Building Resilient Communities in Times of Crisis and Disaster

As large-scale disasters grow more frequent and severe, investing in community resilience is essential for minimizing damage and protecting lives.  

During the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's 2024 Business Solves event, a group of experts convened to discuss the value of resilience and proactive strategies for disaster preparedness. The panel shared actionable solutions for risk reduction, as well as the collaborative efforts needed to build stronger, more resilient communities. 

Increasing Resilience Requires Investment and Adaptability 

For a community to be truly resilient, it must not only be able to recover from a disaster; it should also be prepared for any future crises. This preparedness requires targeted investment and the ability to look forward. 

“The tough part is advocating for resiliency dollars between events,” said Tom Cotter, executive director of Healthcare Ready. “It’s alarming that we’re not investing as much as we need to in resiliency when we know what the consequences can be.” 

Doug Bellomo, vice president and lead for flood risk management and resilience practice at AECOM, added that adaptive capacity is also a crucial component of resilience. 

“Rather than try to adjust to the new environment, we tend to try to go back as quickly as possible to the way we were doing things before,” explained Bellomo. “It’s really important to start building effective change management and adaptation strategies in our day-to-day operations.” 

Cross-Sector Partnerships and Resource-Sharing Are Key to Building Resilient Communities 

The task of advancing community resilience is too large to fall on a single entity. Strategic, cross-sector collaboration allows multiple parties to share necessary information and better support the community’s holistic needs. 

A prime example is the partnership between AT&T, FEMA, and Argonne National Laboratory. Their collaborative efforts have yielded multiple initiatives, including free and open access to predictive climate data. 

“We are taking that extra step to help policymakers and state and local officials use that data to build those resilient communities that we hope to all have one day,” explained Ligia Mcevoy, director at AT&T. 

Most crucially, communities must be bolstered with education and resources to become truly resilient. This is especially important for underserved populations, who are often more vulnerable to the negative effects of disaster. 

“One aspect of [resilience] is education, and for [our organization] specifically, financial literacy and bringing financial resources to challenged communities,” said Lamell McMorris, principal, head of policy, regulatory and government relations at Edward Jones. “Underserved communities consistently lack access to quality financial advice and guidance, and that lack of access only increases in the face of a disaster.” 

In recognition of this, Cotter advocated for a decentralized, needs-based approach to disseminating resources. 

“It shouldn’t be someone like me … telling [communities] how to protect themselves,” he emphasized. “This needs to be, instead of delivering a message, giving the resources so the community can deliver the message amongst themselves.”