Collaborative Alliance

Connect. Share. Learn From Each Other.

The Collaborative Alliance brings together people working on resilience across Virginia to share what they’re seeing, learn from one another, make useful connections, and think through real challenges together.

A Place to Connect

Resilience work can be complex, and no one organization has all the answers.

The Collaborative Alliance creates a space for people across Virginia to connect with peers, share experiences and resources, hear what others are seeing in their communities and sectors, and get new ideas for challenges they are working through.

You don’t need to take on a new project or commit to monthly meetings. The Collaborative Alliance is designed to be a low-burden, useful way to stay connected to what is happening across Virginia.

What You Can Expect

Know What's Emerging

Know what others are seeing.

Hear about emerging resilience needs, funding and program opportunities, useful resources, promising approaches, and issues coming up across Virginia.

Talk Through CHallenges

Bring a question. Leave with new ideas.

Share a real challenge you’re facing and tap into the experience of people working in other communities, regions, and sectors.

Make Connections

Find people, resources, and examples that can help.

Connect with practitioners who may have relevant experience, expertise, resources, or lessons to share.

Four Conversations a Year

Meaningful Connection Without Another Monthly Meeting

The Collaborative Alliance meets quarterly, giving participants four opportunities each year to reconnect, exchange ideas, and hear what is changing across Virginia. Each gathering is designed to be practical and conversational rather than presentation-heavy.

A typical forum might include:

A quick statewide update

What Resilient Virginia and Collaborative Alliance participants are hearing, seeing, and watching.

A real-world challenge

A chance for participants to share something they are working through and invite ideas, examples, or connections from the group.

 

Open exchange

A chance to share useful resources, emerging needs, opportunities, lessons learned, or something others should know about.

Does Resilience Touch Your Work?

Join the Conversation!

The Alliance welcomes people working across the many systems that influence community resilience, including local and regional government, state agencies, nonprofits, universities, community organizations, utilities, businesses, infrastructure, planning, economic development, natural resources, emergency management, and related fields.

If your work helps communities prepare, adapt, solve problems, or become stronger over time, your perspective can add value.

A Broader View of What's Happening Across Virginia

Participating in the Collaborative Alliance can help you:

  • Stay connected to resilience work beyond your own organization or region.
  • Hear how others are approaching similar challenges.
  • Discover resources, examples, funding opportunities, and useful tools.
  • Find people with experience or expertise relevant to your work.
  • Share what your community or sector is experiencing.
  • Bring a challenge to the group when an outside perspective would help.
  • Build relationships across sectors without joining another time-intensive committee.

Join When It's Useful to You

Participate when the conversation is relevant, bring a challenge when you could use another perspective, share something others may find useful, or simply stay connected to what the network is learning.

Shared Insights From the Network

What We're Hearing Across Virginia

The Collaborative Alliance welcomes people working across the many systems that influence community resilience, including local and regional government, state agencies, nonprofits, universities, community organizations, utilities, businesses, infrastructure, planning, economic development, natural resources, emergency management, and related fields.

You don’t need “resilience” in your title. If your work helps communities prepare, adapt, solve problems, or become stronger over time, your perspective can add value.

Stay Connected to the Collaborative Alliance

Get updates on upcoming quarterly forums, shared resources, emerging resilience issues, and opportunities to connect with practitioners across Virginia.

Talk With Us About Your Needs

Have a resilience challenge, project idea, funding opportunity, or capacity need? Tell us a little about what you’re working on and where you could use support.

Stay in the Loop

Get Resilient Virginia news, program updates, learning opportunities, events, resources, and ways to get involved delivered to your inbox.

Get Alliance Updates

Stay connected to the Collaborative Alliance and receive updates on upcoming quarterly forums, emerging resilience issues, shared resources, statewide insights, and opportunities to participate in the network.

Explore an Industry Partnership

Start a Strategic Partnership Conversation

Talk With Us About Partnership

Trish Porter

Director of Programs & Communications

Trish Porter is the Director of Programs and Communications at Resilient Virginia, where she develops and leads programs focused on resilience, systems thinking, and cross-sector collaboration. She is the co-creator and curriculum lead for the Resilience Foundations Certificate Program and served as lead author of the Regional Resilience Roadmap for Central and Southwest Virginia.

In her role, Trish oversees statewide educational initiatives including the Resiliency Academy, Spotlight On Webinar series, and the biennial Resilient Virginia Conference. She works closely with local governments, nonprofits, academic institutions, and state agencies to support resilience planning, knowledge sharing, and collaborative problem-solving across sectors.

Trish specializes in translating complex resilience and sustainability concepts into practical, accessible learning experiences for local leaders, practitioners, and communities. She holds a Master of Natural Resources with a Graduate Certificate in Global Sustainability from Virginia Tech and brings a multidisciplinary background in sustainability, communications, education, and strategic program development.

Jessica Steelman

Executive Director

Jessica is a systems-level resilience and sustainability practitioner with experience leading nonprofit strategy, cross-sector partnerships, community-centered planning, and resilience implementation across Virginia. She brings a multidisciplinary background in coastal resilience, behavioral health, community engagement, grant strategy, and organizational leadership, with a focus on strengthening the natural, built, economic, and social systems that communities depend on.

Her work centers on connecting people, resources, and ideas across public, private, nonprofit, academic, and regional networks to move resilience priorities from planning into practical action. Through strategic leadership, program design, partnership development, and resource mobilization, she helps communities and organizations build capacity, reduce risk, and advance more resilient and sustainable futures.

Customized Learning Request

Media Inquiry

For media inquiries, interviews, speaking requests, organizational background, or information related to whole-community resilience in Virginia, connect with our team.

Join the Dashboard Pilot

Sign up to receive pilot access and opportunities to provide feedback.

Get Conference Updates

Be the first to know when registration opens and receive conference announcements.

NEXT RESILIENCY ACADEMY JUNE 25: Proactive Resilience: Planning, Adapting, and Mitigating Hazards Before They Strike