Risk Reduction for Small Business Resiliency in Rhode Island
RPS worked with a highly-qualified project team, including the University of Rhode Island (URI) Coastal Resources Center (CRC), Milone & MacBroom Incorporated (MMI), the Climate Action Business Association (CABA), and Spaulding Environmental, to create comprehensive risk reduction guides to support small business resiliency to extreme weather events.
Key details
Project name
Risk Reduction for Small Business Resiliency in Rhode Island
Sector
- Property - Commercial and Retail/Education
- Defense and government services - Security and Safety
- Water - Flooding and Drainage
Client
RI Division of Statewide Planning
Location
State of Rhode Island
Services provided
Analysis of regions of the state most exposed to extreme weather, assessments of small businesses, development of risk reduction options, and creation of eight risk reduction guides based on small business types in Rhode Island
Challenge
The State of Rhode Island suffered extreme damage following several large storm events, including Hurricane Irene (2011), Hurricane Sandy (2012), and Snowstorm Nemo (2013). In Rhode Island, 99% of businesses are small, and these small businesses employ 53% of the private workforce. Nationally, 90% of small businesses fail within two years of a disaster. Because of the importance of small businesses to the state economy, the Division of Statewide Planning launched this project to improve the resiliency of these businesses to extreme weather events.
Solution
RPS worked with its team of subcontractors to develop eight risk reduction guides for prominent business types present in the state of Rhode Island. The business types included retail, real estate, lodging/accommodations, water-dependent businesses, restaurant/food, construction, manufacturing, and service provider. These guides allow the business owner to assess vulnerabilities, to identify appropriate risk reduction options, to learn about types of insurance coverage, and to access critical state resource support information.
Result
The guides created by the RPS team provided helpful recommendations for small business owners to ensure they can operate following an extreme weather event. Provided electronically on the project’s website (www.climatechange.ri.gov/smallbiz) and as hard copies distributed throughout the state, these guides will be a key resource for the state’s small businesses and will ensure the state economy does not suffer following severe storms.
Statistics
Small businesses assessed
Risk reduction guides produced
Key People
Roberta Groch and Caitlin Greeley, State of Rhode Island Project Managers
David Murphy, MMI
Pam Rubinoff, URI CRC
Contact Us
Gabrielle McGrath
Portfolio Manager – Spill Response Specialist T: +1 401 789 6224 Email
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