By Stephen Jordan For an out-of-towner, it's a little jarring to drive down I-95 around Miami and see billboards for the Yankees, but so many people have moved from up north that it actually makes perfect sense. South Florida is a top-tier Yankees market. The U.S. is developing two k-shaped economies. The income economy is the one everyone talks about - the 40% of Americans who own stock and capital assets are doing very well. The 60% who live paycheck to paycheck, not so muc

Lynn Knight, CecD, ISD Chief Knowledge Officer In a previous post regarding FEMA’s evolving role, I mentioned that discussions that are underway at the Institute for Sustainable Development about the need for more formal education and training in disaster recovery — not just emergency management. My research into rural and tribal practices reinforced that view. Lately I’ve been researching how Tribal Nations are approaching disaster resilience, emergency management, and reco

Summary of ISD and StateBook April 15 webinar presentation by Alex Kaplan Executive Vice President for Alternative Risk, AmWINS Parametric Insurance: A New Tool for Disaster Recovery and Community Resilience According to NOAA, the natural disasters of 2023 and 2024 caused over $400 billion in economic damages. As extreme events continue to impact communities across the United States, economic development officials are searching for innovative financial tools to enhance disast

By Lynn Knight, CEcD, and Stephen Jordan — Institute for Sustainable Development The Final Report of the President’s Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency , released on May 7, confirms what many disaster recovery practitioners have recognized for years: states and local governments will increasingly be expected to lead disaster recovery, with the federal government serving in a more supporting role. The Council’s doctrine — “locally executed, state managed

By Nidia Martinez, Ph.D People and businesses often believe that if they can renew their insurance program year after year, they have “climate change coverage.” That is a misconception. Insurance covers losses from specific events—e.g., hurricanes, floods, wildfires—under defined terms and conditions. It does not cover the underlying trend driving those events. And it has no obligation to renew contracts year after year. While climate change is often described in terms of ris

More than two weeks after Winter Storm Fern swept across the South, many communities remain in a difficult in-between phase: the immediate crisis has passed, but thousands of residents—particularly the elderly, rural, low-income, and medically vulnerable—are still without reliable heat, power, communications, or water. President Trump issued Presidential Disaster Declarations for twelve states , but in many places FEMA Individual Assistance has not yet been activated. This cr