Resilience Force

Resilience Force is the national voice of the rising Resilience Workforce-the millions of people whose work, heart, and expertise make just and equitable recovery from disasters possible. At the nexus of climate change, labor, and migration, our work on the frontlines of worsening climate disasters and COVID-19 relief embeds a racial justice and equity framework to make the Resilience Workforce, communities of color, and poor communities stronger and more resilient after disaster.

In the era of climate change, resilience has become our nation's largest annual infrastructure project, with billions of dollars invested publicly and privately in climate adaptation, mitigation, and recovery each year. In the aftermath of hurricanes, wildfires, and storms, disasters turn cities at the heart of rebuilding into large-scale workplaces, requiring the skilled labor of tens of thousands of rebuilders and repairers on the frontlines of climate change. At the center of this rapidly growing industry is an expanding recovery and reconstruction workforce disproportionately made up of Black, brown, poor, and working-class people who are often victims of disasters themselves.

At the core of Resilience Force's strategy, we are leveraging the labor demand created by our nation's resilience and adaptation needs and turning it into a vehicle to build worker power and a just economy for all workers, regardless of their status. Much like how automation has reshaped work, climate change is shaping a generation of economic rules for workers by creating large-scale labor needs and an urgent demand for making homes, cities, and infrastructure that are adaptive to the shock and stress of disasters. We aim to turn this emerging industry into a middle-class pathway for Black and Brown workers, as well as Native and rural workers, who have been traditionally locked out of the industry, much in the way manufacturing once was for many workers in America. As part of this work, we are embedding labor and social protections that create good jobs for the future. Coverage of our work with this rising workforce has been featured in the New York Times and NPR.