Solution Use a statutory resilience district to draw a boundary around the beneficiaries of a resilience investment and pool multiple funding levers - tax increment financing, benefit assessments, resilience bonds and grants - into a single vehicle, supported by technical assistance that moves communities from concept to investment-ready. Key challenge Resilience investment benefits many parties - homeowners, businesses, insurers, lenders and government - over decades, while the costs are concentrated and immediate, so no single actor has sufficient incentive to act and communities remain dependent on one-off grants rather than stable long-term financing. Context California's Senate Bill 852 (2022) authorized the creation of resilience districts, giving communities a legal mechanism to pool funding across beneficiaries and invest collectively in long-term risk reduction. Legal authority alone, however, does not make a district financeable: communities still need to define a boundary, select the right combination of funding levers for their fiscal context and institutional relationships, and reach a standard of project design that insurers, lenders and investors will accept. The pilot communities span California and Connecticut, two states at different stages of resilience district legislation. Solution in practice To translate the statute into practice, California Forward and Resilient Cities Catalyst launched the Resilience District Incubator in 2025, selecting five pilot communities in California and Connecticut, including the City of San Rafael, the County of Los Angeles and the City of Bridgeport. The incubator provides each community with technical assistance, peer learning and expert input from advisers spanning finance, insurance and risk modelling. The funding mechanisms available to districts include tax increment financing, benefit assessments, resilience bonds and grants, with the right combination determined by local fiscal context and institutional relationships. Four design features make the model work: a defined geographical boundary that captures the beneficiaries of resilience investment; multiple funding levers pooled into a single vehicle, reducing reliance on one-off grants; technical and governance support to move communities from concept to being investment-ready; and an advisory group spanning insurers, lenders and risk specialists to validate project design. Impact / outcome Five pilot communities in California and Connecticut receiving technical assistance (pilot stage). Next steps The model is still in its pilot stage, but it provides a replicable template for how communities can move beyond one-time funding towards stable, long-term financing for place-based resilience. The next step is demonstrating that private asset owners within district boundaries can be active contributors, not just beneficiaries. The playbook sets out the corresponding action under action area 2a: the resilience district concept offers a route for private actors, and asset owners and managers could engage with business improvement districts and similar structures to explore how resilience measures might be funded collectively at district level, allowing the owners who benefit from a safer place to contribute to creating it. The playbook also identifies, under action area 2b, the need for more replicable blended vehicles combining government grants, low-cost loans from public or development banks and private investment in standardized structures that, once developed in one municipality, can be adopted elsewhere rather than rebuilt deal by deal. Organizations involved Authoring: World Economic Forum; Marsh Actors: California Forward; Resilient Cities Catalyst; City of San Rafael; County of Los Angeles; City of Bridgeport Implementation partners Local Governments; Regulators & Policymakers; Insurers; Investors & Banks; Civil Society Organizations