Resilience hubs are an age-old concept with a modern-day twist. Consider an Indigenous village, a Medieval town square, or a religious place of worship. What do they have in common? They are trusted community spaces, where people gather for events, to connect and share food with each other, and when necessary they provide care to community members.

The Urban Sustainability Directors Network, (“USDN”) a nonprofit organization working with local governments to build resilience, put a modern-day twist on this concept by acknowledging the urgent need to formalize a similar concept in disadvantaged communities. In noticing that formal city-operated cooling centers were sparsely used during heat waves, the vision emerged to utilize existing community facilities trusted by community members instead – from libraries to recreation centers and senior centers – both day-to-day resilience and during emergencies.  

Though various organizations have their own definitions of resilience hubs, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network defines them as  “spaces where community members can access services for disaster response and recovery, as well as “to gather, organize, and access resilience-building social services on a daily basis.” – Asian Pacific Environmental Network

Resilience hubs are centered in equity, prioritize individuals and communities who are disproportionately impacted by the Climate Crisis and/or systems of oppression and support a trauma-informed response.

Collective Resilience is basing our approach designed by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network to support facilities and community members in three different modes:

Resilience Hubs can play a key role in post-disaster relief and ongoing communication needs, providing ample resources and space for recovery.