Resilient Communities Advocacy Fellowship at the NRDC

Coral Lin researched equitable climate metrics in order to measure the impacts in the BIPOC and frontline communities the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) seeks to engage with. She highlighted the importance of using both quantitative and qualitative (think storytelling and community testimonials) data to measure outcomes, as well as using an asset-based co-creation process. The result was an internal memo and presentation, produced with the hope of impacting strategy discussions of NRDC’s new organizational structure.

Coral also researched the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s governance and funding structures to create a briefing deck for our national and state partners. In this deck, she hoped to create some baseline understandings/recommendations on engagement, so that advocates can ensure funding is distributed equitably and towards mobility options such as pedestrian, bike, and public transit infrastructure. The idea is that this deck, along with other key states’ decks, will be presented to a coalition so that cities and states can fully capture funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and advocate to state DOTs.

Coral writes, “Overall, I found my time at NRDC rewarding and valuable. I learned more about the nonprofit space and how nonprofits can play a key role in shifting funding and priorities towards models of community ownership and just outcomes. The people I worked with shared and taught a deep sense of community- and place-based work, and I ultimately gained a better understanding of environmental, social, and economic conditions, tools, and frameworks needed for a thriving life through supporting community-based environmental research.”