Project Context

Communities across Southwest Louisiana and Central Acadiana face overlapping risks such as hurricanes, flooding, and extreme heat and long-standing challenges such as economic disinvestment, population shifts, and industrial pressures. This 20-parish region, home to several watersheds and Tribal Nations, has unique cultural, ecological, and infrastructural factors that shape its vulnerability and resilience.

Although federal and state attention to resilience planning is increasing, many communities in this region remain overlooked in large-scale efforts. Supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, this initiative brings together local governments, Tribal Nations, researchers, and community-based organizations to develop a regional strategy informed by on-the-ground experience and local conditions. The project prioritizes long-term capacity building, cross-jurisdictional governance, and community-led planning as essential for effective and just climate resilience.

 Project Purpose

The Southwest Louisiana & Central Acadiana Resilient Future project is a five-year initiative supporting stronger infrastructure and disaster preparedness across 20 parishes. Through community-led research, regional collaboration, and culturally grounded engagement, the project seeks to develop strategies that reduce risk and strengthen capacity in the face of compounding climate threats.

This project aims to develop a coordinated, locally informed regional strategy to strengthen resilience across Southwest Louisiana and Central Acadiana. The project brings together Tribal Nations, local governments, grassroots organizations, researchers, and planners. It aims to improve regional collaboration, incorporate community input, and deliver practical solutions to the area’s most pressing environmental and infrastructure challenges.

Community engagement is central to the process and is guided by a Community Committee to ensure diverse input shapes decision-making. A Governance Committee, composed of local and regional government representatives, supports integrating community insights, fostering collaboration, and building sustained regional capacity.

Expected Project Outcomes

The project aims to increase understanding of climate impacts and prioritize actions to address them by reviewing existing data and developing new information as needed. It supports consistent and meaningful community engagement, keeping Tribal Nations informed and engaged as sovereign governments. The initiative also strengthens coordination and collaboration across the region while building long-term capacity through ongoing collaboration, workforce development, and the creation of training, toolkits, and other resources. Anticipated outcomes include: 

• Improved understanding of local environmental risks and identify priority actions to address them, using both existing data and newly developed information where needed.
• Community engagement that listens to and documents the range of needs, goals, and ideas related to resilience.
• Enhanced coordination and collaboration through a Governance Committee uniting Louisiana Watershed Initiative Regions 4 and 5, local governments, and Tribes.
• Long-term regional capacity built through ongoing collaboration, workforce development, and creation of training, toolkits, and other resources.

Project Team

Graduate Research Assistant: Brieana DeGrate, Texas A&M University, Bill Anderson Fund Fellow

Principal Investigator: Simone Domingue, Tulane University, ByWater Institute, Principal Investigator

Project Supervisor: Nnenia Campbell, Ph.D., Bill Anderson Fund

Additional Collaborators and Partners