The purpose of this assessment tool is to provide community leaders, administrators, planners, engineers, public work directors, and natural resource managers with a simple method in the form of a checklist divided into nine different categories to review their community's particular vulnerabilities to climate trends and to identify priority areas to focus on through planning and projects. The goal of this tool is to help communities in the Great Lakes region identify and address vulnerabilities through education and planning to help reduce the impacts and costs of climate change-related damage through adaptation policies and procedures.

Through the Vulnerability, Consequences, and Adaptation Planning Scenarios (VCAPS) process, North Carolina Sea Grant provides a variety of research and capacity-building initiatives to assist communities in assessing risks and providing support for developing approaches to manage that risk as appropriate.

The Coastal Community Resilience Index is a self-assessment tool that brings together elected officials, public works directors, emergency managers, and other leaders at the community-government level to take an in-depth look at their community’s level of resilience. They discuss 57 indicators organized around six categories to identify vulnerabilities, capitalize on strengths and assess future impacts of disasters.