Lincoln County Social Resilience Project
The Social Resilience Project seeks to strengthen social infrastructure, the connections between community members and partners in key sectors involved in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from emergencies. Building on the earlier Social Resilience Project in Southern MidCoast Maine, the Lincoln County Social Resilience Project engaged service providers and community members to learn how they were impacted by the winter storms of 2023 – 2024 and to identify the challenges and opportunities presented by these storms.
Engagement requires meeting community residents and service providers where they are and the project seeks to learn directly from them. Improving understanding of local experiences provides a place-based guide that is key to shaping future actions to mitigate the impacts of extreme storm events on community residents experiencing heightened social vulnerability.
In the Lincoln County Social Resilience Project, we used focus groups, interviews, and community outreach events to hear directly from service providers and the community members residents they serve. Meeting the needs of community members requires understanding the specific challenges that extreme storm events present. By providing opportunities for local partners to identify opportunities for cross-sector collaborations, communities can build upon existing strengths in the region to identify actions for addressing the impacts of extreme storm events.
The executive summary below summarizes the impacts, themes, gaps, resources, opportunities, and actions that emerged from Lincoln County Social Resilience Project.