Resilient Future

 

Thrive Asheville will lead a comprehensive resilience hub mapping project to document and analyze the responsive networks that emerged during Hurricane Helene. This project moves beyond simple location cataloging to reveal the underlying relational capacity and infrastructure that enabled rapid, community-led response while creating a roadmap for strategic investment in Asheville’s resilience ecosystem. To complete this ambitious project and extend our capacity we have activated a team of local subject matter experts to support this project: The Center for Participatory Change, Fernleaf, Siler Climate Consulting, & 40 Hearts.

What constitutes a resilience hub?

For this project, we define a resilience hub as any location, formal or informal, that provided critical services, resources, or coordination during Hurricane Helene. This includes established organizations that quickly pivoted, emergent efforts activated by trusted community members, faith-based organizations, neighborhood-level gathering spaces, and cross-sector coordination points. Our participatory research approach will allow the community to further refine this definition based on lived experience. 

Why Thrive Asheville

Thrive Asheville is uniquely positioned to execute this project because we are not starting from scratch. Our organization has been deeply embedded in post-Helene resilience work since the immediate response phase, establishing trust and relationships that are essential for authentic community engagement. 

Since Hurricane Helene, Thrive has:

  • ​​Hosted a convening of more than 120 residents who identified as leaders or participants in resiliency hub activities

  • Co-convened the Buncombe County Long Term Recovery Group (BCLTRG) in partnership with Asheville-Buncombe United Way, coordinating over 70 local nonprofit and faith-based organizations

  • Built deep relationships with frontline organizations critical to resilience hub conversations

  • Facilitated six Lessons for Recovery community exchanges connecting WNC with disaster-impacted communities nationwide, informing over 700 residents and leaders

  • Established a resilience hub network serving as the primary backbone agency for hub practitioners and organizers across Buncombe County

This work aligns directly with Thrive's current strategic plan and our funding priorities for fiscal year 2026, which center on three critical areas:

  • Operationalizing lessons learned about resilience from the Helene response

  • Building a resilience hub network and community of practice

  • Coordinating complementary planning processes for future community resilience

To learn more about this project, sign up for updates, and take the survey. Go to the City of Asheville’s Project Page: Resilience Hub Mapping Project.

activators soon to be announced

Thrive Asheville is pleased to announce the recipients of the L2L Micro-Grant Program, supporting creative, community-centered projects that activate and strengthen Downtown Asheville during the winter and early spring season have been selected.

This funding supports projects that foster place-making, cultural expression, wellness, and economic vitality, with a focus on accessibility, collaboration, and meaningful public engagement.

Thrive Asheville received a strong and diverse pool of applications and we’re grateful to all applicants for their creativity, care, and commitment to downtown Asheville.

Thrive brought together dozens of local volunteers in March to explore the role of resilience hubs in the readiness and recovery phases of major disaster management.

Resilience hubs were lifelines when Helene struck, and they will be again in the event of another disaster.

Thrive is helping to build a network of these hubs, which are designed to distribute supplies, fill communication gaps, and connect survivors to critical services when disaster strikes. We are working to learn the best practices that have transformed other cities after major storms, advocating to adopt those standards to make our communities more sustainable in future years.

MORE:

Youth Joining Post-Helene Work Saw the Best in People

Leicester Resilience Hub Stays Busy, Long After Helene

Resilience Hubs: Lifelines in the Last Disaster — And for the Future

Opinion: Asheville Moves Toward Resilient Future as Post-Helene Recovery Continues

A Framework for Recovery and Resilience

From Crisis to Community: How Asheville Long-Term Recovery Group is Taking Charge of Helene Recovery