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I grew up in Franklin, WI but the community I identified with was actually Greendale, WI. Greendale is a small, close-knit community and although not everyone belongs to the St. Alphonsus Parish or went to school there, St. Al's is a fundamental part of the Greendale community. This is still my home parish and where my parents still belong as parishioners. A few years back the church caught fire. It was around midnight on Christmas eve and the neighbors dog was actually the first to notice. Immediately the neighbors, some of whom were parish members and some who were not, sprung into action. In addition to calling the fire department, they started a phone tree until they were able to get a hold of the parish priest who was asleep in the rectory attached. He was able to escape unharmed and actually ran into the fire to save the tabernacle. There was a significant amount of  damage that  affected not only the church but also the attached grade school. I was just so impressed by the way the community came together. Like I said, not everyone in the community is Catholic, but regardless of the faith tradition, Greendale came together to rebuild the church. Some community members owned small businesses that donated supplies to rebuilding the church, others donated their manual labor. And many donated money. Basically everyone looked at the need and thought to themselves, "how can I do something?" And I think that was an important lesson for me when it comes to resilience. When communities are suffering, those that look inside themselves and "ask how can I specifically help others" are the ones that are most resilient. Instead of focusing on their needs, they focus on how they can contribute to the greater need of the community. Our parish always focused on serving the community in any way it could and this was returned 10-fold to us in our time of need. So I guess what makes my community resilient is service.

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I grew up in Saint Louis, Missouri. I think one particular characteristic about St. Louis that makes the community resilient is that the locals feel a deep pride for their city and the rich history it holds. Neighbors are quick to help those around them. People are eager to give back to their community because of all of the wonderful things the city has to offer. There is a shared desire to maintain the things that give St. Louis culture and character. When disaster strikes, such as the great floods of 1993, the community joins forces to recover. Having pride for the city you live in is something that gives two strangers an instant commonality and makes people more likely to go out of their way to help out when needed.

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I was born and raised on the southside of Madison Wisconsin. And when I reflect on what makes my community resilient there is one thing that comes to mind right away. My community does a great job of rallying together and supporting each other. I admire this because there are events that happen that are not always within our control. However no matter the emergency or tragedy, we always make it through based on our ability to support one another. My first padlet about a disaster we personally experienced discussed the tornado that struck my childhood home and displaced my family for a month. What I did not mention with that reflection was how our community made differ for us every night and raised money for my mom to replenish all the food we lost in our freezers from loss of power. I really admire this quality because it not only speaks towards my communities resilience, but our ability to always bounce back!

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I grew up in Rowland Heights, CA and I would say that it is a resilient community. While I was growing up, it was a working class town of immigrants. Because of this, everyone seemed to have a stronger sense of community and belonging as they all understood the struggles of starting over in a country they were not from and where they did not speak the language. In addition, because it was a small community, everyone's kids went to the same high school. The high school almost served as a central meeting place for everyone and a place for connection. Everyone was aware of what was going on and connected through the high school. Also, when anything tragic happened, people always came together to grieve and offer help or support, even if it wasn't necessarily their own family that was affected.

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I grew up in Hales Corners WI, a small suburb of Milwaukee. Our community had multiple qualities that would make it resilient in a time of crisis. The first of which was the strong true sense of "community". There were few people who lived in Hales Corners that I did not recognize or at minimum know second-hand through another friend or family member. This close-knit structure fostered a level of group identity that would provide a real strength in time of crisis. I know how well our community functioned and came together to support individuals going through crises, whether that be loss of a loved one or a house fire - there were always people ready and willing to step up and provide support in all facets (emotionally, financially, etc). We also had dedicated community events to prepare for such disasters such as tornadoes, floods, etc that may be common in the midwest. Finally, we had strong relationships with the surrounding communities (more than 1/3 of our high school was comprised of students and families from the surrounding areas), so those would be additional resources in times of crisis.

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I was originally born in Cameroon, but immigrated to the United States at a young age. I grew up in the Maryland/DC area, as part of a robust immigrant community. Among them were people who were fleeing political and religious persecution, people who grew up in poverty-stricken areas, and people who were well off in their communities but decided to uproot their lives in hopes their children would have even better opportunities. Many people in the community faced financial hardships and disparities associated with starting over in an unknown land. Despite this, they remained determined to attain the dream they knew was possible here.
I consider the immigrant community I grew up in to be resilient because of their perseverance in times of hardship, determination to succeed, and support for one another.

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I grew up in Vietnam when I was young and I said there was a lot of resilience in the community I knew there. People were very connected with one another; neighbors knew each other well so there was a strong social cohesion. Neighbors helped out one another all the time for small favors. There were also lots of rain in Vietnam and the occasional rare flood, so people were used to the harsh weather and were prepared for the situation. Although resources were limited in a developing countries, I would say that social cohesion held the community together and build the necessary resilience to weather through disaster.

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I grew up in Muskego, WI a town of about 30,000 residents and there are a couple of examples of why I think it would be a resilient community in the face of disaster. First of all, the main streets are filled with numerous small businesses and the city hosts frequent community-focused events. For example, there were a number of summers during which the main street was under construction, and therefore there was the risk of many small businesses to suffer financial consequences. The city mitigated these effects by planning a monthly event called "Jammin' on Janesville" which was full of music and local vendors promoting local businesses. It was a great way to promote the city economy, but also a ton of fun and great way to meet other members of the community. Fortunately, Muskego has not faced any large public health crisis while I have lived there, but if they did I believe the strong sense of community and support would serve them well and help create a resilient atmosphere.

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I'm originally from Eau Claire, a town of about 70,000 people and I feel that there are a number of reasons why it is a very resilient community. To start, there is a very strong educational presence. We have 6 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, 3 high schools (2 public and 1 private) and then a public university. My dad worked in the school system and so I was able to see firsthand, the types of programs they have in place to support students of low socioeconomic status. In addition to education, there is also a strong workforce that ranges from factory jobs to healthcare. Eau Claire has a Nestle plant and serves as the headquarters for Menard's which employs a significant percentage of the city. We also have numerous healthcare systems including Marshfield, Mayo, and multiple private hospitals. Lastly, there is a unique culture that really unites people of the community. Locals take pride in their hometown and accomplished alumni such as John Menard and Justin Vernon have offered significant financial support to ensure that the city continues to thrive in the future.

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One of the characteristic that makes the community of Madison and Dane county resilient the vast amount of resources available to the public. Throughout medical school I've seen the many different services available to various community members. There are food banks that don't restrict the amount of times or amount of food taken from them. There are homes that provide women with living arrangements and social groups when they have recently left prison and are trying to rebuild their lives. There are a variety of free clinics not only with MEDIC but also free specialty clinics that physicians and other health care workers help run. There are many other resources besides these ones listed but we are fortunate to have so many in our community to help create a resilient community.

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I constantly joke with people that Madison is the second greatest city on earth after La Crosse (except its not a joke). I think La Crosse is a remarkably resilient town and I am frankly not exactly sure why that it is. I think in the past having Gundersen Health System, Mayo Franciscan Health, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and Trane Company made it a relatively affluent city for its size and also having a few large employers probably served to unite people over their common line of work. I think La Crosse today is less dominated by those employers, but a culture of open-mindedness and standing up for each other remains. Using politics as a poor proxy for social understanding, La Crosse is one of the few odd purple areas in Wisconsin. Overall though I think people from La Crosse have a lot of pride of the community and they're willing to stand up to protect it.

I think of just last year when someone spray painted a racial slur on a Muslim business in town. The major, police chief, and citizens from all over came to show their support at an anti-hate demonstration. A local artist from UW-L painted a mural over the racial slur. It just goes to show one of the many reasons La Crosse is second to none!

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I think that a characteristic that makes Madison resilient is the overall amount of resources and services available to residents in the community at baseline. As discussed in previous modules, one of the major predictors of how a community will respond to a disaster is how healthy the community is prior to the event. Overall, I think that part of this resilience is built in due to the high concentration of academics, research, healthcare, and strong presence of public health efforts within this community. Also, being in the Midwest, I think that there is also always the sense of people being genuinely nice and always willing to help one another out, which can go a long way especially when a community is tested in the time of a crisis.

Brenna-I think you made a great point about how mindset and positive thinking can go a long way and how important this is when a community is going through a rough time.

Mel-Also being from the Green Bay area, I definitely agree that the Packers contribute to a strong sense of community and how important this is in predicting the resilience of a community.

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It was my first season ever competing in track and field, and I was looking forward to the approaching conference track meet. At the same time, the H1N1 virus outbreak was relentless, causing schools to close and fear to run rampant throughout the community. Lodi, my hometown, closed it's schools as a consequence of a number of students falling ill due to infection by the virus. Our conference meet was cancelled secondary to school closures, but our schools were closed yet again on the rescheduled date, and we were prevented from competing with the other schools in our conference. Instead of succumbing to the disappointment of being deprived of a conference title, our team made shirts poking fun at our misfortune. We attended optional practices and many of our team members advanced to sectionals when we finally competed at regionals. This example is a testament to how a community's frame of mind in the setting of adversity truly impacts how a community moves forward. Generally speaking, the strong sense of community among Lodi residents made us more flexible in the setting of a public health emergency.

Mel - I love your post! I couldn't help but smile while reading it. I think that having a common passion among community members can be such an effective way of strengthening a community and promoting resilience among its members.

Amelia - I completely agree! I think that Madison is such a strong community and filled with such incredible people. I think that the culture of giving and selflessness is ubiquitous and translates to mutual support when faced with adversity.

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It might sound cheesy, but the Packers are a big factor in resiliency in Green Bay because they definitely promote a sense of community. Our city may be relatively small and quiet, but the Packers give the entire city something to be proud of and rally together for (hence why we're all fanatics). It doesn't matter what your political view, religion, social status, etc, is- everyone knows they can strike up a conversation with anyone about Sunday's game. And the Packers play a prominent role in promoting/addressing needs in our community- they are commonly the spokespeople for local drives and host charity events (such as an annual charity baseball game). In addition, the size of our city helps with its resiliency- it's small enough that people know their neighbors and (hopefully) fewer people fall through the cracks, but the city is still large enough that it can provide many social services to those in need. I'm thankful to have grown up there!

Vince- I appreciate your comment on how the sense of "home" is important, and how long winters are another bonding experience! :)

Amelia- I agree that I have been impressed by how much Madison rallies together. Despite all the negative things we see on TV that are going on in the world, time and time again I've been heartened by how wonderful people truly can be.

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Amelia Baltes
Living in Madison for the past two years has shown me how this community can truly come together to support one another during times of need. When I think about resilience in the setting of emergency situations in Madison, the first thing that comes to mind is how the community rallied together after the large floods in 2018. Following the massive floods that damaged houses and cars, temporarily closed businesses, and even resulted in individuals dying, the community came together to help one another rebuild their lives. I remember hearing about people who would go down to the beaches and help others bag and transport sandbags back to their homes in anticipation for the next rain. Furthermore, even though city officials did their best to clean up damaged areas, volunteers also helped with clean up efforts and made a huge difference. I think that Madison - despite being a large city in Wisconsin - is a close knit community that comes together in times of need. Citizens are always willing to help one another in this town.

Vince - Having been to Milwaukee many times, you can definitely tell that the citizens there have a sense of pride in their town. They definitely rally together, similar to how Madison does.

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Growing up in the city of Milwaukee, a characteristic of resilience is the sense of pride the city has. The city has seen several disasters and hardships, from a cryptosporidium outbreak to the killings by Jefferey Dahmer. What remains is always a sense of pride in the city, and an ability to heal. The sense of "home" is important there and many citizens point to their hardships (taxes, long winters) as a reminder of what they can overcome. -Vince Borkowski