Underserved and historically disenfranchised groups are often at the frontlines of climate change and sea-level rise impacts; however, they often have not had a voice in processes around funding, planning, and implementing actions to mitigate these impacts. To productively move forward with equitable climate resilience, it is essential that all members of communities can actively participate; yet our current approaches for engagement frequently are not effective at reaching our frontline, under resourced residents. We worked collaboratively with colleagues across the United States to begin exploring how to effectively engage in underserved communities. Leveraging Enhanced Engagement and Risk Communication for Underserved Communities: Research Findings and Emerging Best Practices our team set out to model identified best practices and test their effectiveness. Examples of best practices included a focus on community-driven, inclusive engagement frameworks, community trust building, accessibility and equity of outreach, and non-extractive engagement.
In this presentation, we will share when this approach was modeled in East Biloxi, MS, a predominantly underserved minority community within the City of Biloxi still working to rebuild after major wind and flood damage from Hurricane Katrina almost 20 years ago. PLACE:SLR, the Steps Coalition, East Biloxi Community Collaborative, The Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, and the Biloxi NAACP created and implemented Resilient East Biloxi, a series of community leader trainings and resident engagement events. We will share the process we pursued for engagement, the resulting program, the evaluation results of the program, and lessons learned for future efforts to engage in underserved communities.

Africatown, located just north of downtown Mobile, Alabama, was formed by West Africans, who in 1860 were included in the last known illegal shipment of slaves to the United States. In this session, Liz Smith-Incer of the National Park Service, will present on the Africatown Connections Blueway and how descendants of the original founders of Africatown are seeking to re-connect their community to the waterways and African culture through the project. Project partners are not only reconnecting to one another through new traditions, they are fostering a greater understanding of their connections to the land and water that nourishes the Mobile metro area. Tennessee State University & Oberlin College have teamed up with the National Park Service to create an online story map of the Africatown Connections Blueway. A summary of this process will be given during the session. Project partners have also re-established community rituals and traditions that are now practiced fortifying the connections between elders and youth of the community. Session participants will learn the steps of two community engagement traditions and actively participate in practicing these traditions. Of primary importance is to recognize and preserve the international historical significance of Africatown in hopes of contributing to racial healing and reckoning as well as celebrating the contribution of this community.

The NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute (OECI) formed to explore the unknown areas of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, develop and implement new technologies, and empower the next generation of ocean scientists. The University of Southern Mississippi's (USM) Marine Education Center (MEC) and Tuskegee University's College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences (CAENS) coordinate the Ocean Explorers internship that engages undergraduate students from Tuskegee University (TU). Selected students contribute to research and data collection efforts across OECI partners, while also charting a path for a more inclusive ocean exploration workforce.
The Ocean Exploration Club (OE Club) cultivates a relationship among the MEC and TU faculty, and the TU student body, enabling recruitment for the paid summer internships. During the academic year, OE Club members participate in various educational and scientific activities with project staff, OECI research partners, or other guest speakers. Activities foster interpersonal skills through professional development, networking, community building, and outreach events. In addition to on-campus club activities, several field trip opportunities are available to coastal Mississippi and Alabama.
Dedicating staff to the program at both the MEC and TU provides consistent, long-term mentors to student members and Ocean Explorer interns. This session explores the early successes of sustainable recruitment and support as seen through the OE Club and offers a preview of the next steps. In addition to facilitating intern research and career exploration opportunities, this collaboration across universities advances the science in student retention in ocean exploration.

Flooding is the most destructive natural hazard in the US. Nature-based solutions (NBS) provide an effective way to mitigate flood risks while maintaining integrity of ecosystem services and generating co-benefits. However, research on urban NBS projects show that they often cause gentrification and displacement. Vulnerable communities can take advantage of NBS and simultaneously promote social equity through carefully designed multi-scale projects that improve the connections between NBS and community development.
This research will co-identify feasible NBS at multiple spatial scales (household/site, coastal area) for Moss Point, an underrepresented city on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, to mitigate flood risks and adapt to climate change while promoting discounts in flood insurance premiums using the Community Rating System (CRS). We will co-produce planning data to inform potential project design of NBS options identified by the resident stakeholders. 
We implement a multi-disciplinary approach that involves mapping, hydrological modeling, competency group engagement, surveys, and outreach activities. We leverage the community's capacity building in an ongoing green infrastructure project funded through EPA. We will link NBS to reduced flood insurance premiums by focusing on utilizing NBS as a mechanism to help Moss Point join the CRS, an incentive program of the National Flood Insurance Program of FEMA.
Here we report the findings from the meetings with the city officials and competency group. We expect the project can provide road maps on how to help underserved communities build NBS planning capacity which can be widely applied.