The rural southwest Arkansas communities of Fulton and McNab (Hempstead County) and Stamps and Lewisville (Lafayette County) face recurrent flooding, aging drainage infrastructure, and limited resources for climate adaptation planning. This project advances a community-driven watershed resilience initiative aligned with Steps 2–4 of the Steps to Resilience Framework, equipping these historically disinvested towns with the evidence, partnerships, intervention options, and financing strategies needed to implement impactful flood solutions.
The effort is led by E2I2 in partnership with the EFC, VOTE SoAR, municipal governments, and the Clinton School of Public Service (University of Arkansas). The team will synthesize available information on local flood exposure—historic records, hydrologic modeling, watershed studies, and climate projections—while also documenting non-climate stressors such as undersized stormwater systems and socioeconomic disadvantage. Community members will help deepen and ground this analysis through activities such as an environmental justice tour, participatory mapping, town halls, and community advisory council meetings. The project will also provide co-learning on household- and neighborhood-scale resilience measures to build local ownership and implementation capacity.
Key outputs will include plain-language hazard profiles, a resident-ranked exposure and impact matrix, a vulnerability and risk synthesis report, and a community-informed inventory of adaptation options (built, nature-based, and hybrid) with information on feasibility, desirability, effectiveness, and co-benefits. The project will culminate in a finance-ready roadmap that helps communities prioritize feasible, equitable, and fiscally sustainable flood resilience projects—while avoiding maladaptive investments that shift risk or increase burdens on low-income households.
Partners:
Environmental Equity Information Institute
VOTE SoAR
Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas
Sponsor:
Team Members: