The International Code Council and the Alliance for National & Community Resilience (ANCR) are beginning the development of the nation’s first whole-community resilience benchmarks this month. The ANCR technical committee will first focus on creating benchmarks for buildings, water and energy, core functional areas for all communities.

The ANCR benchmark system will provide communities a transparent, practical and commonsense self-assessment to quickly and easily gauge their cross-sector resilience efforts. It will help communities face the challenges of the 21st century, from vast economic shifts to unprecedented environmental changes. This innovative system is particularly timely given the recent devastating storms and fires in California, Florida, Texas and elsewhere.

“2017 was an important year for ANCR and our efforts to bring together public and private organizations in this groundbreaking venture,” said ANCR’s Chairman Maj. General Warren C. Edwards USA (Ret.). “We expanded our membership, our Board of Directors and our funding. We look forward to working with our many partners to give towns and cities across the U.S. a system to improve their preparation efforts for storms, fires and other disasters.”

ANCR needs subject matter experts with experience in the resilience arena to fill several volunteer openings on the committee. Specialists who are interested in improving resiliency and determining best practices for communities across the U.S. should submit their resumes or curriculum vitae to ResilientAlliance@gmail.com by Thursday, February 1, at 5:00 PM Eastern.

Opportunities for organizations and individuals looking to join the Dow Chemical Company, Portland Cement Association, Simpson Strong-Tie, Target Corporation and others as sponsors are also available. Those interested in becoming lead resilience development process sponsors for the buildings, water and/or energy resilience benchmarks should contact ResilientAlliance@gmail.com by Monday, January 22, at 5:00 PM Eastern.