On October 1, Community Hub leaders and Black Resilience Network members from Chicago; St. Louis; Amory and Monroe County, Mississippi; and Asheville, North Carolina came together in Washington, D.C., for Rooted in Resilience at Brookings. We spent the morning at community tables and the afternoon at a public forum we co-hosted with the Center for Community Uplift at Brookings.
The morning was off the record so people could speak freely. Our table agreement asked everyone to treat lived experience as expertise, listen to understand, and share the ideas, not the names. This post keeps that agreement. It shares what we heard and what we are carrying forward, without tying any idea to a person, a table, or a community.
Disasters Land on Conditions That Were Already There
Disasters do not create the disparities Black communities face. They worsen conditions that were already there. At every table, people described recovery that started from behind: historically underserved neighborhoods, homes that already needed repair, aging pipes and infrastructure, and basements that flooded again and again.
When each disaster is treated as a separate event, that pattern disappears from view. People asked for recovery planning that looks at the infrastructure and policy conditions underneath, so the next disaster does not land on the same unaddressed problems.
Recovery Lasts Long After the Responders Leave
Food, water, and emergency supplies matter in the first days. The needs that follow last for months and years: housing repair, case management, health care, legal help, and someone who follows up. People also named trauma and the stress that was already present before the disaster as part of recovery, along with the need for community spaces where people can support each other and rest.
The People Most Affected Need a Real Seat at the Table
People described decisions made by outsiders who do not know the affected neighborhoods, and community members invited in only to check a box. In some places, long-term recovery committees were missing altogether. Recovery bodies should include, and answer to, the people living with the outcomes. Black local and state leaders also belong in the rooms where disaster-planning policy gets written.
Coordination Has to Reach the Family That Needs Help
Meetings where agencies trade updates can still leave a family without help. People called for clear ownership of every unmet need and a way to track each one until it is resolved.
Programs also need to fit local realities. People raised barriers in eligibility rules, application steps, referrals between agencies, and insurance, along with standard programs that do not match the kinds of homes, infrastructure, and communities they are meant to serve.
The Economy of Disaster
One flip chart from the morning read, “The economy of disaster is predatory.” People described displacement without a real transition plan, property and land loss after a disaster, and funding that follows connections instead of reaching the organizations doing the work.
The ideas that came out of these conversations included post-disaster legal assistance, local policies that protect property and residents after a disaster, statewide building codes, and rebuilding funds and insurance pools that keep coverage affordable.
Health, Wealth, and Culture Belong Together
Our mission is to accelerate health, wealth, and cultural resilience in Black communities before and after disasters. At the tables, people kept connecting all three:
Health: trauma, ongoing stress, and health care needs that continue long after the response ends.
Wealth: safe and stable housing, livelihoods, property, and insurance.
Culture: churches and historic places, family heirlooms, and artifacts that can be lost during debris removal, along with community history and people knowing both the value of what they own and their rights.
Fund the People Already Doing the Work
Community-based organizations and trusted messengers help residents find their way through complex systems, often with little or no sustained funding. People named racial inequities in how disaster funding is distributed and asked for money that reaches the organizations closest to the work.
Ideas raised included restorative, place-based funding; community hubs and trusted gathering spaces funded before and after disasters; and a wider mix of financing, including philanthropy, public funding, insurance affordability programs, and social impact bonds.
Ideas We Are Carrying Forward
These were proposals raised for consideration, not decisions or assignments:
Fund community-led organizations, trusted messengers, and accessible community hubs before and after disasters.
Build long-term recovery structures with community representation, clear accountability, and a way to track unmet needs to resolution.
Strengthen referral pathways and sustained disaster case management so residents understand their options and get help over time.
Make recovery funding and insurance support more accessible and aligned with local priorities.
Connect health, housing, legal assistance, property protection, and cultural preservation in recovery planning.
Invest in resilient infrastructure, backup warning systems, coordinated hazard mitigation plans, and timely data that combines numbers with community knowledge.
Engage young people and their digital skills, and use photography and media to document what communities experience.
Partner with cultural institutions to protect heirlooms, historic places, and community stories before the next disaster.
From Community Tables to Policy Rooms
That afternoon, the conversation moved into a public forum: Community-led resilience: Improving disaster preparedness, response, and recovery for Black people and places. The first panel focused on community experiences of emergency management. The second focused on translating those experiences into public policy. The day closed on a shared challenge: build policy from the ground up, with communities leading and data serving as a tool.
Watch the full forum on the Brookings event page →
What Comes Next
We will share what came out of the day with Black Resilience Network members and participants first, and with the public as the policy agenda takes shape. Rooted in Resilience gatherings are where Community Hubs planning starts, and this one gave us a clearer picture of what hubs need to do: Connect people to help, hold recovery accountable, and protect health, wealth, and culture at the same time.
Thank you to the Center for Community Uplift at Brookings, to our panelists and moderators, and to every hub representative and member who traveled to be in the room.
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Read the event recap: Rooted in Resilience at Brookings: Two Gatherings, One Purpose.