Reslience Hubs

Resilience Hubs are community-driven facilities intended to meet the specific needs of residents around community resilience, climate change mitigation, emergency management and social equity. They may help provide information and resources before, during, and after extreme events. This can include hosting cost-effective onsite power systems capable of reliably sustaining operations during an outage and support ongoing community-led programming that enhances neighborhood cohesion, communication, and access to services.  Hubs provide emergency services, and also provide services responsive to neighborhood-identified needs (e.g., youth programming, workforce training, etc.). An $8 million infrastructure investment was made from state PRO for Joslin and Elmwood (Davey Lopes is pending). The first official Resilience Hub was launched in February 2024 at Joslin Recreation Center, the Olneyville Resilience Hub. With funding from the Department of Sustainability’s Barr Foundation Grant ($252,499, with a city match of $54,624), the City, in collaboration with WRWC, hired a Resilience Hub Manager for the Olneyville Resilience Hub. In addition to Resilience Hubs, funding from the Barr grant is designated for Critical Hazard Response Support, which includes extended hours for PCL cooling centers/Rec splash pads, facility assessments & improvements. There will also be Green Justice Zone Committees, designating stipends to volunteer community members assisting with public outreach and site coordination.