Molly Caggiano, manager of Charleston County’s new Resilience and Sustainability Division, delivered the division’s first formal update since it was established in January 2025, outlining a countywide inventory of resilience and sustainability initiatives, recent grants and near-term grant applications.

Caggiano said the division currently consists of two full-time staff (herself and sustainability coordinator Ali Petrucci) plus an intern, and is guided by the county’s Sustainability Plan (adopted August 2024) and a hazard vulnerability assessment briefed to council in October 2024. She told council the division has cataloged roughly 100 projects across departments and community partners and is actively working on about 55% of them.

"The goal of our division is to address all of these interconnected issues," Caggiano said, describing the need for systems thinking to manage chronic stressors such as aging infrastructure and food insecurity alongside acute shocks like hurricanes. She added that nearly 40% of the inventory focuses on sustainable and inclusive transportation while about 30% centers on affordable and resilient buildings.

Caggiano described two resilience-focused initiatives this year: a flood-insurance gap analysis (conducted with Fernleaf consulting) that maps flood risk, insurance take-up and socioeconomic vulnerability to recommend appropriate mitigation strategies (insurance, infrastructure or drainage work), and a brownfields strategic plan focused on sites largely in North Charleston and Hollywood intended to pair revitalization with hazard mitigation. She said the brownfields effort intentionally engages community members to identify priority sites and potential reuse strategies.

On funding, Caggiano reported the division has secured about $325,000 in grants for the current fiscal year (many from the South Carolina Energy Office) and plans to apply for roughly $2.1 million in federal funding, including an anticipated $1 million Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC) microgrid application in partnership with Joint Base Charleston and a $1 million EPA Brownfields coalition application working with North Charleston and Hollywood.

Caggiano highlighted outreach: the division has attended 33 community events since February, including composting-facility tours and a sea-rise community stroll with the South Carolina Aquarium. She invited council and partners to a countywide Resilience and Sustainability Symposium on Nov. 19 at Trident Technical College to expand the inventory, convene cross-jurisdictional partners and build a countywide resilience collaborative.

Council members asked follow-up questions about whether staff can produce an inventory of roadways that overtop during king tides (for potential coordination with transportation projects) and how the brownfields strategy would interact with major waterfront development sites. Caggiano said staff could overlay elevation data and tide levels to identify recurring overtopping and that several North Charleston industrial sites were already identified for potential revitalization and hazard mitigation.

What it means

The division’s work is intended to coordinate resilience and sustainability activities countywide, align funding applications and help prioritize projects where mitigation and revitalization can be combined. Council directed staff to continue developing partnerships and to present follow-up information as requested by members.

Next steps

Staff will pursue the federal grant applications as the solicitations open, continue the brownfields engagement with community partners in North Charleston and Hollywood, and host the Nov. 19 symposium to form a countywide resilience collaborative.