| When Hurricane Beryl left millions in Houston without power last July, a community center in Alief took on a new role: It became a cooling center for families across the working-class neighborhood. Built in one of Houston’s most diverse and flood-vulnerable communities, the $59 million Alief Neighborhood Center and Park is an example of a resilience hub — a facility that serves as both a gathering space for families, with daily programming for all ages, and a safe space in times of emergency. “Resilience hubs aren’t just where you go to get water after a hurricane or where you hide from heavy winds, it's where you go 365 days a year to meet your neighbors,” principal architect Natalia Beard tells CityLab in the latest edition of the Look at that Building series. “When things do get hard, you’ll know who to call and where to get information.” The concept has gained traction in the US over the last few decades, as events like Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and, more recently, Hurricane Helene underscore the limitations of federal government disaster response. And with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s future up in the air under the Trump administration, calls have only gotten louder to strengthen local emergency response capacity. Nonprofits and local governments in cities across the US are now building out their own networks. In Louisiana, a coalition of faith-based and civic organizations are working to create the largest network of solar-powered resilience hubs — dubbed Community Lighthouses — in the nation, starting with New Orleans. They’re often housed in spaces that are already trusted and respected by area residents, like churches and community centers, and retrofitted with renewable energy sources. More important than the hubs themselves are the people who run them — and who work year-round to build trust with the communities they serve. — Linda Poon | 
