The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and Regional Resiliency Coalition will host its third Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Leadership Summit at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort on Thursday, May 4 and Friday, May 5, 2023.
The Leadership Summit brings together regional and national experts to discuss resiliency strategies for the Tampa Bay region. Summit presentations and discussions will address the threats of climate change and sea level rise on multimodal transportation, rising temperatures, insurance, and infrastructure.
This year, the popular Mayors Panel discussion will feature mayors from three coastal cities. They will discuss their experiences in building resilience, storm preparedness, and disaster response while mitigating the impacts of sea level rise and more frequent and intense hurricanes. The Coastal Mayors panel includes:
– City of Sarasota Mayor Kyle Battie
– St. Pete Beach Mayor Alan Johnson
– Key West Mayor Teri Johnston
“The Leadership Summit is a great opportunity for local governments, nonprofits and private businesses to come together to discuss important issues facing our communities,” said Vanessa Baugh, Chair of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and Manatee County Commissioner. “Working together, we can find solutions that help streamline and coordinate resiliency planning for the region.”
During the 2023 Summit, the Regional Resiliency Coalition will highlight the Regional Resiliency Action Plan, which was adopted by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council in November 2022. The conversations and collaboration at the first two Summits led to the creation of the Regional Resiliency Action Plan as a guiding framework and menu of best practices. This year’s Summit will also focus on implementation of the priorities established in the RRAP.
“The Summit generates partnership and meaningful solutions for our region as we’ve seen through the Regional Resiliency Action Plan,” said Sean Sullivan, executive director of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. “In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, it’s important to dive deeper into regional economic development, resilient coastal ecosystems, and heat impacts for our residents and the workforce.”
Additional session topics include Lessons from Ian: Improving Post-Disaster Preparedness; Insurance and Community Impacts; and Code Red: Creating Cool Communities to Reduce Heat Impacts. The full Summit agenda and speaker lineup will be announced soon.
The Future of the Region Awards Luncheon will be held as part of the Regional Resiliency Leadership Summit on Friday, May 5, 2023. Veronica Citron, Vice President of Communications at Tampa International Airport, will serve as emcee. Nominations for the Future of the Region Awards are now open.
Visit http://www.tbrpc.org/summit/ for a full schedule and to register.
About the Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition
The Tampa Bay Regional Resiliency Coalition was officially formed in October 2018 and grew to 33 members in 2023. Currently, the Coalition includes seven counties, 24 cities, and more than 90 partners which include businesses, nonprofit community organizations, universities, and advocacy organizations.
About the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council
The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council brings together governments to coordinate planning for the community’s future and provide an opportunity for sharing solutions among the local government jurisdictions in the Tampa Bay region. The TBRPC works with six counties and 21 municipalities as they make long-range plans related to the future of the Tampa Bay region. The Council’s work focuses on resiliency, planning for climate change and sea level rise, environmental management, water quality, emergency preparedness planning, protection and restoration of the Tampa Bay estuary, economic analysis, coastal zone management, housing and infrastructure analysis, local government comprehensive plan reviews, cross acceptance, dispute resolution and reviews of transportation plans. Learn more at tbrpc.org.