How to turn community spaces into hubs for resilience and mutual aid

How can we make our neighborhoods more resilient to disasters and other disruptions? What initiatives and communities can we learn from? How can we turn existing community spaces into resilience hubs that serve the community in an uncertain future?

We created “The Resilience We Want: A guide to making your community space into a hub for local resilience & mutual aid” to help groups worldwide develop answers to these basic questions. This 12-page guide introduces the vision and model of a resilience hub. In this place, neighbors can deepen a sense of belonging, learn new skills together, provide for basic needs, prepare for disasters, and build a more inclusive and joyful community.

We created this guide to accompany “The Response: How Puerto Ricans Are Restoring Power to the People,” our documentary about people restoring power after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. It can also be used on its own to plan resilience hubs.

As we learned from friends in Puerto Rico rebuilding after Hurricane Maria and from communities around the world, people take pride in their neighborhoods by organizing around a wide variety of community spaces. Resilience comes from the social cohesion that forms when people organize in response to real needs.

What is a hub, and how is it helpful?

A hub is any place where people meet and coordinate activities. For example, a food hub is a facility that supports the local aggregation, production, storage, distribution, and marketing of food and agricultural products, serving farms, restaurants, and more. Similarly, community spaces—such as the Mutual Aid Centers in Puerto Rico—help build resilience and foster mutual aid among neighbors.

We define a “resilience hub” in terms of three purposes:

1. Disaster preparedness and response
2. Local sustainability and permaculture
3. Community engagement and inclusion

Across the many community spaces around the world, a few common patterns include:

1. Providing sanctuary and other basic needs 
2. Hosting and supporting community activities
3. Creating opportunities for collective work that lasts

Several factors make it easy for neighbors to act more effectively, compared to government agencies:

1. Faster responses — neighbors are more motivated to act immediately and to follow through 
2. Better coordination — neighbors have a more up-to-date understanding of each other’s needs
3. Deeper trust — neighbors who may be strangers can bond and build more collectively

1. Get started

What you will need:

• Neighbors — 2 or more neighbors, the more the merrier
• Space — a place you can eat, drink, and talk for 2-3 hours
• Film — “The Response: How Puerto Ricans are Restoring Power to the People”
• Equipment — a projector and screen, or a video player and monitor.
• Hardcopy guides — a copy of our guide for every three guests
• Markers or Sharpies
• Dinner — food and drink for everyone, or a potluck

2. Host a movie night and dinner with your neighbors

The itinerary:

• Watch the film.
• After the film, discuss, “What speaks to you, and why?” and note common interests.
• Then ask, “Who wants to see what we can do together?”
• If three or more people express interest, form small groups to talk through the six strategies outlined in the guide.
• Have dinner and drinks.
• After dinner, share the checklist from the guide and ask, “Who feels like we can take this further?”
• If 3 or more people commit, you are more likely to go further together.

3. Go further  

Follow up by:

• Sharing an asset with your neighborhood
• Using the checklist to co-create your vision for resilience and share your space.
• Hosting another gathering.
• Reviewing the checklist and see what everyone accomplished.
• Continue hosting gatherings.
• Focus on making a proposal to neighbors, local government, or other sources of support.

4. Some final notes about the full guide

The guide includes:

• Six key strategies for co-creating a vision and plan for your space; 
• Six case studies of people are building resilience hubs in different ways; 
• Instructions on how to co-host your first and second gatherings; and
• A checklist to collaborate with your neighbors.

This guide is mainly for people with access to spaces they love:

• Independent spaces (social clubs, art studios, and urban farms)
• Public facilities (libraries, schools, athletic clubs, and civic centers)
• Religious centers (places of worship and meeting houses)
• Small businesses (cafes, bookshops, and storefronts)

By using this guide, community groups can:

• Co-create a vision for the resilience we want,
• Connect with inspiring people and stories,
• Embrace different points of view in the community, and
• Identify assets and resources that your community space can share!

Download a PDF version of this guide here.

Sign up to host a community screeningof “The Response.”  We’ll send you a guide to help you organize a successful screening, along with a link to the film (watch the trailer).

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This article is part of our series on disaster collectivism. Download our free series ebook here.

This article was first published on September 4, 2019.