Tempe Resilience Hub Network

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What is a Resilience Hub?

Resilience hubs are versatile community facilities designed to assist residents in their daily lives, respond effectively during emergencies, and aid in recovery. By utilizing trusted spaces like community centers, places of worship, or educational institutions, these hubs empower communities to achieve a wide range of physical and social objectives.

Interested in becoming a Tempe Resilience Hub or joining the Network? Fill out the Resilience Hub Interest Form and someone from the Sustainability and Resilience Office will be in contact.

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Establishing a Resilience Hub Network

A Resilience Hub Network consists of community-focused facilities that offer services before, during, and after disasters. These hubs deliver programming and services year-round and ensure a safe and accessible space for convening during an emergency, like a power outage or heat wave. While some hubs can offer different response capacity for everyday and emergency use, having an established network can empower communities to be better prepared and resilient in the face of man-made and natural disasters.

A Local Approach to Emergency Management

Having a Resilience Hub Network emphasizes a grassroots, local strategy to emergency management. This approach intentionally shifts power to residents and community-based organizations, fostering community-led and coordinated efforts, with government support when feasible. By tapping into community assets, this strategy ensures a swift and effective emergency response, leveraging local resources and knowledge to address specific needs and challenges. This approach complements first responders' efforts by extending the reach of assistance, empowering a broader segment of the community to contribute to and benefit from the collective response.

Why is this Network Important?

The impact of climate change has increased the severity of natural disasters and exacerbated extreme heat challenges in the Phoenix Valley. In the event of a disaster, like a power outage during a severe heatwave, it is imperative that residents have access to safe and cool shelter options along with essential resources.

EnVision Tempe

EnVision Tempe is the city’s first attempt at a resilience hub that will provide year-round services and have the infrastructure capacity to serve as a neighborhood resource during a disaster. This EnVision Center will eventually be equipped with solar power and battery storage.

To learn more about EnVision Tempe, visit tempe.gov/EnVisionTempe

Help identify additional trusted spaces and organizations that should be part of the Tempe Resilience Hub Network

Your input will help identify trusted spaces in Tempe that can support or serve as resilience hubs, ensuring that this network will serve the community in meeting daily and emergency needs.

Help foster a safe and resilient community by sharing your perspective on trusted spaces, vulnerabilities and preferred hub programming by visiting:

https://bit.ly/Community-Spaces-Survey

Best Practices and Resources

In the development of Tempe's Resilience Hub Network, we draw inspiration from leading cities that have made significant strides in this initiative.

The 2022 Tempe Climate Action Plan Update Resilience Hub Roadmap features the City of Austin and the City of Baltimore as exemplary leaders in the resilience hub domain. Tempe is actively studying and incorporating their successful practices to shape and enhance our own network.

2022 Climate Action Plan Update Resilience Hub Roadmap. The roadmap review's 5 cities and their resilience hubs, including Tempe.

Learn more about the City of Austin’s Resilience Hub Network here.

Learn more about the City of Baltimore’s Community Resiliency Hub Program here.

To learn more about resilience hub best practices, refer to the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) Resilience Hub website.

Our Approach

Our approach involves leveraging both city-owned facilities and community-led organizations as integral components of our resilience hub network. This dual utilization ensures the provision of secure and trusted spaces that are well-equipped to respond effectively to natural and man-made emergencies while also catering to residents' daily needs through diverse programming.

The overarching goal of the Resilience Hub Network is to bring together key stakeholders to bridge social gaps to improve resource coordination and collaboration for emergency preparedness and everyday programming and services.

To learn more, watch the Resilience Hub Network Public Meeting presentation given by our Heat Mitigation and Resilience Specialist:

PowerPoint Presentation PDF

Presentation Recording

The City of Tempe's Approach to Establishing a Resilience Hub Network will take place in 4 phases:

Phase 1: Identify Resilience Hub Pilot Sites

Tempe is harnessing its existing community infrastructure, including community centers, recreational facilities, libraries, nonprofits, and faith-based institutions to pilot the resilience hub initiative. Current Locations for Microgrid Assessment

To advance this work, the Tempe City Council has approved funding to conduct a Microgrid Feasibility Study on up to 30 Tempe facilities.

To identify the community-led facility pilot sites, the Sustainability and Resilience Office is pursuing those organizations that are in heat priority areas, already offer capacity building programming and services outside normal faith hours, have the capacity to shelter residents during a power outage, and are interested in advancing their sustainability initiatives.

Additional Resilience Hub Sites and Involvement

Residents can map their trusted spaces and identify programming and organizations they would like to see involved in the network through the Resilience Hub Community Spaces Mapping Survey. Furthermore, organizations can get involved in the network or as a resilience hub by fill out the Resilience Hub Interest Form.

Phase 2: Planning for Emergencies

To enhance community emergency response, the Sustainability and Resilience Office is collaborating with the Tempe Fire Medical Rescue Department, to develop plans for both city-owned and community-led facilities that can be utilized during emergencies. To help lead planning conversations, we will include stakeholders from nonprofits in the area including the Red Cross.

The purpose of this initiative is to develop guidelines and tools that resilience hub sites can use during emergencies to help them identify their capacity, gaps, and how to fill those gaps utilizing community assets.

Phase 3: Coordinating Resiliency Programming

Resilience Hubs offer daily programming and services to enhance community resilience, addressing socio-economic challenges caused by historical inequities. These programs can be related to health services, food services, education support for K-12, homeless assistance services, social capital building events, and educational workshops.

Programming must be identified by the community, so the Sustainability and Resilience Office will help resilience hub sites brainstorm ways to engage with the community to identify programs and services that are needed at the hub.

Once the community has identified programming they'd like to see at the hub, the hub team will coordinate with the city, nonprofits, and other connections to offer capacity support to host those programs.

Phase 4: Consistent Coordination to Increase Resilience and Improve Sustainability

Through our monthly Resilience Hub Network meetings, we aim to foster continued collaboration among key stakeholders from the City of Tempe, local nonprofits, and faith-based institutions, with the overarching goal of strengthening Tempe's resilience to hazards and everyday challenges.

During these meetings, we will engage in discussions encompassing programming and services, sustainability initiatives, and grants/funding. The aim is to offer comprehensive support for resilience hubs, guiding them towards achieving their resilience hub goals.

Within this framework, resilience hubs can leverage partnerships and forge new connections to advance sustainability initiatives within their facilities, ultimately reaching the envisioned state of an ideal resilience hub.

Components of a Resilience Hub. Displays three different columns: Base, Optimal, and Ideal.

Get Involved

Starting in 2024, Tempe residents and organizations will have the opportunity to shape the Tempe Resilience Hub Network by participating in surveys, mapping, and workshops. Insight provided through these resources will help the City of Tempe and participating community hubs make decisions driven by residents themselves.

City of Tempe Residents

Participate in the Resilience Hub Mapping Survey

Your input will help us identify trusted spaces in Tempe that can support or serve as Resilience Hubs, ensuring that these hubs address both everyday and emergency needs.

Help foster a safe and resilient community by sharing your perspective on trusted spaces, vulnerabilities and preferred hub programming by visiting:

http://bit.ly/Community-Spaces-Survey

Attend an Event at your Local Hub

Once a site has been evaluated for emergency capacity, residents will have the opportunity to attend a workshop or event at a resilience hub near them!

These workshops will be based around hub emergency planning, community asset mapping, and social capital building. We will bring together various stakeholders to help with the planning such as resilience hub faculty, local nonprofits, residents within close proximity of the hub, and city officials from the Sustainability and Resilience Office and Fire Medical Rescue.

Stay tuned for event dates in 2024!

Organizations

Are you interested in participating as a resilience hub, joining the network, or leading community engagement? Do you have resources or services that can be used to support the Tempe Resilience Hub Network?

Fill out the Tempe Resilience Hub Interest Form and someone from the Sustainability and Resilience Office will be in contact.

City of Tempe, AZ

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