Start the Conversation
Holding a resilience workshop is a good way to start your journey towards adaptation
Promoting Coastal Resilience in Arctic Alaska workshop, Unalaska, AK.
Climate experts can provide data and decision support tools to the community. Community members can voice their own observations of change and describe how changes are impacting their way of life.
Through this process, you can identify the climate impacts that are of the greatest concern to your community.
Getting community members to agree on what they want to achieve with an adaptation plan—such as avoiding property or infrastructure damage, preserving a traditional way of life, protecting community health, or just raising awareness—helps to define goals later on in the planning process.
You can increase your chances of success by making sure that there is two-way communication between community members and researchers—each group has an important role to play.
David Andrew, Native Village of Napakiak, at the Adapt Y-K Steering Committee meeting in 2018. (Photo: Ian Dutton)
Define your community and the geographic area you want to cover with a climate adaptation plan. This could be a village or municipality, a borough, a watershed, or an entire region.
Climate change will affect every community differently. For example, a community in Interior Alaska will not experience the impacts of disappearing sea ice, but may experience erosion along stream banks much like coasts are eroding.
Once you’ve defined a community, community members can share their observations of local climate change and determine their motivation to adapt.
Resources for starting an adaptation conversation
Categories: Education, Funding, Leadership & Communication, Resilience Workshop
| Title | Summary | hf:categories |
|---|---|---|
| Adapt Alaska Coasts | The Adapt Alaska Coasts project consists of four regional workshops focused on community-led resilience solutions to climate change. The four regions represented by the workshop series were the Kodiak Island, Chugach Region, the Bristol Bay Region, Southeast Alaska, and the Aleutian and Pribilof Island Region. These workshops were hosted by Alaska Native Organizations and customized by place. | workshop southcentral southeast southwest |
| Adapt-In-Place Workshop | Alaska Sea Grant’s Adapt-in-Place workshop brought together community leaders from across the North American Arctic to discuss climate adaptation and resilience. Building upon previous “Adapt Alaska” workshops held throughout the state, this event facilitated dialogue between community leaders, elders, and youth to bring climate adaptation plans into on-the-ground resilience projects. In the face of the serious threats posed by climate change, human and community relationships are one of the greatest tools communities hold. | workshop southwest |
| Alaska Native Cultural Charter School | Maintains Alaska Native culture and curriculum in Anchorage. | education health-culture interior northern southcentral southeast southwest |
| Alaska Native Knowledge Network | Provides resources for Indigenous knowledge in education and other applications. | education health-culture |
| Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program | Brings career guidance and opportunities for work experience to younger students. | education interior northern southcentral southeast southwest |
| Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program | Helps Alaskans with the practical use and conservation of the state’s marine and freshwater resources. | economy health-culture interior leadership northern southcentral southeast southwest |
| Arctic Youth Ambassadors Program | Brings together youth from across Alaska to serve as ambassadors for their communities and country in building awareness at home and abroad about life in the Arctic. | interior leadership northern southcentral southeast southwest |
| Biocultural Heritage and Climate Adaptation in Arctic Cities, Anchorage, Alaska | A co-creative community workshop on urban green spaces, focused on biocultural heritage and climate adaptation, was held in Anchorage, Alaska, on October 7–8, 2025, co-hosted by Olga Povoroznyuk and Peter Schweitzer of the University of Vienna, and Davin Holen, University of Alaska Fairbanks. | workshop southcentral |
| Chugach Regional Resources Commission: 23rd Annual Subsistence Memorial Gathering Workshop | Hosted by the Chugach Regional Resources Commission and Alaska Sea Grant, the workshop took place during the 23rd Annual Subsistence Memorial Gathering in Anchorage. Common themes from the conversations and story-sharing underscored the importance of starting with community priorities, incorporating local knowledge, communicating clearly, and building trust over time through youth engagement and consistent collaboration. | workshop southcentral |
| Drought and Extreme Weather Events in SE Alaska Workshop: List of Presentations and Speakers | List of presentations, speakers, and links from the Drought and Extreme Events in Southeast Alaska Workshop | data-expertise workshop southeast |
| Drought and Extreme Weather Events in Southeast Alaska Workshop | In March 2022, a workshop was held in Juneau, Alaska on the topic of drought and extreme events in Alaska. The goal of the workshop was to build collaboration to enhance data, decision making, and adaptation planning. | workshop southeast |
| Grant Writing Assistance Program | Contracts with professional grant writers to provide grant opportunity research and grant writing assistance for member communities. | education funding southwest |
| Gulf-Alaska Knowledge Exchange | The Gulf Research Program at the National Academies of Science organized a three-part workshop series to connect experts and exchange knowledge and insights from communities affected by the two biggest oil spills in U.S history. Workshops were held in Anchorage, AK; Thibadoux, LA; and Washington D.C. The topics discussed focused on socioeconomic impacts, community-centered response, transformative recovery, and proactive preparedness. | workshop southcentral |
| Iñupiaq Immersion School | The only Iñupiaq immersion school in the United States. | education health-culture northern |
| Ilisagvik College | A two-year tribal college in Utqiagvik. | education health-culture northern |
| Our Way of Life Workshop | Held in Sitka, AK, in spring 2025, the Our Way of Life Workshop brought together commercial fishery organizations and Tribes from Cordova, Kodiak, and Sitka to identify shared needs and strengthen collaboration on climate adaptation and resilience in fishing communities. | workshop southcentral southeast |
| Port Heiden Vulnerability Assessment | A vulnerability assessment developed from a One Health perspective. | economy health-culture workshop southwest vulnerability |
| Resident Technical Assistance Program | Provides CDQ resident entrepreneurs with a source of assistance in developing business plans, feasibility analysis (small projects), grant mentoring, completing loan applications, financial counseling and other unique needs for developing small businesses. | education southwest |
| Tribal Climate Change Guide—University of Oregon | Database providing up-to-date information on grants, programs and plans, potential partners, publications, events, and more that may assist tribes in addressing climate change through a broad range of sectors. | funding interior northern southcentral southeast southwest |
| Yuut Elitnaurviat | Provides training for local jobs that combines intensive academics and on-the-job training in Bethel. | education health-culture southwest |