Resilience Cohort

Resilience Cohort

The Environmental Resilience Institute’s Resilience Cohort program helps Indiana city, town, and county governments to measure and reduce local greenhouse gas emissions and implement climate resilience strategies.

Participants join a cohort of peers, and each local government receives one-on-one guidance, attends cohort training webinars, gains the opportunity to host a McKinney Climate Fellow, and more. Through this program, more than 30 local governments in Indiana have conducted community-scale greenhouse gas inventories. Many have adopted or are finalizing climate action plans to reduce emissions.

2025 Resilience Cohort

The 2025 Resilience Cohort Program will offer two implementation-focused tracks 

  1. Resilience Cohort: Heat Pump Accelerator
  2. Resilience Cohort: Urban Green Infrastructure  

All participants will host a full-time, in-person McKinney Climate Fellow (MCF) from May to August 2025. Any Indiana city, town, county, municipal/cooperative utility, or regional collaboration of local governments is eligible to apply. 

The application period for the 2025 Resilience Cohort has closed. Check back here in September 2025 for details on future versions of this program.

Benefits of both cohorts: 

  • An embedded student fellow for 400 hours over the summer
  • Access to trusted subject-matter experts
  • Professional skill-building for local government staff
  • Significantly subsidized costs, including free equipment and installation 

Participants invest an average of 5-7 hours per week on Cohort activities during the summer. Participants attend Cohort trainings and workshops, lead activities and engagement within their own community, and supervise the Fellow. Both Cohorts will require a small amount of staff time before and after the fellowship period.   

Application to the Cohort includes an application to host a McKinney Climate Fellow. See the application for links to ERI’s MCF Policy Handbook and Collaboration Letter (2024 versions, updates coming soon).  

Cohort communities contribute a $3,700 membership fee to offset a small portion of the overall costs of expert consultants, and scholarships paid to the Fellows. Memberships will be invoiced by ERI. Cohort communities should budget for potential additional minor expenses like printing; fellowship hosting costs such as office space, computer equipment, or supplies; and limited in-state travel.

Heat pumps are a proven, highly efficient technology that enjoy significant federal, state, and utility incentives. However, in Indiana, contractors face hurdles in offering heat pumps, and even the most motivated consumers struggle to find informed and willing installers. The Heat Pump Accelerator will build awareness of this technology among both building owners and HVAC contractors to speed up the flow of incentive dollars and heat pump benefits into Hoosier households and local economies.  

Cohort members will work closely with ERI and its technical partners to:  

  • Build a local contractor network and provide training and resources 
  • Educate building owners to create a pipeline of informed potential customers 
  • Facilitate installation of heat pumps free-of-cost for three community organizations 
  • Host a full-time McKinney Climate Fellow over the summer 
  • Contribute data and stories to grow statewide interest  

Partners include the Indiana Energy Independence Fund and the Midwest Air Source Heat Pump Collaborative.  

The Accelerator provides training, professional services, and energy efficient equipment with an estimated value of over $117,000. Cohort members will experience the Heat Pump Accelerator in four phases, with the summer “Training” phase requiring the most effort.

Program timeline

Kickoff and Relationship-building, Jan-Apr 2025 – Prepare for contractor, resident, and community partner recruitment. [Member: 1-2 hrs/week] 

Training, May-Aug 2025 – Engage contractors and potential customers and provide training. [Member: 5-7 hrs/week and Fellow: 40 hrs/week] 

Installation, Aug -Dec 2025 – Facilitate relationships between ERI, contractors, and community partners to install heat pump. [Member: 2-3 hrs/week] 

Market Transformation, Jan 2026-Jun 2027 – Support ERI and community partners in data collection and storytelling. [Member: 1-2 hrs/month]  

Who should apply? 

Utility or local government staff responsible for implementing climate, energy, or sustainability actions, or staff responsible for workforce development or building permitting. Staff member, with their local partners, will need to convene residential-scale contractors, residents and small business owners, and community organizations.  

Local governments or utilities with existing energy efficiency, decarbonization, or workforce development goals are especially encouraged to participate in the Heat Pump Accelerator to jump-start progress towards those goals.  

Participant slots are limited.

Apply

While local governments know that planting trees has many benefits, those benefits vary dramatically by species, location, and health of the tree. ERI’s Urban Green Infrastructure cohort will facilitate a science-backed, equity-based tree planting and maintenance program. The Urban Green Infrastructure Cohort will begin in Spring 2025, with tree planting sites selected by August 2025, and plantings occurring in late Fall. 

The Cohort includes a planning phase and an implementation phase. Cohort members will: 

Phase 1: Development of Tree Planting Plan 

  • Receive a professional tree canopy assessment 
  • Work with an equity coach 
  • Engage with community members and stakeholders to identify priority tree planting areas  
  • Develop a community-wide tree-planting plan that provides equitable access to the benefits of trees 

Phase 2: Implementation of Tree Planting Plan 

  • Receive up to 100 trees to be planted in disadvantaged areas identified in the planting plan 
  • Receive professional planting services 
  • Receive professional watering and tree care for each planted tree 

Phase 1 is valued at over $17,000 in professional services and Phase 2 is valued at $125,000 in green infrastructure installation and maintenance. Partners include Davey Resource Group, with funding from the USDA’s Urban and Community Forestry Program.  

Who should apply? 

Local government staff responsible for overseeing tree planting and maintenance. Regional organizations that coordinate with multiple local governments are encouraged to apply.  

Applicants must have at least one federally designated disadvantaged community census tract. While the assessments and planning will include a participant’s entire jurisdiction, all cohort-funded trees must be planted in a designated tract. Limited participant slots are available; however, this program will also welcome a cohort in 2026 and 2027.

Apply

Pathways to resilience

Planning for climate change involves two equally important pathways: climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. The first focuses on mitigating the cause of global climate change—greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. This aspect of climate planning involves assessing or measuring GHG emissions, planning reduction strategies, and implementing those strategies. The second half of holistic climate planning focuses on adapting to the climate change impacts that are unavoidable, many of which Hoosier communities are already feeling.

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Climate change adaptation planning involves assessing vulnerabilities to climate change impacts, planning strategies to build resilience to those impacts, and implementing these strategies. All climate planning strategies should be co-developed with the community, centering equity in their approach.

2024 Resilience Cohort

In 2024, ERI partnered with local governments on two tracks: a climate action accelerator track and urban green infrastructure track.

Climate action accelerator participants were trained in “Strategic Doing,” a framework for tackling complex problems, like sustainability, where solutions require extensive collaboration.

Strategic Doing is one method for making measurable, sustained progress in the face of complex challenges. The process lends itself well to implementing climate action plans that offer defined goals but little guidance on how to achieve them.

Through the climate action accelerator, local government staff piloted the model on one high-priority action from their climate action plan.

Participants included Columbus, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Gary, West Lafayette and Evansville.

Urban green infrastructure participants conducted community-wide tree canopy assessments and planted trees in areas that will benefit the most from investment.

Local governments on this track developed a plan to replenish air-cooling tree canopy. Participating communities gathered public input, identified high-priority tree planting areas, and received training in tree planting and maintenance. They also received 100 trees to jumpstart the implementation of their plans.

Participants included Warsaw, Elkhart, Richmond, and Evansville.

2023 Resilience Cohort

In 2023-24, ERI piloted a full-year cohort focused on assessing the climate risks and vulnerabilities communities are facing and developing a climate resilience plan that identifies strategies for adapting to those risks and vulnerabilities.

In this phase of the program, participants received technical assistance and support from ERI and Geos Institute, following Geos Institute’s Climate Ready Communities planning framework. Participants also received equity and environmental justice training and one-on-one coaching from Hoosier Environmental Council.

Participants included Bloomington, Carmel, Columbus, Gary, Monroe County, New Albany, South Bend, and Terre Haute.

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2022 Resilience Cohort

In 2022, ERI ran two program tracks, one focused on climate action planning and the other on developing urban green infrastructure. Both programs included an in-depth equity training and one-on-one coaching, while translation services helped participants conduct more inclusive public engagement.

In this program, participants utilized their greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories to develop emissions reduction targets and identify strategies to achieve these reductions with input from residents and other stakeholders. 

Participants received in-depth support from ERI and ICLEI, a leading nonprofit organization for local government sustainability. Using their GHG inventories as a baseline, communities modeled expected emissions reductions associated with various strategies, helping them compile strategies to meet their reduction targets. 

Some communities focused on their local government operations, prioritizing high-impact actions to achieve emissions reductions, while others are producing community-scale plans focused on emissions reduction strategies across buildings, transportation, industrial sectors, and more. 

Participants included Fishers, Huntington, La Porte, Merrillville, South Bend, and two multi-jurisdiction coalitions—one that included Lafayette, West Lafayette, and Tippecanoe County, the other a three-county planning effort led by the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission and supported by many town, city, and county governments. 

In this program, participants assessed their local tree canopy and worked with residents to develop equity-centered tree planting plans. In the face of more extreme weather in the Midwest, urban trees can help mitigate flooding, cool air temperatures on hot summer days, and provide habitat for wildlife. Unfortunately, not all residents have equal access to the many benefits urban trees provide.  

By looking at issues like access, urban heat islands, and sociodemographic factors, communities identified priority areas to plant trees, helping ensure a more inclusive, resilient future for their residents. Program participants also produced grant application materials to begin implementing their planting plans. 

All participants worked with McKinney Climate Fellows to advance their plans and received technical support and guidance from ERI, Davey Resource Group, and many other urban forestry experts from Indiana and the Midwest. 

Participants included Fort Wayne, Fishers, Huntington, Lafayette, Merrillville, Tippecanoe County, Terre Haute, West Lafayette, and Zionsville.

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2021 Resilience Cohort

In 2021, ERI led two program tracks, one focused on measuring greenhouse gases and the other focused on implementing greenhouse gas reduction strategies.

In this program, local governments conducted community-scale greenhouse gas inventories. This process involves collecting data on the amount of energy consumed in a community, the carbon emissions associated with energy supplied to the electric grid, a community's vehicle type and fuel usage distribution, and more.  

Some communities also completed inventories of emissions from their local government operations, setting them up to develop strategies to reduce direct emissions from government operations. 

Communities received in-depth training from ERI and ICLEI, a leading nonprofit organization for local government sustainability, through training webinars and one-on-one technical assistance.  

Participants included Cedar Lake, Chesterton, East Chicago, Hammond, Highland, Hobart, Huntington, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Lake County, Lake Station, La Porte (city), LaPorte County, Merrillville, Munster, New Albany, New Castle, Portage, Porter County, Schererville, South Bend, Terre Haute, Tippecanoe County, and Valparaiso. 

This program focused on implementing common strategies from climate action plans: increasing the use of solar energy, accelerating electric vehicle deployment, and reducing energy use in water and wastewater treatment. In each of these three focus areas, communities receives training and technical support from industry experts, including the Great Plains Institute, the Electrification Coalition, and the US Department of Energy. 

First, communities learned how to lower barriers to residential solar energy in their communities, working towards designation in the SolSmart program, a national program that recognizes local governments who make it faster, easier, and more affordable to go solar.  

Next, communities learned how to accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) in their communities. Participants hosted events to increase awareness, distributed surveys to better understand barriers, assessed the electrification options for municipal fleets of vehicles, and began developing EV plans. 

Finally, guided by experts from the US Department of Energy (DOE), program participants learned how to utilize DOE tools to benchmark, monitor, and reduce energy use in water and wastewater treatment—a major source of local government emissions. The implementation program also included in-depth equity training and one-on-one coaching, as well as translation services to facilitate more inclusive public engagement. 

Participants included Bloomington, Carmel, Elkhart, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Gary, Goshen, Lafayette, Michigan City, Richmond, West Lafayette, and Zionsville.

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2020 Resilience Cohort

In 2020, ERI worked with ten local governments to develop climate action plans, building on greenhouse gas inventories produced the previous year.

In this program, participants utilized their greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories to develop GHG reduction targets and identify strategies to achieve these emissions reductions with input from residents and other stakeholders. 

Participants received in-depth support from ERI and ICLEI, a leading nonprofit organization for local government sustainability. Using their GHG inventories as a baseline, communities modeled expected emissions reductions associated with various strategies, helping them compile strategies to meet their reduction targets. 

Some communities focused on their local government operations, prioritizing high-impact actions to achieve emissions reductions, while others produced community-scale plans focused on emissions reduction strategies across buildings, transportation, industrial sectors, and more.

Program participants included Carmel, Elkhart, Evansville, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Gary, Goshen, Richmond, West Lafayette, and Zionsville.

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Richmond, Carmel become latest Resilience Cohort communities to adopt climate action plans

2019 Resilience Cohort

In 2019, ERI launched the Resilience Cohort program, working with 14 Indiana cities, towns, and counties to produce greenhouse gas inventories.

In this program, local governments conducted community-scale greenhouse gasinventories. This process involves collecting data on the amount of energy consumed in a community, the carbon emissions associated with energy supplied to the electric grid, a community's vehicle type and fuel usage distribution, and more.  

Some communities also completed inventories of emissions from their local government operations, setting them up to develop strategies to reduce direct emissions from government operations. 

Communities received in-depth training from ERI and ICLEI, a leading nonprofit organization for local government sustainability, through training webinars and one-on-one technical assistance. 

Participants included Bloomington, Carmel, Columbus, Delaware County / Muncie, Evansville, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Gary, Greencastle, Goshen, Michigan City, Oldenburg, Richmond, West Lafayette.

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