In the past decade, the City of Austin, TX has experienced climate change in the form of record-breaking heat, droughts, historic floods, severe winter storms, and devastating wildfires that have taken lives, displaced community members, and stressed infrastructure. In 2021, Austin’s City Council passed a Resolution to begin building a Resilience Hub Network of physical facilities, community networks, and empowerment tools that provide hyper-localized, contextually, and culturally relevant solutions to address ongoing stressors in communities and bolster distributed disaster response and recovery efforts.
Austin will partner with FUSE to help establish and implement a strategic plan for expanding the Resilience Hub Network to develop a robust and comprehensive network of community-owned, community-operated Community Resilience Hub locations such as churches, businesses, and nonprofits. The FUSE Executive Fellow, Ted Chung, will: engage with community members to gain an understanding of both historic and current stressors; act as a liaison between the city departments and community stakeholders; develop strategies to stabilize neighborhoods and enhance residents’ ability to prepare for and thrive after a major event; and implement the program strategy. This work will help support the city’s goal of improving community climate resilience while addressing disparities and promoting environmental justice for historically disinvested communities.
