072320 HRI, TAMU-CC, and Coastal Bend COG Partner to Build Community Resilience

Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) researchers are bringing their expertise in disaster recovery and mitigation to help Coastal Bend communities build resilience after disasters like 2017’s Hurricane Harvey and the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in small town and rural areas. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the Regional Resilience Partnership (RRP) with the Coastal Bend Council of Governments (COG), an association of city and county governments across the 11-county area that surrounds the Corpus Christi metropolitan area. The U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced the RRP’s inaugural award this month, an $800,000 grant to develop a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform for Aransas, Bee, Refugio, and San Patricio counties that will aid in understanding economic risk and resilience in those areas. This EDA grant will be matched with $204,790 in local investment.