Build Community Resilience – Before the Disaster

I will never forget the morning the sky turned orange.

August 2020. I was leading United Way of Santa Cruz County when the CZU Lightning Complex fire tore through our mountains. In the middle of the night, our 211 Helpline rang – it was the County: “We need your operators to help evacuate the Santa Cruz Mountains.” By daybreak, 75,000 neighbors had received evacuation orders; some of those were staff members, sleeping at the United Way office with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

I still get emotional when I think about the smoke in our lungs, headlights in the dark, watching families arrive with whatever they could carry, and sometimes with the animals they refused to leave behind.

In those hours, I saw what holds when everything else breaks: people. Strangers offering RVs and tents, farmers bringing feed, businesses opening doors, volunteers showing up with meals and water. That night taught me something I carry into my work now as CEO of United Way Bay Area: disasters don’t choose their targets, but their impacts are not equal.

For households already stretched by the costs of housing, food, and healthcare, a wildfire, flood, or quake isn’t just an emergency—it can be the push that turns instability into chaos. That’s why preparedness isn’t a side project for us. It’s essential work in fighting poverty.

The reality, and the why behind it

The Bay Area faces a wide range of hazards: wildfires, earthquakes, floods, mudslides, tsunamis, and harsh winter storms. Over 650,000 households already struggle to meet basic needs. When disaster strikes, families without savings, transportation, or strong support networks face the hardest road to recovery. This isn’t about individual choices; it’s about unequal exposure and uneven resources.

Preparedness narrows that gap. It transforms “every family for themselves” into “every family in a resilient community.”

What we build before the crisis

United Way Bay Area has learned over more than a century that you can’t improvise a safety net in a crisis. You must build it every day.

• 211 as critical infrastructure. 211 becomes an official partner to local governments during disasters—handling surges in calls and texts about shelter, food, medical care, transportation, and emergency assistance. We prepare for that surge year-round so answers are ready when every minute counts.
• Rapid, coordinated response. During CZU, we launched donation pages within hours, activated partnerships with county leaders, and moved quickly on hotel vouchers for displaced families. We’ve replaced laptops for students after home losses and, yes, sourced feed for evacuated horses and dogs—because recovery is human and more-than-human, and dignity includes the beings we love.
• Preparedness as a shared skill. Through United We Prepare with Verizon, we’re hosting preparedness workshops and emergency-kit builds across the region. But the point isn’t just what goes in a backpack. It’s what goes into a plan: family communication trees, evacuation routes, go-bags for medication, and understanding how local alerts work.

To be completely transparent, when we increase staff or activate new response efforts, there isn’t always guaranteed public funding waiting. Our flexibility comes from donors and partners who invest in readiness, not just in headlines. Flexible funding allows for quick responses.

Community is the difference

During the CZU fire, I saw people from every walk of life step up and step in. That spirit shows our region at its best. But I also noticed who faced the steepest climb to recovery—families already close to the edge. That is when United Way continues long after the news cycle moves on: connecting people to income supports, financial coaching, housing resources, and workforce pathways so that recovery is not just a return to normal but a step toward stability.

Three ways to plug in—this month

Resilience is a team sport. Wherever you sit—in a household, a neighborhood group, a business, or local government—there’s a lane for you:

1. For every household: Make a simple plan. Identify two evacuation routes. List medications and essentials. Pack a basic go-bag. Share the plan with a neighbor.
2. For community connectors: Map who on your block may need extra support (elders, families with infants, people with disabilities). Set up a check-in phone tree. Join or start a CERT/neighborhood response group.
3. For employers and institutions: Offer paid time for preparedness drills. Stock basic supplies on site. Partner with us on a kit build or host a 211 info session so your teams know where to turn.

Why this matters now

Climate change is amplifying what we already face. Our mission at United Way Bay Area is to fight poverty—and in this era, that includes building the community infrastructure that keeps families stable when uncertainty becomes the headline.

We will keep doing our part: strengthening 211, deepening partnerships with public agencies and community organizations, and expanding preparedness education so every family has both a plan and a network.

I hope you’ll do yours: join a United We Prepare kit build, support 211 so it’s strong before the next surge, and be the neighbor who checks the porch light across the street when the power goes out.

When the sky turns orange again—and we know it will—let’s make sure what people feel in that moment is not isolation, but connection. Not panic, but a practiced plan. Not scarcity, but community.

We prepare together so we can recover together.

Keisha Browder
CEO, United Way Bay Area