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What is a Community Resilience Hub?
A community resilience hub or resilience hub is a community-owned and community-operated facility that meets the everyday needs of District residents and is also equipped to support them during and after emergencies.
Community resilience hubs are well-known, trusted, non-governmental organizations that are regularly used by nearby residents. These community organizations address chronic stressors, such as unemployment, food insecurity, and public health challenges, by connecting residents to resources and services through their day-to-day "steady state" operations. Additionally, resilience hubs invest in more resilient physical assets such as solar and battery back up power and infrastructure upgrades to better serve their community during emergencies.
As climate change brings more flooding, heat waves, and severe storms to the District, resilience hubs can complement existing District emergency response activities while also meeting the everyday needs of communities year-round.
How does DOEE support community resilience hubs?
Climate Ready DC and Resilient DC call for the District Government to support the expansion of community resilience hubs. DOEE works with other agencies, including the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA), to provide guidance and technical assistance to existing and prospective resilience hubs. While District government does not designate, certify, or operate community resilience hubs, maintaining relationships with hubs across the District is a key component of ensuring the District and its residents are prepared to withstand a wide range of shocks and stressors.
Community of Practice (CoP): The Community of Practice is a space for resilience hub partners to learn, share best practices, network, and share resources such as training and funding opportunities. The CoP is convened quarterly by DOEE and HSEMA and organizations interested in learning more about resilience hubs are invited to join. To get involved, fill out this interest form.
List of past and upcoming meetings:
Technical Assistance and Guidance: DOEE and HSEMA can provide 1-on-1 technical assistance to groups that are interested in operating as resilience hubs. If an organization is interested in this assistance, please contact Tasneem Islam at [email protected].
Emergency Response Coordination: Organizations that are interested in responding during emergencies are encouraged to join the DC Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) to help coordinate activites with other District organizations.
The Ward 7 Community Resilience Hub Pilot Project 
The FH Faunteroy Center and Resilience Incubator (FC&I) in Ward 7 is the District's first resilience hub.
Beginning in 2017, the District began meeting with community members from the neighborhoods surrounding the Watts Branch tributary in Far Northeast Ward 7 to address climate resilience. This geographic focus area was chosen because the Climate Ready DC plan found that these neighborhoods face high risk from climate change. In 2018, these community members coalesced around three high priority climate initiatives: neighborhood-scale resilience hubs, a workforce development program for the resilience economy, and an expanded workforce program for non-college bound youth.
DOEE has since collaborated with the Resilience Hub Community Coalition (RHCC) and the FC&I on a community-led partnership to establish the District’s first resilience hub on the first floor of the "The Nannie@4800 NHB" residential building on Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue in Ward 7.
The project has been awarded funding at the local and national levels to enhance the physical, programmatic, and operational resilience of the community site. In 2023, it was awarded a three-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to further develop their “blue skies” operations and programming, including climate-related workforce development, and other environmental literacy projects. Most recently, DOEE awarded FC&I $540,000 to build a microgrid system of solar and battery storage. Georgetown University Law Center’s Center for Community Health Innovation provides legal advice and technical assistance on the establishment of the hub.
Learn more about the Ward 7 community engagement process and the RHCC proposal for a Ward 7 resilience hub.
The USDN and RHCC Model for Resilience Hubs
The District’s approach to resilience hubs is informed by the Urban Sustainability Director’s Network (USDN) and the Ward 7 Resilience Hub Community Coalition Proposal, both of which call for resilience hubs to incorporate five foundation areas through three modes of operation.
Three Modes of Operation
| Normal | Disruption | Recovery |
 Also called “Steady State” or “Blue Skies”, a resilience hub is in this mode 99% of the time. At its core, the resilience hub serves as a central point to design and implement a strategy to address root causes of vulnerability and help the community thrive. In addition, the resilience hub can deliver preparedness messaging to the communities that the Hub serves, and site leaders can work with trusted community leaders to disseminate information and facilitate stronger community ties before a disruption. |
 A community’s resilience hub can be the central point for gathering, assessing impact, sharing stories, assembling information, accessing resources, and spearheading response in the event of an emergency. |
 Resilience hubs play a critical role in post-disruption recovery and ongoing communications needs. For resilient communications, the site can remain a central point for gathering, sharing information, and accessing or redistributing resources. Hubs can also provide space for additional experts, aid organizations, volunteers, and community support networks to gather and better understand and address community needs. |
Five Foundational Areas
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Programming |
Services and programs can build relationships, promote community preparedness, and improve residents’ health and well-being. Resilience hub services and programs should be open to participation by the surrounding community and be based on the needs, priorities and interests of local residents. |
|
Communications |
A resilience hub must be able to communicate within and outside the service area year-round and especially during disruptions and throughout recovery. |
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Resilient Design |
The building and landscape of the resilience hub should support its ability to meet its operational goals in all conditions. DOEE’s Resilient Design Guidelines provide guidance on how a facility can pursue infrastructural improvements based on its potential risk to the impacts of climate change. |
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Power |
Resilient power systems (for example, solar panels and battery storage systems) are one strategic feature of community resilience hubs that enable these facilities to operate and provide services such as refrigeration, cell phone charging, and communications during power outages. |
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Operations |
A resilience hub must ensure personnel and processes are in place to operate the facility in all three modes. |
Resilience Hub Resources