Ideas We Should Steal: Climate Resilience Hubs [Video]

September 2, 2021: Summer had barely ended, and school had just begun, but in Wilmington, Delaware, cars were underwater. Homes were destroyed. Documents — important life documents — were gone forever. People were living in emergency shelters without knowing where they might go next. It seemed like, although federal and state responders were doing as much as they could in the wake of Hurricane Ida flooding, it was simply not enough.

Then Stacey Henry came along with an answer from the people.

Henry is the founder of Delaware’s 1st Resilience Hub, a grassroots, “boots-on-the-ground” disaster and emergency response team that helps the community prepare, respond and recover from disasters. Henry formed the team as a direct response to the tragedy her community bore under the weight of Hurricane Ida’s torrents — but it wasn’t her intention to make it permanent.

“I didn’t go there to develop a resilience hub,” says Henry. “I went there just as a regular …