About Us

With humanity at a crossroads from the Climate Crisis and other unprecedented ecological and social challenges, now more than ever leaders and citizens from all sectors – from our neighbors to elected officials – must come together to build resilient, equitable and regenerative communities.

Our Vision

Our vision to build a movement of community resilience sites that are rooted in ecological stewardship, climate resilience and community care for our most vulnerable populations.

Our Purpose

The purpose of Collective Resilience is to provide guidance for the places that we know and love in our communities – community centers, neighborhoods, schools and more – to activate as resilience hubs, spaces and neighborhoods; and better prepared for the climate crisis, social and environmental challenges.

Goals

To promote an expanded vision of resilience hubs and neighborhoods that includes holistic programming, mutual aid and short-term projects.

To introduce new sites and potential partners to the resilient places vision and resources which support their development

To catalyze not just the individual sites but also broader resilient networks, including funding for resilient places

History & Accomplishments

Collective Resilience was founded in 2022 by Susan Silber, who co-created and directed its predecessor the NorCal Resilience Network from 2014-2021. Susan created the organization to fill a gap in the rising enthusiasm for resilience hubs vs. the clear dearth of advocacy, capacity building and funding for them, especially the community-owned sites.

Some of our work includes:

2022-23: Development of San Leandro's Resilience Hub Network

Collective Resilience partnered with the City of San Leandro’s Sustainability Department to develop a network of resilience hubs. Work included capacity building workshops, grant writing support and events coordination.

2024: Resilience Hubs Workshop Series

Collective Resilience partnered with the Thrive Alliance to develop a three-part webinar series, with 250 participants and 20+ guest speakers.

2023-25: Climate Resilient Schools Report and Tours

Collective Resilience partnered with StopWaste to write a comprehensive report about climate resilient and regenerative schools, organize a bus tour of resilience hubs and co-coordinate a work party at Castlemont High School.

Leadership

Susan Silber

Founder and Program Director

Susan is the driving force behind Collective Resilience. Her passion lies in working with solutions-based grassroots projects to help create a more resilient, healthy and equitable world. Susan has more than 30 years of experience working as program creator, fundraiser, project manager, strategic planner and educator in the field of community resilience and sustainability. She has created (or co-created) the NorCal Resilience Network, Nature’s Voices Project, Climate Action Groups at the Ecology Center, the Green Star Schools program with the Green Schools Initiative, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica.