The Coastal Flood Resilience Project
The Coastal Flood Resilience Project is a network of nonprofit organizations working for stronger federal, state, and local programs to prepare for coastal storm flooding and rising sea levels along the coast of the United States.
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The Problem
Climate change is resulting in more severe coastal storms and storm surge flooding that puts lives at risk and causes billions of dollars in damages.
Rising sea levels will bring temporary storm flooding further inland and permanently inundate low-lying coastal areas in the coming decades.
Sea level is projected to rise between 4 and 6 feet by 2100 putting communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems at risk.
Low income and minority communities are especially vulnerable to coastal flooding and need to be better engaged in finding solutions.
Policy Agenda
Climate change is a real and pressing problem. It's causing more severe coastal storm flooding and permanent inundation by rising seas.
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This puts lives at risk, causes trillions of dollars of property losses, damages coastal ecosystems, and threatens critical infrastructure. Low-income and minority communities are disproportionately affected.
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In October 2025, CFRP published an agenda of near-term, national policy actions to strengthen U.S. coastal flood resilience. The agenda includes ten key national policy actions intended to address four major goals: ​
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Sustain resources for existing coastal flood resilience programs;
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Support amendments to existing laws to better address coastal flood resilience;
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Adopt constructive new coastal flood resilience policies and programs; and
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Develop national scale data and information for stronger coastal flood resilience programs and policies.
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The goals and priorities in the near-term policy agenda are informed by the latest science concerning coastal flood risks, analysis of changes to national policies and programs that are most needed to strengthen coastal flood resilience, and recent actions by the Trump administration.
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The near-term policy agenda updates CFRP’s Priorities for Coastal Flood Resilience adopted in January of 2024 focusing on priorities for the last year of the 118th Congress and the last year of the Biden presidential term. ​
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CFRP also developed a more comprehensive long-term Policy Agenda, published in April 2021.
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​All of the priorities and the actions identified in the near-term agenda and other agenda documents are addressed in greater detail in over twenty white papers and letters.
The Coastal Flood Resilience Project works with Congress, federal agencies, state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations to advance resources and policies to strengthen preparedness and response to coastal storms and rising seas. We develop policy papers and letters on specific issues related to coastal flood resilience that provide detailed analysis and recommendations for needed reforms and actions.
Click on topics below to review relevant white papers and letters.
Coastal Flood Resilience Resources
Looking for resources and information on measures that can be taken to improve coastal flood resilience? On our resources page, you will find reports and other publications are developed by organizations and individuals who are participating in the Coastal Flood Resilience Project.
Organization Partners
The CFRP is an association of nonprofit organizations and policy experts working to strengthen coastal flood resilience policies and programs. The CFRP’s activities are conducted by volunteers and may be supported by in-kind contributions. The CFRP is not an incorporated organization.
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The partner organizations identified below support the CFRP mission of strengthening programs to prepare for coastal storm flooding and rising sea levels. The CFRP addresses a diverse range of topics, and some letters and white papers may be outside the interest areas of some partner organizations. Partner organizations indicate support for a specific letter or white paper by signing-on as a supporter of that work product. Supporters of a work product may include organizations or individuals that are not CFRP partner organizations.
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Co-Facilitators
Jeff Peterson
Jeff Peterson has over four decades of experience in environmental policy development and program management including work for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He is a Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute and the author of A New Coast: Strategies for Responding to Devastating Storms and Rising Seas.
Jeff has an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Washington.
Shana Udvardy
Shana Udvardy is a senior climate resilience policy analyst with the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She conducts research and policy analysis to help inform and build support to increase resilience to climate change impacts. In her role, she advocates for actions at the federal and state levels to advance just and equitable adaptation measures to help safeguard communities from climate change-related risks and impacts.
Shana is a Certified Floodplain Manager and holds a M.S. in conservation ecology and sustainable development from the University of Georgia's Odum School of Ecology and a B.A. from Syracuse University's Maxwell School.
