Resilience Coordination plan

Why

Boulder County initiated this work in response to growing political, economic, and climatic uncertainty that was placing increasing strain on County operations and long-term planning. Uncertainty around federal funding and policy shifts posed risks to critical environmental and social service programs, while climate change was increasing the County’s exposure to wildfires, flooding, and other hazards.

While Boulder County was already recognized as a leader in resilience-related initiatives in Colorado, County leadership identified the need to strengthen resilience as both a governance issue and a capacity issue—ensuring the County could plan proactively, coordinate effectively, and adapt to both acute disasters and ongoing, day-to-day stressors. This work focused on building resilience not only in programs, but within the County’s structures, policies, and decision-making processes.

Our Approach

The BCR designed and facilitated a comprehensive, inclusive process to assess and strengthen Boulder County’s internal organizational resilience. The approach emphasized shared learning, cross-departmental collaboration, and foresight—creating space for staff at all levels to surface challenges, explore uncertainty, and co-develop practical solutions.

The process focused on:

• Building a common understanding of organizational resilience

• Identifying existing strengths and gaps across departments

• Exploring plausible future scenarios and their implications

• Strengthening coordination, learning, and recovery capacity across the organization

What Services Did We Provide?

To support this work, the BCR developed and executed a replicable process to assess the County’s internal organizational resilience. The process included the collection, analysis, and synthesis of resilience-specific qualitative data from 97 County staff across 12 departments, representing non-management staff, management, and elected officials.

Key elements of the work included:

• Reviewing existing County, state, and relevant external plans and documents

• Designing an evaluation framework to guide data collection and analysis

• Conducting group and individual interviews across departments

• Facilitating Shared Learning Dialogues to surface internal dynamics and points of stress

• Leading scenario planning exercises to explore a range of plausible futures

• Designing and delivering two Resilience and Recovery Workshops for County staff

• Synthesizing findings into seven Key Resilience Themes and seven Primary Considerations (recommendations)

• Producing and delivering the Resiliency Coordination Plan for County use, State submission, and as a model for other jurisdictions

Key Resilience Themes

1. Identifying Strategic Priorities

2. Aligning Budgeting and Program Evaluation Processes with the Strategic Plan

3. Leveraging Best Practices Across Departments

4. Enhancing Public Engagement, Outreach, and Community Partnerships

5. Supporting the Continued Evolution of HR Processes and Programs

6. Exploring Deeper Program Integration Across Multiple Departments

7. Bolstering Long-Term Recovery Capacity

Impact and Outcomes

The Resiliency Coordination Plan led to concrete organizational shifts within Boulder County, strengthening both governance structures and internal capacity for resilience, recovery, and coordination.

Identifying Strategic Priorities

In December 2018, County Commissioners, department heads, and the County’s policy team developed a formal set of Strategic Priorities, advancing alignment across departments and decision-making processes.

Leveraging Best Practices Across Departments

A cross-departmental best practices group, led by Commissioner Gardner, was established to examine existing County initiatives, policies, and processes. The group uses the Resiliency Coordination Plan as a reference point to improve consistency and facilitate the sharing of effective practices across departments.

Strengthening Department-Level Recovery Planning

Each County department initiated the development of a department-level recovery plan and submitted it for review to the Office of Recovery and Resilience. This effort strengthened coordination, clarified roles, and embedded recovery planning across the organization.

Institutionalizing Resilience

Boulder County created and launched a two-year pilot for a County Office of Recovery and Resilience (ORR), intentionally bringing resilience and recovery functions under a single organizational home so they could be considered together and addressed in a more integrated way. This formalized governance structure ensured clearer coordination and accountability across mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts, and created a more integrated approach to physical, social, and community resilience.

The ORR facilitates monthly staff meetings to coordinate mitigation and resilience activities, using the Resiliency Coordination Plan as an ongoing reference point, and to support shared learning across departments. In this role, the ORR also facilitates conversations and provides education on the RCP and broader resilience concepts, while serving as a hub for cross-department collaboration.

As part of this institutionalization, departments including Transportation and Land Use began pursuing deeper coordination around resilience-related work, and County staff initiated ongoing learning efforts, including a resilience-focused book club.