American Flood Coalition outlines state-level tools to connect local needs with federal funding

The American Flood Coalition introduced its state-focused resources and approach to the Resilience Task Force at the group's March 17, 2025 meeting.

Jean Tavares, the coalition's state policy director, told the task force: "We are a nonpartisan nonprofit that really seeks to advance solutions to flooding at all levels of government." She described the coalition as a member-driven organization that convenes state resilience leaders and develops practical products intended to help state and local implementers access federal funding and best practices.

The coalition framed its state work around five pillars: leadership and accountability; data management and risk assessment; strategic planning for project prioritization; funding and financing; and statewide standards and incentives. Tavares said those pillars guide the coalition's reports and tools, including a Flood Funding Finder that filters federal programs and an Adaptation for All guide that catalogs 26 approaches to address flooding.

Tavares and her slides highlighted case studies and federal tools used in other states—Florida, North Carolina, Iowa and Minnesota among them—and stressed the value of watershed-scale, forward-looking flood models. She said the coalition maintains a set of state-facing resources and runs an annual workshop of state resilience leaders to encourage peer-to-peer sharing.

Task force members asked about membership and state engagement. Tavares said coalition membership is free and that its resources are publicly available online, adding contact details for follow-up coordination with Louisiana municipal and parish associations.

The presentation concluded with the task force chair inviting members to access the coalition's tools and to follow up on outreach and technical-help requests during future task force meetings.