ARCC Participant  

 

Participants noted that the main highlight of the cohort was the opportunity to connect and work with others both within and outside their community, on their climate adaptation and resilience projects. This process enabled them to start bringing people together, strengthening their relationships, and building towards a common purpose. 

 

“Connecting with others, seeing similarities…and not feeling alone [were the highlights of the cohort]. Good to have conversations and make new connections!”

ARCC Participant 

 

Teams also expressed their appreciation for Tamarack’s coaches and for the ability to receive 1:1 coaching early in the process. One of the main challenges the cohort faced during their journey was staff turnover at Tamarack. Some noted that communication could have been improved, particularly around meeting reminders for the cohort. Moving forward, the Tamarack team will reinforce communication channels for the second cohort.  

 

KEY LEARNINGS 

Several key learnings emerged from the 2025 cohort, as teams grew and implemented their climate adaptation and resilience projects: 

  • Communities value applied learning that directly supports real-world challenges.  

  • Participants appreciated building their skills in storytelling to communicate their impact. 

  • One-on-one coaching and peer learning significantly enhanced confidence and momentum in community projects. 

  • Relationship-building, as a form of technical knowledge and practice, is critical to advancing climate equity and justice. 

  • Equity-centred approaches require time, trust, and intentional design. 

 

TAKE ACTION AND JOIN THE 2026 COHORT  

Building on the key learnings from the first year, a second ARC cohort will be launched in 2026, with opportunities for personalized coaching and a monthly community of practice. 

Curious to learn more and join the second edition of the Adaptive and Resilient Communities Cohort (ARCC)? Contact Erika Massoud, Community Animator at Tamarack, at erika@tamarackcommunity.ca. 

More information on the 2026 cohort will be available on our website soon! To stay up to date, sign up for our Community Climate Transitions Newsletter. 

 

Acknowledgement of Support 

Tamarack’s Adaptive and Resilient Communities Cohort is made possible thanks to generous support from the Government of Canada. We would also like to thank our partners, Climate Caucus and Partners for Action, for their support and thought partnership in this project. 
the Tamarack Institute

Author

the Tamarack Institute

The Tamarack Institute is a connected force of more than 40,000 engaged practitioners and policymakers who work collaboratively to advance positive community change. Learn more here

the Tamarack Institute Resources