Issued by:
The Philadelphia City Fund
On behalf of The City of Philadelphia, Office of Sustainability
Statement of Purpose
The Philadelphia City Fund (“Fund” or “PCF”) and Philadelphia Office of Sustainability (“OOS”) seek qualified professional firms (individual firms or consultant teams) to provide climate resilience planning and engagement services for this project Resilient Philadelphia: Citywide Resilience Plan Update. The selected firm will work with OOS to conduct a Climate Resilience Needs and Values Assessment (“NVA”) and update the City’s Climate Resilience Plan. The NVA is a citywide equitable engagement process for two-way learning that gathers feedback from stakeholders and community members to identify vulnerabilities to climate impacts and develop solutions to enhance resilience. This process is to ensure procedural and distributional equity are key tenets in Philadelphia’s updated Resilience Plan and will guide resilience efforts for years to come. The NVA and development of the Resilience Plan for Philadelphia is anticipated to take up to two years.
The selected applicant or applicant team (“Consultant”) will have a range of expertise including climate resilience, urban planning and design, stakeholder engagement and communication expertise. The are expected to exhibit an understanding of the current climate change science and impacts in Philadelphia, understand how socio-economic factors relate to vulnerability, and expertise in resilience planning and adaptation solutions for hazard mitigation. Deliverables produced by the Consultant will be expected to incorporate principles of environmental justice and equity and respondents must have experience in community engagement and the ability to explain complex science and technical information in plain language.
Project Background
Philadelphia’s vulnerability to climate impacts is shaped by its geographic location, history of urban development, and high rates of poverty. As a city situated largely between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, it has faced repeated challenges from flooding, particularly during hurricanes and heavy rainstorms. Rising temperatures and the urban heat island effect also exacerbate heat-related health risks, especially in densely populated and underserved neighborhoods. These challenges underscore the importance of climate resilience in Philadelphia and the need for coordinated action and a strategic plan that unites stakeholders across the city.
Municipal efforts to strengthen resilience include providing climate services and actionable information to plan for a changing climate; engaging and educating stakeholders through risk communication and mapping; developing programs, plans, and policies that help residents stay cool and mitigate flooding; planning, designing, and installing resilient infrastructure projects; ensuring that risk from climate change is included in capital planning; and aligning local, state, and federal resources to better communicate and meet the needs of residents.
Philadelphia’s initial climate resilience efforts included two key reports: a 2014 climate science document and the 2015 Growing Stronger Towards a Climate-Ready Philadelphia report. These reports focused on municipal vulnerabilities without addressing community level impacts and were completed without public engagement. An updated Resilience Plan is overdue and will include input from stakeholders across the city, with a focus on the frontline communities often most impacted by climate change.
To update these resources, OOS has made progress on several project components, including updated climate science and projections for the city and updated vulnerability assessments for flooding and heat. Internal engagement with City departments has been ongoing for several years through listening sessions and interagency coordination through groups like the Environmental Justice and Climate Resilience Committee. Support is needed to conduct an inclusive citywide engagement process, and to draft and finalize a Resilience Plan for Philadelphia.
A large portion of this RFP is focused on external engagement with residents and other stakeholders in Philadelphia. The Consultant will review and summarize notes from previous interagency engagements and review previous city plans that align with the resilience plan to identify successful past strategies initiated by the city and potential improvements. External engagement will include supporting and managing a community steering committee and Climate Ambassador Program as well as launching a citywide engagement process with community members and various other stakeholders.
This RFP seeks a planning and engagement firm that will work with OOS staff, key stakeholders, and other project partners (e.g., other consultants providing support) to lead a citywide engagement process and develop a resilience plan for Philadelphia. To complete this scope of work, it is anticipated that it will take up to two years, with a goal of having the Resilience Plan and other project components published by Spring 2027.
Questions about this RFP should be submitted to abby.sullivan@phila.gov and
emily.gowen@phila.gov by April 9th, 2025 with the subject line “Questions: Citywide Climate Resilience Plan Update”.
Proposals must be received no later than 9:00pm Philadelphia, PA, local time, April 27,
2025. A pdf version of the proposal must be emailed to: abby.sullivan@phila.gov and
emily.gowen@phila.gov with the subject line “Proposal: Citywide Climate Resilience Plan Update”.
Access the full RFP HERE