LOS ANGELES, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Recent Trump Administration funding cuts pulled funding from small communities trying to protect their communities from natural disasters. Natural disaster survival from hurricanes, wildfires, flooding, and heatwaves has become a top priority for countless US communities that rely on federal funding for their climate action plan, in particular farmers.
The government also removed climate change webpages from USDA websites that contained planning tools and funding information that farmers and small towns confronting these natural disasters needed to plan changes. The missing information included how rural areas could mitigate these hazards and how farmers could adapt to a changing climate by using climate smart agriculture techniques. Without funding or federal guidance to help protect themselves from a changing climate, communities could potentially incur more deaths and higher repair costs after surprise climate events.
In an effort to mitigate the loss of federal funding and data, Climate experts such as the Executive Director Tim Magee at Center for Sustainable Development (CSDi) are offering training programs to community members, small-town governments, and nonprofits to help their climate investment funds go further. Magee shared, “When communities are facing funding cuts, they can learn how to encourage community engagement by developing a community-led disaster preparedness program. If they had their funding frozen for hiring an emergency management consultant, they could enroll in our online training program designed to help communities launch these emergency action plans on their own.”
Magee has been helping rural communities, including indigenous communities and farming communities, to develop climate action plans for the past 16 years. In his new course, ‘How to Write a Climate Action Plan,’ he shares affordable solutions to common problems when communities are facing funding shortages in this era of climate change.
One farmer, Astrid Grigsby-Schulte, of the 1,470-person-strong town of Lindside, West Virginia, said, “Our farming community suffered from a prolonged drought last year. Now, this February, we just experienced a major flood.” After taking one of the online courses offered by CSDi, she is currently working with fellow farmers to create a climate action plan for their community. According to a recent USDA report, there are 1,626,608 small farms in the US just like the farm owned by Grisby-Schulte that are particularly reliant on frozen federal funds.
Hurricanes have also been a major factor for emergency planning. According to FEMA, 84% of hurricane-prone communities still haven’t developed a critical level of community engagement necessary for effective hurricane preparedness. This prompted CSDi to create the guide “How to Prepare for a Hurricane,” which shares how small towns can organize community engagement in the hurricane preparation process. According to the guide, advanced preparation can reduce harm to community members and avoid food/water supply chain issues after a climate event.
“Never underestimate the power of your fellow community members for reducing the cost of climate projects,” continued Magee. “If you have a well-researched climate action plan that is tailored for your community, you can make up for funding shortages by encouraging the collaborative efforts of your neighbors using field-tested climate change solutions.”
About Center for Sustainable Development (CSDi): Since 2008, CSDi has served as a nonprofit training center offering online courses, field workshops, and mentored training programs to over 5000 nonprofit professionals from 1000+ organizations in154 countries.
Contact:
G. K. Hunter
Kindred House Media
[email protected]
https://gkhunter.com/kindred-house-media/