Our History

2019

• Selects first group of Hoosier Resilience Heroes, Indiana residents working to make the state more resilient in the face of climate change and other environmental challenges.

• Founds Resilience Cohort to assist Indiana cities, towns, and counties striving to address challenges posed by climate change.

• Announces Janet McCabe as new ERI director.  

• Creates Hoosier Resilience Index to highlight climate change vulnerabilities of Indiana communities and to help local governments make a plan of action.  

2021

• Welcomes IU faculty Gabe Filippelli and Sarah Mincey as new ERI co-directors.  

• Launches Beat the Heat program to help Indiana local governments protect residents from the health impacts of extreme heat.  

• Joins the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, a U.S. Geological Survey-funded consortium of eight universities and natural resource organizations focused on actionable climate science.  

• Garners state’s top environmental award for community-focused climate resilience work.  

• Announces McKinney Midwest Climate Project, an initiative to accelerate the transition to sustainable and climate-friendly practices in Indiana and the Midwest, and takes helm of the McKinney Climate Fellows program.  

2023

• Launches the Indiana Resilience Funding Hub to help rural Indiana communities acquire funding for community sustainability projects. 

• Hosts Indiana Sustainability and Resilience Conference, the state’s largest gathering of sustainability professionals and scholars.  

• Guides six local governments through an assessment of their vulnerabilities to climate change and ways they can reduce risk. 

• Secures five-year, $5 million grant to help underserved Hoosier communities expand their urban tree canopies and build climate resilience.