Weathering Climate Disasters with Resilience Hubs

This guide by RMI describes resilience hubs as community-serving facilities designed to support vulnerable populations during and after extreme weather events. It outlines five foundational areas of support—power, communication, facilities, operations, and services—and provides six strategic lessons for cities implementing these hubs, emphasizing community partnership, energy efficiency, and the integration of solar and battery storage.

• Resilience hubs are physical facilities that provide critical support to residents during disasters and can focus on five foundational areas: reliable power, communication coordination, dependable facilities, operational management, and the provision of services and programming.
• Effective deployment of resilience hubs requires early buy-in from city officials and partnerships with local businesses and community organizations to ensure hubs are sited where they can best reach vulnerable populations and meet specific community needs.
• Prioritizing energy efficiency and weatherization increases 'hours of safety,' which is the duration a building can maintain a safe temperature during a power outage, regardless of whether backup power is available.
• Integrating solar and battery storage provides essential backup power during outages, reduces utility bills, and is particularly critical for disadvantaged communities who may experience longer outages because they are not on 'critical circuits' prioritized for power restoration.
• Various funding sources are available for resilience hubs, including the $2.3 billion Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency Block Grant Program, and state-level grants in California, Maryland, and Massachusetts.

APA

RMI (2022). Weathering Climate Disasters with Resilience Hubs. https://rmi.org/resources/weathering-climate-disasters-with-resilience-hubs/

Chicago

RMI. Weathering Climate Disasters with Resilience Hubs. 2022. https://rmi.org/resources/weathering-climate-disasters-with-resilience-hubs/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Weathering Climate Disasters with Resilience Hubs |date=26 October 2022 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/weathering-climate-disasters-with-resilience-hubs/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2022weathering, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Weathering Climate Disasters with Resilience Hubs}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/weathering-climate-disasters-with-resilience-hubs/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }