The theme for the 20th Annual STAR-TIDES Capabilities Demonstration is Building Enduring Local Capacity. Money shows up in communities after a disaster, gets spent, and leaves, usually with nothing that lasts. The 20th demonstration is about the projects that break that pattern, and the three criteria that set them apart:
- Capacity: Real local skills and workforce capability, using local labor and co-development with the people who will maintain it.
- Sustainability: Reliable, diversified revenue, or a credible path to it, so progress does not stop when a grant ends.
- Agency: The community drives and controls the project and its future direction.
Building Enduring Local Capacity (BELCap) draws on the three founding principles: Listening, Learning and Lasting; working through trusted partners; and nothing about us, without us. BELCap teams do not execute the construction or service work themselves. They set conditions and support the local leaders who do.
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STAR-TIDES will be held April 26-27, 2027, at Mason’s Arlington campus (Mason Square) 3351 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22201. Registration is free for attendees. Most exhibits will be indoors, with the exhibit spaces immediately adjacent to the auditorium. A few adjacent outdoor areas provide space for larger exhibits. Exhibitors can register at no extra cost for the related TIDES event in the Pentagon on April 28-29. Exhibitors at the Pentagon can set up larger exhibits in the center court, or the indoor spaces on the 2nd floor on the junctions of 9/10 and 1/2 corridors. For questions, write to star.tides.net@gmail.com.
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SIX REGIONAL CASE STUDIES
The demonstration is organized around six regions, each showing three completed or nearly completed projects that meet the BELCap criteria:
- Domestic: Puerto Rico, Appalachia, the Heartland, and the West
- International: ASEAN and Latin America
Project leads are invited to develop a paper on the BELCap theme, either for academic publication or as a white paper for policymakers and local stakeholders.
STUDENT POSTER CONTEST
Graduate and undergraduate students present research on resilience, recovery, and adaptation, with prizes in both categories. See the 2026 winners for the range of past entries.
Agenda for the Demo
Monday, April 26th, 2027
Demonstration at Mason Square. Detailed agenda to be posted.
Tuesday, April 27th, 2027
Demonstration at Mason Square. Detailed agenda to be posted.
Wednesday, April 28, 2027
TIDES exhibits inside Pentagon and Center Courtyard. Times to be posted.
Thursday, April 29, 2027
TIDES exhibits inside Pentagon and Center Courtyard. Times to be posted.