This article is the second in a three-part emergency management series exploring the importance of strengths-based approaches, strong social networks, community ownership of emergency preparedness, and recovery improvement through activation of local strengths.
Preparedness is most effective when it starts with a simple but powerful question: “What strengths already exist within this community that we can use and scale?” A strengths-based approach begins with an understanding of the context and existing resources present within a given community. Research has shown that people’s own awareness of their strengths can be a better indicator of engagement and results than the specific makeup of the strengths themselves.
Identifying individual and collective skills and resources in the early stages of disaster planning can help yield effective, coordinated responses instead of isolated plans. From medical training and bilingual skills to caregiving networks and trusted neighborhood leaders, these strengths exist in every community. The key is recognizing and organizing them before disaster strikes.
Lessons from the front lines
Relying on strong community resources for hurricane recovery
In coastal regions prone to hurricanes, informal communication networks have often outperformed official channels because they’re built on trust, proximity, and lived experiences. This allows information to spread quickly and reliably, especially in areas where official systems may be delayed or disrupted. When emergency managers recognize and leverage those existing systems, preparedness becomes more agile, efficient, and effective.
That’s what happened after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, where community-based organizations played a critical role in recovery—helping clean roads, establish community kitchens, and repairing structures and homes. Researchers found that these networks actually outperformed the externally organized response support. When emergency managers recognize and integrate these informal systems and local resources, preparedness becomes more agile and responsive. This approach involves engaging community leaders in planning, using local radio or WhatsApp groups for real-time updates, and tailoring messages to reflect local language and cultural norms.
Enhancing resilience through asset mapping and community hubs
The Resilient Eastside Initiative is a community-driven effort to enhance climate resilience in Detroit’s historically underserved eastside neighborhoods. Through a partnership between the Eastside Community Network, Elevate, and the City of Detroit, the initiative has established a network of 12 resilience hubs. These hubs serve as trusted, community-led spaces that support residents before, during, and after climate-related emergencies such as flooding, extreme heat, and power outages. Each hub has developed its own emergency preparedness plan using a standardized template tailored to local needs.
Core to the initiative’s success has been its asset mapping tool, created using Google My Maps. This tool visually catalogs services and resources available at each hub, enabling better coordination, mutual aid, and emergency response. The project was co-designed with hub leaders through a community-driven asset mapping process. For many of the hubs, this marked their first formal step into emergency planning—and the initiative has laid the groundwork for achieving stronger, more connected, and more resilient neighborhoods.
Tools like community mapping, skills inventories, and participatory planning can identify local skills and assets that might not be known externally. Using them can improve emergency planning while cultivating a culture of shared responsibility and self-reliance—enhancing community-level abilities to respond to disasters swiftly and effectively.
Building a community strengths inventory
By relying on local knowledge and strengthening their internal capacities, communities are better positioned to prepare for disruptions and operate more effectively in concert with broader systems. This approach empowers community members to constructively act before and during emergencies alongside state or federal response officials—ensuring that they’re ready with the resources they already have.
To embrace a strengths-based approach, emergency managers can start by building a community strengths inventory. This living resource captures the people, organizations, assets, and relationships that can be activated in times of crisis. Proactively identifying and organizing these strengths can help foster resilience, improve coordination, and ensure that response efforts are rooted in communities’ unique capabilities.
