Wednesday, September 16, 2015
A New Lens for Disaster Recovery
Natural disasters devastate communities and leave their deepest wounds in already unstable low-income neighborhoods. Physical destruction, displacement, homelessness, poor health, and economic instability further fracture communities that face great challenges even before a storm hits.
Amongst the rubble and disrepair, leaders from within these unstable communities step forward with passion, dedication, and a fierce will to co-create recovery alongside external partners. But despite having weathered the storm, and actively sought recovery for themselves and others, their voices are often absent from conversations about how best to move forward. Insights from these communities are essential to successful efforts to rebuild; they advance collective knowledge about how marginalized groups experience disaster and uniquely define recovery....