In the wake of Hurricane Helene, Asheville residents activated powerful networks of care to support one another. To better understand and strengthen these community-led efforts, the City of Asheville has contracted with Thrive Asheville to conduct a Resilience Hub Mapping Project as part of the Elevate AVL and Climate Resilience work.
The City’s current resilience hub work builds on many years of programming and support of community-led resilience. A timeline of foundational work, along with an introduction to resilience hubs, was presented and discussed at the recent Planning, Economic Development, and Environment Council Committee (PEDE) meeting on January 20.
Through the Resilience Hub Mapping Project, Thrive Asheville will work with partners to combine participatory community engagement, technical mapping expertise, and policy insight. Partners include Fern Leaf for technical mapping and the Center for Participatory Change as community engagement lead. 40 Hearts and Siler Climate Consulting will provide communications and policy strategy support. Community and resilience hub leaders will form a community advisory committee to inform engagement and provide project direction and strategy that is grounded in community resilience experiences. The project aims to find out what worked well in response to Helene at the neighborhood level, and where there are critical geographic or service gaps that need to be addressed to support our community in “blue skies” (non-emergency) times, as well as in preparation for the next disruption.
Project deliverables include a digital and network map of post helene resilience activation, an analysis and report, and recommendations to inform future city and community investment and resilience hub network development.
Community members are encouraged to participate by sharing their experiences. Current opportunities include a resilience hub organizer survey intended for people who lead response and resilience efforts, and a community wide “Day of Listening” planned for April 18. Additional resilience hub mapping project information, including key engagement dates and frequently asked questions, can be found on the Resilience Hub Mapping project page.