Miami-Dade Parks to host Community Resilience Pod

Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department announces it will host the Community Resilience Pod at county parks beginning this spring. The first-of-its-kind pod was first introduced in Miami in June 2020, making South Florida the starting point for this global project, sponsored by The Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock).

Zoo Miami will be the first park of the Miami-Dade County Parks system to welcome the pod, a transformed 40-foot shipping container that is being deployed to relaunch efforts to build awareness of resilience solutions to local threats. Visitors to Zoo Miami will be able to experience interactive and educational displays in the pod that will highlight community-specific risks and provide guidance, resources and tools to "Be Prepared, Get Connected and Take Action."

Designed to face the growing challenges of rising seas and climate change, the pod is versatile in that it can be tailored to meet the changing needs of a community. And, in fact, the pod's initial unveiling addressed food insecurity in Miami-Dade County caused by the economic impacts of COVID-19.

"The Community Resilience Pod is a unique tool to educate our residents about the urgent environmental challenges we face," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. "Thanks to this groundbreaking resource supported by Arsht-Rock, our families can see and learn close-up about actionable measures to build a safer and more resilient Miami-Dade County including climate adaptivity and clean energy."

"Miami-Dade Parks is proud to partner with Arsht-Rock to support this initiative" said Maria Nardi, director of the Parks department. "Parks are critical infrastructure when it comes to enhancing the strength of a community, and, as we've seen during the pandemic, Parks serve as hubs for resilience during times of crisis."

Since Arsht-Rock launched the first Community Resilience Pod in Miami, it has served as a trusted center for food distribution, fruit tree distribution and hurricane preparation.

Now, Arsht-Rock has partnered with Miami-Dade County Parks to deploy the pod across Miami-Dade County parks where staff and volunteers will lead multilingual educational efforts to inform visitors about the necessary life skills to become more resilient in the face of climate impacts and extreme events.

The Community Resilience Pod at Zoo Miami will debut with solar power, a hydroponics system, a cooling station, as well as a feature on Zoo Miami's conservation efforts. 

The Community Resilience Pod's immersive experience and vibrant art focuses on building new knowledge and resilience to improve lives and livelihoods within the most vulnerable communities. Through interactive and educational storytelling, advocacy and public service campaigns, the mobile and scalable pods reflect and engage the community around them. Arsht-Rock is partnering with cities and communities around the world to deploy Community Resilience Pods across other major cities, including Chennai, Melbourne, Paris, Athens and Mexico City over the next ten years.

About Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces:

Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces is the third largest county parks system in the United States, consisting of 278 parks and 13,769 acres of land. It is one of the most unique park and recreation systems in the world and focused on placemaking, health and fitness, and conservation and stewardship.

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About The Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock)

The Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center will reach One Billion People with resilience solutions to climate impacts, migration and human security challenges by 2030. We focus our efforts on people, communities, governments, and institutions to help them better prepare for, navigate and recover from the multiple shocks and stressors people all over the world face every day.

The Atlantic Council promotes constructive US leadership and engagement in the world based on the central role of the Atlantic community, working with its allies and partners, to meet global challenges. Through the ideas we generate, the papers we write and the communities we build, the Council informs public debates, shapes policy choices and forges sustainable strategies to create a more secure, free and prosperous world. For more information, visit www.onebillionresilient.org or contact Rosemary Mann at [email protected].