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UVA RAFT team reports community resilience findings, schedules two public sessions in Dickinson County
Summary
UVA RAFT staff told the board they completed phase 1 of a community resilience assessment, held three public conversations with 88 attendees, and will host two public sessions—an information session and an action workshop—to select implementable priorities.
University‑led consultants updated the board on the Resilience Adaptation and Feasibility Tool (RAFT) project, shared findings from phase 1 community conversations and the RAFT scorecard, and invited residents to two upcoming public sessions to choose implementation priorities.
Amanda Wall, the community builder for the UVA RAFT project, and Ian Baxter of UVA gave an overview of phase 1 work. They said the team conducted three community‑conversation sessions in early March with about 88 attendees and completed a document combining a policy/plans scorecard with community feedback.
The presenters described how RAFT assesses economic, social and environmental resilience, produces an opportunity list of about 10–12 feasible actions for the community to consider, and forms volunteer implementation teams when the community selects items to pursue. "That list at our action workshop... the community members kind of decide of that list, that menu of options, what we're going to pursue," Baxter said.
Key findings presented by the RAFT team included: a strong sense of community and local pride; infrastructure and access shortfalls (notably poor roads and limited cell/Wi‑Fi coverage); health‑care and social services gaps; and opportunities for workforce development, energy diversification, ecotourism and expanded volunteer networks. Multiple attendees emphasized roads as a cross‑cutting concern for economic, social and environmental resilience.
Amanda Wall summarized the next steps: an information session (with dinner, she said) where outside speakers will present options and tradeoffs, followed by an all‑day action workshop. She gave the schedule: an information session at 5:15 p.m. two days after the board meeting and a 9 a.m.–3 p.m. action workshop on June 5, during which attendees will select 3–5 items for a year of implementation support starting in mid‑2025. "By the end of next month we'll have these action items identified that the community has endorsed," Baxter said.
The presenters asked the board to publicize the sessions and encouraged residents to attend. The board and staff thanked RAFT staff and said they would promote the public events.
