Communities of Practice (CoPs) have been widely utilized to enhance collaboration across disciplines, geographies, and organizations in the Great Lakes and beyond. This presentation will explore how multi-scale collaborations such as CoPs and networks can serve as a powerful framework for connecting coastal stakeholders, practitioners, and scientists to share knowledge, resources, and encourage collaboration. First, session participants will learn about efforts to build resilience in southern Lake Michigan through a new Illinois and Indiana coastal resilience-focused CoP, co-developed in collaboration between Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, the Indiana Lake Michigan Coastal Program, and the Illinois Coastal Management Program. Speakers will share insights on building the bi-state CoP, the role of Sea Grant partnerships in advancing this work, successes and challenges, and future directions for the CoP. Expanding to broader scales, the session will illustrate how basin-wide and national CoPs enhance coastal resilience through peer-to-peer learning and collaboration. Speakers will highlight how these networks foster meaningful engagement, encourage knowledge sharing and coordination, and provide opportunities to strengthen connections across organizations and scales.
