Hubs of Resilience
August 2026
Hubs of Resilience
A new version of community disaster centers is taking hold --- one that supports neighborhoods before, during and after climate emergencies.
As Los Angeles County faces hotter temperatures, more destructive wildfires, power outages and other climate-related emergencies, communities need places they can turn to—not just when disaster strikes, but every day.
That’s the idea behind community resilience centers: trusted neighborhood spaces that provide useful services year-round and can become hubs for information, resources and support during an emergency.
The County’s Our County Sustainability Plan calls for exploring a network of these centers across the region. But what would that actually look like? Where would they go? Who would run them? And what would happen when an emergency occurs? Here, the Chief Sustainability Office takes a closer look.
What exactly is a resilience center?
At its simplest, a resilience center is a trusted place in the community that helps people prepare for, get through and recover from emergencies.
But the most successful centers are designed to do much more than sit empty waiting for a disaster.
On an ordinary day, a resilience center might offer community programs, climate education, workforce training, health services, emergency-preparedness information or simply a place for neighbors to gather. During an extreme heat event, wildfire, earthquake or power outage, that same space could provide cooling, clean air, electricity, water, information and other critical resources.
The larger goal is to strengthen communities before a crisis occurs so they are better able to respond when one does.
Would Los Angeles County have to build a whole network of new buildings?
Not necessarily—and that’s one of the strengths of the idea.
Many resilience centers could grow out of places that already exist and that residents already know and trust: libraries, parks and recreation facilities, community and senior centers, nonprofit organizations, faith-based institutions or other neighborhood gathering places.
Some existing County facilities already serve as cooling centers during periods of extreme heat. With additional equipment, programming and community involvement, some of those spaces could potentially become part of a broader resilience network.
The question isn’t simply: “Where can we put a new building?” It’s also: “Where are people already going—and how can we make those places more useful and resilient?”
How would the County decide which communities need them most?
The goal would be to prioritize communities facing the greatest climate risks and the fewest resources to deal with them.
The County already has tools to help identify those places, including its Climate Vulnerability Assessment and other data measuring environmental, health, social and economic disparities.
But data alone shouldn’t determine where resilience centers go.
Community organizations and neighborhood leaders often know better than anyone where the gaps are, which facilities people trust and what services residents actually need. Building a successful network would mean combining that local knowledge with the County’s climate and equity data.
Who would run these centers?
There probably isn’t a single answer.
Some centers might be operated by the County or local cities. Others could be run by nonprofit or community-based organizations. In some cases, government agencies and local organizations might operate them together.
What matters is trust. A building doesn’t become a resilience center simply because it has solar panels, batteries or emergency supplies. People have to know the place, use it and feel comfortable going there.
That’s why the everyday role of these centers is so important. A place that residents visit throughout the year is much more likely to become a trusted source of help when something goes wrong.
So what happens when there actually is an emergency?
That would depend on the facility and the emergency. One center might provide cooling and clean air during an extreme heat event or wildfire. Another might offer electricity for charging phones and medical devices during a blackout. Others could provide water, refrigeration, emergency supplies, communications or a place for community organizations and residents to coordinate.
Some centers could potentially serve as emergency shelters. Others might not.
The point isn’t for every resilience center to do everything. It’s to create a network of trusted places capable of providing useful support when the systems people normally depend upon are disrupted.
Recent disasters have shown why that flexibility matters.
During the January 2025 fires, for example, one County park that had been identified as a potential shelter location was itself lost to the Eaton Fire. Other nearby facilities were unavailable because of air-quality concerns or because they needed to continue serving their normal functions.
The result was that some shelter sites had to be located farther from affected communities than officials might have preferred—adding another burden for people who had already been displaced.
A larger, more flexible network of community resources could provide more options when circumstances change quickly.
What would a resilience center actually require to meet various needs?
There’s no universal checklist because different communities face different hazards and different facilities would play different roles.
But useful investments could include:
- Backup electricity and battery storage
- Cooling and air filtration
- Reliable communications
- Water and emergency supplies
- Refrigeration for food and medicine
- Food preparation and distribution areas
- Space for people to sleep
- Accessible showers and restrooms
- Pet-sheltering capacity
A center doesn’t necessarily need every one of those things. The idea is to determine what each community needs and what each facility can realistically provide.
Are other communities already doing this?
Yes. Communities around the country are experimenting with resilience hubs and centers, and Los Angeles County wouldn’t have to start from scratch.
One particularly interesting example is Hawai‘i County—the Big Island—which, like Los Angeles County, covers an enormous and geographically diverse area. Community organizations there have developed a network of hubs designed to serve residents during ordinary times as well as emergencies.
National organizations including the Urban Sustainability Directors Network and the Resilience Hub Collaborative have also developed guidance based on lessons from communities around the country.
Los Angeles County would have to build a model suited to its own enormous size, diverse population and complicated mix of jurisdictions. But there is a growing body of experience to learn from.
How would we pay for it?
That remains one of the big questions.
California has already created grant programs supporting resilience centers, including the Strategic Growth Council’s Community Resilience Center Program and the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Fairground and Community Resilience Centers Program.
Those programs have already supported projects in Los Angeles County, including funding connected to a new Multi-Agency Regional Resilience Center in Lancaster.
A larger countywide network would likely require a mix of resources over time—potentially including County, state and federal funding as well as partnerships with utilities, philanthropy, community organizations and the private sector.
Before determining exactly what such a network would cost, the County would first need to answer some fundamental questions: How many centers make sense? Where should they be located? What services should they provide? Who would operate them? And how could they be sustained over the long term?
What are the biggest obstacles?
Money is certainly one of them. But it isn’t the only one.
Creating a true network means coordinating across an enormous county containing 88 cities, numerous public agencies and hundreds of community organizations. Facilities have to be maintained. Programs have to be staffed. Emergency equipment has to work when it is needed.
And perhaps most importantly, communities need to be involved from the beginning.
A resilience center imposed on a neighborhood from above may never become the trusted gathering place it is supposed to be. The strongest centers are likely to emerge from partnerships with organizations and residents who already understand their communities.
Ten years from now, will resilience centers seem like an optional public amenity—or basic civic infrastructure?
Probably much more like basic civic infrastructure.
We already invest in systems that we hope we won’t need every day—fire stations, emergency communications and backup generators—because we know how important they become when something goes wrong.
Resilience centers apply some of that same thinking at the neighborhood level.
But they have an important advantage: if designed well, they don’t just provide value during disasters. They can strengthen community connections, provide useful services and help residents prepare for emergencies throughout the year.
As Los Angeles County confronts increasingly severe heat, wildfire, poor air quality, power outages and other climate-related hazards, resilience will depend on more than emergency response. It will depend on strong communities with trusted places, reliable resources and connections among neighbors.
A network of community resilience centers could help provide the physical infrastructure to make those connections stronger—before, during and after the next emergency.