PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
OUR CLIENTS ARE RESILIENCE LEADERS AND INNOVATORS.
Building resilience is inherently a long-term process. At re:focus most of our projects will take decades to be fully implemented or constructed. That said, all of our projects are also designed to generate clear short-term wins and results. Below are highlights of some of the clients we have supported and projects successes we have achieved to date.
THROUGH THE RE.INVEST INITIATIVE, THE RE:FOCUS TEAM WORKED WITH THE CITY OF HOBOKEN TO REDESIGN A CONTAMINATED 6-ACRE INDUSTRIAL SITE INTO A NEW FLOOD PROTECTION PROJECT.
“The NW Resiliency Park is a testament to the value of predevelopment. In 2013, Hoboken was selected as one of 8 winning cities of the RE.invest competition, created and led by re:focus partners. The re:focus team worked with us for 2 years to lay the groundwork for the ideas that shaped the park and its resilience benefits. With less than $350,000 in grant funding, the re:focus team brought together engineering, legal, and finance experts to help the City set the vision and generate the ambition for a fully-funded, community-led, and community-supported project. In dollars and cents, the materials prepared by re:focus enabled Hoboken to secure the initial $30M of acquisition funds, and set the template for the $50M of bonds issued to complete the $80M project by 2022. But for this early support, the resulting project would have undoubtedly been smaller and far less ambitious. The value of predevelopment can be hard to pin-down, but in this case, re:focus’ contributions were essential. They brought a level of rigor, professionalism, credibility, and creative flexibility to help us think bigger and build momentum to move from ideas to implementation.”
— Caleb Stratton, Assistant Business Administrator & Chief Resilience Officer, City of Hoboken
CLIENTS: HAYWARD AREA SHORELINE PLANNING AGENCY (HASPA)
The Hayward Regional Shoreline Adaptation Master Plan was commissioned in 2019 by the Hayward Area Shoreline Planning Agency (HASPA) a joint powers agency consisting of representatives from the City of Hayward, East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD), and Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD). The Master Plan includes multi-benefit strategies for the shoreline, its existing infrastructure, and the surrounding habitat to prepare for and adapt to sea-level rise and climate change.
CLIENTS: INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (IISD)
Despite increasingly compelling evidence in support of natural infrastructure projects, large-scale investment is still lagging. This report focuses on providing guidance to project champions and funders to bridge the gap between early-stage valuation and feasibility studies and project finance and also offers a path to investment based on identifying specific drivers and project champions for nature-based solutions and then aligning the design of natural infrastructure projects with available financing tools.
CLIENTS: DFID, CENTRE FOR GLOBAL DISASTER PROTECTION & LLOYD’S OF LONDON
In January 2018, the Centre for Global Disaster Protection with support from DFID and Lloyd’s of London launched its first Innovation Lab to help governments of developing countries identify new solutions for using insurance and risk transfer to become more resilient to natural disasters, avoid humanitarian crises, and enhance disaster aid. re:focus collaborated with RMS and Vivid Economics to design the Lab format, create workshop materials, and deliver preliminary and final reports on Innovative Finance for Resilient Infrastructure.
CLIENTS: BAY AREA CHALLENGE DESIGN TEAMS
Resilient by Design was launched in May 2017 as a year-long collaborative design challenge bringing together local residents, public officials and local, national, and international experts to develop innovative community-based solutions to strengthen the San Francisco Bay Area’s resilience to sea level rise, severe storms, flooding and earthquakes. re:focus CEO, Shalini Vajjhala is a member of the finance advisory team and contributing author on the Finance Guide For Resilient By Design Bay Area Challenge Design Teams.
CLIENTS: CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
The City of New Orleans was one of 13 winners of the HUD National Disaster Resilience Competition, receiving an award of ~$140 million to implement a wide range of resilience projects. re:focus is providing technical assistance and advisory services to the City as part of a team of contractors focused on community-based project implementation and finance.
CLIENTS: 100 RESILIENT CITIES
In support of the 100 Resilient Cities educational objectives, re:focus developed a new package of training material and applied learning content for a systems thinking and design module of a new 100 Resilient Cities Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) curriculum. Team members also delivered a workshop on urban resilience problem solving and systems thinking to select CROs and staff.
CLIENTS: CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE OF THE CHIEF RESILIENCE OFFICER
In April 2016, San Francisco released its first ever resilience strategy as part of the 100 Resilience Cities Network. re:focus partners provided strategic advisory services to the Office of the Chief Resilience Officer in the design, development, and delivery of the strategy.
CLIENTS: US DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD), THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION, HR&A ADVISORS
In 2014 President Obama announced the National Disaster Resilience Competition, a $1billion program to allocate HUD disaster recovery funds to support resilience innovation. Members of the re:focus team served as subject matter experts, advisors, and facilitators for multiple regional academies to support eligible jurisdictions in developing their applications and identifying opportunities to leverage additional resources.
CLIENTS: THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
Superstorm Sandy devastated coastal communities, including New York City. Following the storm, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo convened the NYS 2100 Commission to provide recommendations on improving the long-term resilience of New York State. re:focus founder, Shalini Vajjhala, worked with the Rockefeller Foundation to help facilitate and coordinate the work of the commission.
CLIENTS: WORLD BANK
As part of the early stages of the World Bank’s Low-Carbon Livable Cities Initiative, re:focus founder Shalini Vajjhala served as a consultant to the program and developed a framework for potential city competitions, including designing a tailored application process, applicant guidelines, and evaluation structure.