This National Science Foundation (NSF) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program award of $987,639 to the Pontchartrain Conservancy supports a project to co-design, implement, and study a model for community science-based flood monitoring in under-resourced, rural and urban communities in southeast Louisiana. The project aims to increase multi-directional communication, community participation in STEM research, and pathways for community leadership and decision-making around flood hazards and climate change resilience. Key activities include conducting charrettes, providing training to build flood literacy and a sense of agency, and preparing participants to engage in flood monitoring, data analysis, and potential mitigation projects. The research component will examine the essential features for developing an effective community science project, how community members engage and what data is reported, and the project's impacts on building flood literacy, agency, and perceptions of science. The project results and model are intended to inform similar communities on key components for equitable and effective community science initiatives.