RISC The Resilient Schools Consortium

RiSC™ is a climate and resilience education program. For future updates visit riscnyc.org and @riscnyc1 on Instagram

The aim of the RiSC program and curriculum is to educate middle and high school youth in NYC schools about climate change science and climate impacts, as well as natural and built solutions that increase climate resilience. RiSC engages students in knowledge-sharing through a variety of communication campaigns and provides access to hands-on projects - like tree planting and dune restoration - tha

t mitigate the impacts of extreme weather. The program also creates opportunities for meaningful interactions with community members, resilience practitioners and decision makers in NYC. Teachers at participating schools engage teams of students in the year-long RiSC program, which can be implemented during or after school. Over the course of the program, which launched in October 2017, students interface with climate scientists and experts in the field of resilience, green infrastructure, engineering, and facilities management, including the custodial engineers in their school buildings. Students are asked to explore their schools’ and communities’ vulnerabilities to climate change and extreme weather events using audits and digital tools. They engage in a multitude of hands-on, real-world, project-based activities, including small-scale school resiliency projects . In both June 2018 and 2019, students presented their work at "RiSC summits" t held at Brooklyn College. Finally, the students developed resiliency guidelines for the NYC Department of Education. In 2019-20, students took boat rides in New York Harbor with BioBoat to understand their coastal ecology and geography; they took public speaking classes with Kid Power Academy, and planted trees with Trees New York. When COVID hit in March 2020, the program pivoted to digital learning. Students took virtual field trips to Jamaica Bay marshes, watched virtual dune plantings and received at-home planting kits. A short film about the RiSC program by Huffman Studios, Inc. was released September 24, 2020 during NYC Climate Week and screened at the DC Environmental Film Festival in March 2021. Thanks to funding from NOAA and FEMA, the RiSC program will be focused in the frontline community of Coney Island, New York through 2023.

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Our Story

The Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC)TM project is a NOAA and FEMA funded climate resilience education program in five Brooklyn schools – John Dewey High School, Rachel Carson High School, IS 228 David Boody, JHS 223 The Montauk School, and MS 88 Peter Rouget. In 2019-20, the project is a partnership between the National Wildlife Federation, the NYC Department of Education, the American Littoral Society, Trees New York, BioBoat, Kid Power Academy, and Huffman Studio, Inc.

Using a newly created climate RiSCTM Curriculum, teachers at the participating schools are engaging students from each school in the RiSC program both in-school and after school. Since COVID-19 caused NYC schools to close on March 17, 2020, schools have been participating in remote learning.

Over the course of the program - which launched in October 2017 with Brooklyn College, the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, and New York Sea Grant - students interface with experts in the field of resilience, green infrastructure, engineering, and facilities management, including the custodial engineers in their school buildings. Students explore their schools’ and communities’ vulnerabilities to climate change and extreme weather events using audits and digital tools. They engage in a multitude of hands-on, real-world, project-based activities, including boat trips, tree stewardship, dune restoration, and the planning and ex*****on of social media and community education projects. A RiSC documentary is planned for completion at the end of 2020.
In both June 2018 and 2019, students presented their work at "RiSCTM Summits" that were held at Brooklyn College. The students also developed resiliency guidelines for the NYC Department of Education. Learn more and access the RiSC 1.0 curriculum at www.riscnyc.org.

Location

New York

Telephone

+16465027096

Website

http://www.riscnyc.org/

Address

New York, NY