Resilience Hubs

Community-driven response to extreme weather events and other challenges facing environmental justice communities

Page Contents

What is a resilience hub?

History of Resilience Hubs

Resilience Hub Advantages

Additional Resources

What is a Resilience Hub?

A Resilience Hub is a local, community-driven facility that can support long-term community health and wellness. They address everyday needs such as social programming, food help, and legal resources.

Resilience Hubs also act as a first point of contact in the aftermath of an extreme weather event such as a flood, storm, power outage, or heatwave. Federal government organizations like FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) or HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) can help affected communities through Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs) to provide immediate resources to those suffering from a hazardous event. However, DRCs are often temporary and only provide help for a limited amount of time. DRCs need federal authorization to declare an emergency in an area before they can provide aid. By contrast, Resilience Hubs can mobilize people and other resources after the federal government has run out of funding because they add on to existing spaces.

Resilience Hubs work on the trust built through everyday connections and relationships to provide a central meeting space for all. Think of places that you trust in your neighborhood or community: is it your barber shop? The mom and pop grocery store? Church? Or a community center? These locations, run by people who live or spend considerable time in your neighborhood, can become Resilience Hubs.

Goals of Resilience Hubs

Equity & Environmental Justice
Community Care & Belonging
Disaster Preparedness
Climate Solutions

What is the history of Resilience Hubs?

In 2012, Kristin “Baja” Baja and the Urban Sustainability Directors Network built one of the earliest examples of Resilience Hubs in Baltimore, MD. Baja and her team noticed that Baltimore residents were less likely to accept government help to prepare for climate emergencies. Especially those living in vulnerable communities. This was due to a history of corruption within the local Baltimore government and community mistrust of social welfare programs.

Kristin “Baja” Baja

In addition, climate emergencies were not the only issues on Baltimore resident’s minds. They worried about everyday needs like childcare, job support, and food assistance. Baja conceived of Resilience Hubs as an alternative to government assistance, offering a third space managed by people and organizations the community trusts rather than government staff. Resilience Hubs go beyond being a single point of contact during emergencies; they are a place where people can get their basic needs met.

ADvantages of Resilience Hubs

The great thing about Resilience Hubs is that there is no “one size fits all.” Resilience Hubs can be whatever communities need them to be. Some, like those run by CREW (Communities Responding to Extreme Weather), are flexible locations that serve as emergency shelters during extreme weather events. They display brochures about resources that community members might need throughout the year.

Other Resilience Hubs, like those developed by the Resilient Mystic Collaborative (RMC), range from cooling centers to combat heatwaves to social programming like film screenings and tree plantings. RMC engages people about the effects of climate change and hazardous weather events.

Resilience Hubs can be as big and expansive or as small and focused as communities need them to be. Other factors that determine Resilience Hub size can be funding, available space, or the number of volunteers. They are not meant to be an extra strain on community resources, but rather work alongside them to prepare everyone for life’s everyday challenges. No matter their size nor services offered, Resilience Hubs strengthen communities because they are designed by the community.

Resilience Hub Components and Modes

Programs & Services

This is the most important component of a Resilience Hub. Yet, too often, it gets overlooked or undervalued during the design and development process. So, let’s say it again:

This is the most important component!

Programs and services are the heart of a Resilience Hub. They build social cohesion and social capital by meeting community members’ most pressing needs and providing a third space to connect with neighbors. Ideally, services are geared toward harm reduction for residents from marginalized populations. Through community-specific offerings, they can promote heath, wellness, and stability.

Programs and services may include disaster preparedness workshops, cooling/warming center capabilities, and community gardening. Higher capacity hubs may offer cultural programming, community classes, childcare, workforce development, and social services support. Resilience Hubs also make great locations for mutual aid and food distribution.

The most effective hubs are co-designed and co-lead by residents and local organizations. So, Resilience Hubs can look different and offer different services, determined by community needs, priorities, and resource availability (in particular, funding availability and operational capacity). But there are ideal core components for which Resilience Hubs can strive, and when possible, Hubs should operate across three modes of operation: Normal/Everyday, Disruption, and Recovery. Continue reading for more details.

Resilience Hub Components

Information & Connectivity

Of course, during an emergency, communications and access to factual, up-to-date information is critical to safety. It is therefore essential to provide opportunities for community members to become familiar with the Resilience Hub and establish trust the folks running it. Specifically, community members must feel confident in the Hub’s reliability as a messenger.

This can be developed through intentionally building relationships through programming, holding mutual respect for all Hub users and managers, and establishing plans for communications during emergencies and community disruptions with partners in and outside the Hub’s service area. This can range from:

A physical or digital message board, newsletters, social media, or WhatsApp groups where information about resilience events, information tidbits, and community news, for example.
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