Gathering Organizations for the Inaugural Resilience Fest

On July 30-31, 2025, we gathered 200 folks from 120 organizations within our community of responders in Black Mountain, NC, for the inaugural Resilience Fest. Not quite a conference and more than just a festival, this event brought together individuals and organizations with firsthand experience in sustainable, community-based disaster response and recovery. We met, laughed, cried, learned, danced, trained, shared, and prepared. 

As a two-day meeting of minds in beautiful Western North Carolina, this was a chance to reflect on the work we do with communities reeling from climate-driven disasters and disruptions of infrastructure. At the same time, we learned how we can network and improve our efforts. By joining together, we aimed to make better decisions about preparing for and responding to climate-driven disasters.

What Happened at Resilience Fest?

Over our very full two-day schedule, we divided our time between learning, connecting, reflecting, and doing. 

Panels, talks and expert-led workshops helped to diversify our range of skills and knowledge to make more informed choices moving forward in each of our organizations. Speakers from grassroots organizations such as Poder Emma, Together New Orleans, Solidarity Engineering and more led discussions on resilience and cooperation while experts taught participants to build, upcycle and adapt.

We also spent time reflecting on our work and experience to make meaningful choices as our organizations move forward. From a creative map workshop to sharing resilience stories, we took time to address the often physical, emotional, and mental toll that disaster relief work can take.

One of the greatest advantages of Resilience Fest was connecting with others doing similar work! We shared delicious food and had countless great conversations–connecting with others we can help and who can help us.

We are excited to watch the impact of this gathering ripple out into the world!