Community-led resilience: Improving disaster preparedness, response, and recovery for Black people and places

Disasters do not create inequities—they expose, magnify, and accelerate them. And Black communities often face compounded disaster risks related to health disparities, wealth gaps, environmental exposure, infrastructure vulnerabilities, and more.  Yet across the country, Black communities also hold deep sources of resilience such as churches, mutual aid networks, neighborhood associations, cultural institutions, and informal care systems. 

On October 1, the Center for Community Uplift at Brookings and Next Leadership Development hosted a public event to explore how community-led networks can support long-term resilience, including through focusing on health, wealth, and culture. In two panels that featured neighborhood leaders and policy experts, speakers explored the importance of community-level resilience and how a “community hubs model” could improve disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in Black communities.