Resilience Hubs: Model Overview and Community Case Studies

Disruptions from the global pandemic to extreme weather events have impacted communities tremendously. In recent events, entire communities have been unable to access healthy food, clean water, reliable information or electricity- sometimes for extended periods of time. Holistic and year-round resilience efforts are critical to success. Focusing on the intersection of social, ecological, and technical solutions in the most disenfranchised areas is at the heart of what makes communities more resilient.

This Clean Energy Group webinar overviewed the concept of a Resilience Hub, including the five foundational elements that make Resilience Hubs successful. Presenters discussed the services, programs, communications and operational elements in addition to the building retrofits and resilient power systems – solar PV paired with battery storage – that have made their Resilience Hubs a trusted community node for resilience. (See the Urban Sustainability Directors Network’s Resilience Hub initiative website to learn more about Hubs: http://resilience-hub.org/.)

Kristin Baja, Director of Direct Support and Innovation at Urban Sustainability Directors Network, overviewed the Resilience Hub concept. Chase Engelhardt, Policy Analyst and Organizer at Climate Resolve, and Ross Keller, Development Officer at Cambridge Community Center, spoke to their experience developing Resilience Hubs. Clean Energy Group Project Director Marriele Mango moderated.

This webinar builds on a June 2021 webinar, “An Introduction to Community Resilience Hubs.”