The program, to which Rockefeller provided $164 million in grant money, pays for cities to hire “chief resilience officers’’ who develop and then implement strategies for coping with climate change. The initiative also gives cities access to the organization’s staff and external consultants, as well as to a global network of cities trying to grapple with similar problems.
For participating cities whose chief resilience officers have not yet completed their initial two-year contracts, the foundation will continue to pay those officers’ salaries for the remainder of their two-year commitments, Herrick said. The foundation described its decision as “a new phase” of its leadership on climate and resilience, and said the grant to the Atlantic Council “establishes a new platform for this important work to evolve and continue.”
Asked why the foundation was closing the program, Herrick said that 100 Resilient Cities had mostly achieved its objectives.
“The history of the foundation, when it begins programs or initiatives, is that those do not carry forward in perpetuity,” Herrick said in a phone interview Monday. “We anticipate a successful conclusion to the goals set by 100 Resilient Cities.”
Network Established
As for the network that the program was intended to create, so that cities could help each other deal with climate change, that network “will continue in some capacity or another,” Herrick said.
“Jobs within 100RC will end on July 31,” Herrick said. “We will do everything we can to help 100RC staff as they explore new opportunities. They are amazing colleagues and their work has been so important.”
The 100 Resilient Cities initiative was created by Judith Rodin, who was president of Rockefeller from 2005 to 2017. The foundation chose Raj Shah, who had run the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Obama administration, to succeed her.
“I am immensely proud of the work achieved by 100 Resilient Cities to integrate resilience in cities and communities around the world,” Shah said in Monday’s press release. “The Foundation is committed to working with cities and CROs to ensure this work is institutionalized.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.