Rising Together 2025: A Recap of the Bay Adapt Summit
- By: Tallulah Shepard
- | September 18, 2025
“We as a region can do hard things. The fact that this Summit sold out in a few days is proof that we have hundreds of passionate and committed people who want a better future for our Bay, our Shorelines, indeed, our lives.” – Zack Wasserman, BCDC Chair
On September 15, 2025, the sea level rise adaptation community came together as a region for the sold-out second annual Rising Together: The Bay Adapt Summit at the Exploratorium!
For the second consecutive year, Rising Together was a dynamic and immersive sea level rise summit that engaged the public in inspiring panels, keynotes, tours, activities, and workshops designed to forge partnerships and drive action. In partnership with Greenbelt Alliance and the Exploratorium, BCDC convened over 300 climate change practitioners, scientists, activists, and other members of the public to celebrate sea level rise adaptation and the latest climate actions across the region.
This year’s keynote speaker, journalist and KQED’s Forum podcast co-host Alexis Madrigal, delivered a powerful address that grounded the summit’s collaborative work in both hope and bioregional knowledge.
He reminded attendees that “at a time where at the national level that absolute insanity has taken hold, even as the rest of the world pushes forward on climate action, it’s groups like this and communities alike this that gives [him] hope we can get something done at a large enough scale to actually make a difference for our communities.”
The summit also featured previous Bay Adapt Award recipients Dr. Kris May and Violet Saena reflecting on progress since their recognition. Dr. May highlighted the partnership building across the region: “I’ve seen such a high level of collaboration across agencies, cities, and consulting teams…there’s more working together than I’ve ever seen before.” Saena shared, “I have always advocated for community first, people first kind of work and efforts, and I found a lot of hope in those spaces…There are a lot of these amazing leaders in our region, which is why I believe that we will succeed.”
After Alexis, participants got to hear 4 big, creative ideas for new projects, campaigns, and collaborations that could shape the Bay Area’s climate future as part of a shark tank-style pitch session with the 2025 Bay Adapt Awardees as experts. As part of one of the inspiring pitches, Amy Hutzel, the Executive Officer of the California State Coastal Commission donned an Oyster costume as the audience learned about how the Coastal Conservancy is building excitement and support for Olympia oysters through “Team Oly!”—a fan club to champion and scale up oyster-based adaptation projects. Read more about pitches here.
Field Trips and Community Learning
The learning continued with hands-on experiences throughout the region. The summit included three field trips to iconic shoreline locations, led by community experts from Sustainable Solano, Canal Alliance, and the Port of San Francisco. These tours showcased sea level rise risks and solutions, giving participants a firsthand look at resilience strategies at key shoreline sites.
Meanwhile, at the Exploratorium, participants joined two pre-summit sessions: a Solutions Room for Technical Assistance Project Support and Mycelium Youth‘s Gaming for Shoreline Justice Workshop.
Following the morning activities, participants gathered back at the Exploratorium for seven panels and sessions, spanning topics such as financing, nature-based solutions, infrastructure, innovative community engagement strategies, and education. With 30+ expert presenters and leaders from different fields, including public and private agencies, community-based organizations, nonprofits, and more, Rising Together continued into five simultaneous breakout sessions where leaders and experts from around the region offered participants an in-depth exploration of critical topics.
For detailed notes and key takeaways from each breakout session, access our session summary document here.
Our 2025 Bay Adapt Awardees
A key part of the event included the Bay Adapt Awards, which honored the work of visionaries building a more resilient shoreline and protecting communities from the impacts of rising sea levels. BCDC’s 2025 awardees are Luiz Barata from the Port of San Francisco’s Waterfront Resilience Program, Marquita “Keta” Price from Hood Planning Group, and Jeremy Lowe from the San Francisco Estuary Institute. Exploratorium’s Susan Schwartzenberg and Farallon Strategies’ Michael McCormick helped us honor the awardees at a beautiful ceremony to wrap up the festive day.
Luiz Barata is a senior planner and urban designer with the Port of San Francisco’s Waterfront Resilience Program, where he leads community engagement and advocates for racial and social equity in the city’s sea level rise adaptation efforts. Drawing on over a decade of multidisciplinary international experience, Luiz’s work to promote equitable climate adaptation covers local, regional, and national efforts, including collaboration with BCDC on shoreline adaptation and public education projects. He reflected, “I basically got trained on the job, and I end up enjoying it because I like to talk to people. I like to understand where people are coming from. As a public servant, you always try to see how we can help the people to live their best lives in the city.”
Marquita “Keta” Price, also known as The Hood Planner, is a third-generation East Oakland native and fearless advocate at the intersection of racial justice, environmental resilience, and mobility equity. Through Hood Planning Group, she stands at the forefront of shoreline adaptation and environmental justice, leading efforts from the ground up–from neighborhood-scale projects to regional collaborations like the Oakland-Alameda Adaptation Committee. “My vision for our resilient Shoreline is a holistic and balanced view of a protective Shoreline where people and habitat can safely enjoy it in a way that speaks to them. Just having a variety of Shoreline Sanctuary areas, different recreations for different folks, and accessibility to all. It’s a more holistic view of folks really being able to access it,” Keta reflected.
Jeremy Lowe has been a senior environmental scientist and geomorphologist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) since 2015, with more than 38 years of experience in coastal geomorphology and tidal wetland restoration. His work on nature-based adaptation in San Francisco Bay has included contributions to the Adaptation Atlas, the Oro Loma Horizontal Levee, Sonoma Creek Baylands Strategy, and the Baylands Resilience Framework. Jeremy shared, “I think a shoreline functions and provides the benefits that we need. It’s an urban bay, so there’s always going to be people… but it’s also a natural bay, and it has fish and birds and animals living in it. It’s important to think about how we can help those live more harmoniously together.”
The ceremony also included a surprise recognition, as Dana Brechwald, Assistant Planning Director for Climate Adaptation at BCDC, received a special award acknowledging her visionary leadership in transforming how the region approaches resilience. As the driving force behind Bay Adapt and the visionary behind Rising Together, Dana’s ability to see the big picture while ensuring that communities are at the heart of every conversation has set a new standard for collaborative climate leadership.
A Historic Milestone and Looking Forward
This year’s summit held special significance as we gathered on the week of BCDC’s 60th anniversary on September 17th. As Jessica Fain, Director of Planning at BCDC, noted: “The Bay Adapt Summit is the go-to hub for the shoreline adaptation community in the Bay Area. Now is the time to be bold and empower our communities to lead the way in creating more resilient shorelines.”
Emma Greenbaum, Exploratorium Project Director for Climate and Landscapes, added: “We’re thrilled to build on the energy and excitement from last year’s inaugural summit. At the Exploratorium, our place-based approach means we’re taking tangible steps towards a more resilient waterfront that responds to our environmental future.”
The momentum showcased at Rising Together reflects the broader progress documented in our recent Bay Adapt Impact Report. Since 2021, the Bay Area has made significant strides in sea level rise adaptation by implementing the Bay Adapt Joint Platform across five key pillars: People, Information, Plans, Projects, and Progress. With nearly 1,000 interested parties helping shape the Platform and 55 cities, countries, agencies, and nonprofits endorsing it, what began as a bold vision has evolved into a living movement for regional action, equity, and resilience. Read the Bay Adapt Impact Report here.
Following a joyous reception over drinks and bites, the day concluded with continued networking and connection-making as participants exchanged ideas and began planning collaborative projects inspired by the day’s sessions.
BCDC’s second annual Bay Adapt Summit provided another incredible glimpse at the remarkable work our region is leading to advance shoreline resilience. The collaborative spirit demonstrated throughout the day continues beyond the summit—including through BCDC’s exciting new partnership with the Exploratorium to bring sea level rise educational exhibits to communities along the Bay. We’re excited for the future of our shared work. We are excited to see you all next year for the 2026 Rising Together 2026!
Tallulah Shepard
Tallulah is the Marketing and Communications Manager at Greenbelt Alliance.