Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood is home to about 6,000 residents and sits on a rocky hillside overlooking the St. Louis River and the industrial Port of Duluth-Superior. Neighborhood engagement sessions, hosted by MNSG and NRRI, revealed that the residents wanted to know what the role of the City of Duluth is in stormwater management and how to mitigate the impact of excess runoff on their property. The non-porous or impervious surfaces that constrain the neighborhood's many creeks prevent water from being absorbed into the ground and contribute to flooding, property damage, and increase risk to human health.
The goal of the Minnesota Sea Grant project One Block at a Time was to increase community resilience to climate hazards, particularly the impacts of flooding, in vulnerable frontline communities across the Great Lakes region.
- One Block at a Time began September 1, 2021, and ended January 31, 2024.
What is a rain ready block?
A rain ready block is a community or neighborhood that is well-equipped with green infrastructure to help mitigate the impacts of flooding and degraded water quality issues.
Project description
- A community survey of 100 people on climate and water challenges
- Three community visioning sessions with a community leadership team of 10 Lincoln Park residents, business owners and community leaders
- Two neighborhood site visits with residents and city of Duluth staff
needs for:
- Improved understanding of the city of Duluth’s role in stormwater management.
- Ideas for what residents and businesses can do to mitigate the impact of excess runoff.
- Opportunities for residents to learn together.
Why Minnesota Sea Grant?
The One Block at a Time project supports Sea Grant's mission to enhance the practical use and conservation of coastal, marine and Great Lakes resources in order to create a sustainable economy and environment. This project also directly supports Minnesota Sea Grant's focus areas to help create resilient communities and economies and healthy coastal ecosystems in the Lake Superior basin.
What have we done lately?
- Team members presented about the One Block at a Time project at the following conferences and events in 2024:
- February 2024: Social Coast Forum
- March 2024: St. Louis River Summit
- March 2024: Community Engagement in Lincoln Park: A One Block Showcase
- May 2024: National Adaptation Forum
- May 2024: International Association of Great Lakes Research
- October 2024: Water Resources Conference
Participants & audience
Based on momentum and committed partnerships through Minnesota Sea Grant’s Great Lakes One Water project, the Duluth One Block at a Time project teams' work focused on the Lincoln Park neighborhood of approximately 2,600 residents in western Duluth, Minnesota.
Funding
Funding for Minnesota Sea Grant's One Block at a Time project is from the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO) Special Projects M: Water Equity in the Great Lakes competition.
Project team
Principal Investigator:
Madison Rodman
Resilience Extension Educator
Minnesota Sea Grant
Co-Principal Investigators:
Kara Salazar
Assistant Program Leader and Extension Specialist for Sustainable Communities
Purdue Extension
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant
Tiffany Sprague
Stormwater & Sustainability Program Coordinator/Educator
Natural Resources Research Institute
Sara Stahlman
Extension Leader
Pennsylvania Sea Grant
Sara Winnike McMillan
Associate Professor
Agricultural & Biological Engineering
Purdue University
Project history
2023
- Late 2023: The One Block at a Time project team summarized our One Block process and outcomes in a community engagement toolkit together with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and Pennsylvania Sea Grant.
- October 2023: Minnesota Resilience Extension Associate Madison Rodman, Natural Resources Research Institute Organizational Development Manager Tiffany Sprague and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Sustainable Communities Extension Specialist and Purdue Extension Assistant Program Leader for Community Development Kara Salazar presented on the work of the One Block at a Time project team at the 2023 Midwest Climate Resilience Conference in Duluth, Minnesota.
- October 2023: The Duluth One Block at a Time project team distributed rain barrels to Lincoln Park neighbors and partnered with Community Action Duluth to coordinate rain barrel installation.
- September 2023: The Duluth One Block at a Time project team hosted a barrels and barbeque community education and outreach event sharing information on stormwater, climate, and resilience from community partners.
- September 2023: Minnesota Resilience Extension Associate Madison Rodman, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Sustainable Communities Extension Specialist and Purdue Extension Assistant Program Leader for Community Development Kara Salazar and Pennsylvania Sea Grant Extension Leader Sara Stahlman presented on the One Block at a Time project at the 2023 Great Lakes Sea Grant Meeting in Evanston, Illinois.
- July 2023: The Duluth One Block at a Time project team hosted a community visioning session with a team of Lincoln Park neighborhood residents to understand needs and design a collaborative green infrastructure project.
- June 2023: The Duluth One Block at a Time project team visited neighborhood sites with residents and City of Duluth stormwater staff.
- June 2023: Minnesota Sea Grant Resilience Extension Educator Madison Rodman and Maia Sowers, energy and climate AmeriCorps VISTA with Ecolibrium3 and member of the Duluth One Block at a Time project presented two posters about the work of the Great Lakes One Water Lake Superior project team and the One Block at a Time project team, including preliminary data from a community survey conducted in the summer of 2022 at the Twin Ports Freshwater Folk: 2023 Poster Session and Potluck.
- May 2023: Minnesota Sea Grant Resilience Extension Educator Madison Rodman presented the work of the Great Lakes One Water Lake Superior project team and the One Block at a Time project team at the International Association for Great Lakes Research's 66th Annual Conference on Great Lakes Research in Toronto, Ontario.
- May 2023: The Duluth One Block at a Time project team hosted a community visioning session with a team of Lincoln Park neighborhood residents to understand needs and design a collaborative green infrastructure project.
- April 2023: The Duluth One Block at a Time project team hosted a community visioning session with a team of Lincoln Park neighborhood residents to understand needs and design a collaborative green infrastructure project.
- April 2023: The Duluth One Block at a Time project team hosted the first of three community visioning sessions with a community team to design a rain-ready Lincoln Park neighborhood and to develop a small community green infrastructure project.
- March 2023: Maia Sowers, energy and climate AmeriCorps VISTA with Ecolibrium3 and member of the Duluth One Block at a Time project team, presented a poster with preliminary data from a community survey conducted in the summer of 2022 at the 2023 St. Louis River Summit.
2022
- Members of the Duluth One Block at a Time project team have been working with Rain Ready Housing Specialist and AmeriCorps VISTA staff members Morgan Bliss (2021-2022) and Maia Sowers (2022-present) to conduct a background vulnerability assessment of the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Duluth, Minnesota.
- Summer/Fall 2022: During the summer and early fall of 2022 the Duluth One Block at a Time project team distributed a community survey of water and climate challenges and opportunities for the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Over 100 survey responses were received.
- In 2022, the Duluth One Block at a Time project team surveyed community members on their needs and perspectives on climate change and urban flooding and launched community focus groups to collectively vision a resilient Lincoln Park neighborhood.
