Redlining and Climate Change

February 15, 2022

DE&I Education Initiative: Black History Month

Merchants Bonding Company DE&I Education Committee hosted a Black History Month Zoom meeting with special guest presenters KCCI Anchor Rheya Spigner and Chief Meteorologist Chris Gloninger. The two gave an enlightening talk on redlining and climate change.

The system of redlining is the result of a color-coded mapping system for private and federal funding and investment. Zones deemed less worthy of investment were marked by red lines, which left lasting impact on the social structure and infrastructure of those areas to this day.

"What we have found in our own research is that vulnerable populations tend to be in areas where there is a lot of unknown flood risk, so there are a lot of places where the FEMA flood maps don't actually capture the flood risk, but the people in those communities don't know that they have that flood risk and that vulnerable population tend to disproportionately occupy those types of communities," said Dr. Jeremy Porter, a Chief Research Officer with First Street Foundation who is quoted in the special video segment.

View the video at the heart of the discussion HERE.

Redlining and Climate Change Video Thumbnail