About Resilience Hubs:
The past two years have set records for weather and climate disasters in the United States, with 16 separate events costing over $1 billion each in 2017 alone. This phenomenon was far from unique to the US. Monsoon flooding in Bangladesh, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Mexico City, and catastrophic landslides in Colombia, Sierra Leone and Japan are just a few of the many disasters that took place worldwide. It’s fair to ask if this is a “new normal.” If so, what can be done to avert, prepare, and learn from these disasters?
This summer, Shareable will publish a series on “community resilience and disaster response.” We will produce a 30-minute documentary, the second season of our podcast series (The Response), several exploratory articles, and a comprehensive guide creating a neighborhood “resilience hub” (in partnership with the NorCal Resilience Network).
Resilient hubs support on-the-ground solutions that both adapt to our changing climate while breaking down the social barriers that often tear us apart. From gardens to grey water systems, disaster preparedness kits to neighborhood block parties, small-scale people-powered, nature-based solutions can inspire big changes in both the way we treat each other and our ability to adapt to a changing climate.
Time and time again, strengthening social cohesion among neighbors and community members has been proven to be one of the most crucial community resilience strategies. Yet there are surprisingly few environmental groups that focus on strengthening neighborhoods to support resilient homes, and few disaster preparedness efforts that integrate climate action into their programs.
After years of research, coverage, and field work, three pillars of resilient hubs have emerged:
- Sustainability and permaculture: reducing electricity use, saving water, growing food, reducing toxins and waste
- Disaster preparedness: creating robust supplies of key resources — food, water, etc., emergency planning, fire safety, first aid, fire extinguishers, and tools
- Building community and social cohesion with neighbors: block parties and other regular social events and work parties, facilitation of resource sharing, placemaking, etc.
Resilience Hub RFP:
We’re looking for a freelance writer to produce a 2-3K word “how-to guide” based on an existing outline and materials (already created by Shareable and NorCal Resilience Network), in addition to a select number of original interviews of community organizers, network facilitators, hub coordinators, and representatives from local governments. The final product will be used as a hands on guide to support residents, community leaders and community groups to create resilient hubs in their neighborhoods.
We’re seeking a four week turnaround time from the time your proposal is accepted.
Pay: $1,000
Application deadline (extended): May 27, 2019
Editorial process:
- Story must include 5+ interviews.
- The project manager will provide you with any relevant deadlines and will work together to establish a timeline.
- The project manager and editor will work with you to conceptualize/outline the guide, compose interview questions, and finalize the draft.
- This will be a collaborative production process that will likely require you to participate in (short) remote editorial meetings from time to time.
- High quality photos will either need to be taken or obtained from existing resilience hubs.
Other information:
- Selected writer will need to submit a W-9 (or W-8 outside the U.S.) to Shareable in order to receive payment.
- While our ideal candidates will be located in northern California, an exception may be made for writers located in other locations in the US and abroad.
- If located outside the U.S. you will also need to provide information to be paid via wire transfer.
- The final product will look similar to this previous guide that we created to support local community asset mapping
If you have any questions about the project or application, feel free to drop us a note at: info@shareable.net
Ready to pitch? Here’s the application.
