The Power of Community and Resilience

Our editorial team is scattered across the United States, including Western North Carolina and Southwest Florida.As you might imagine, the past few months have proven difficult given the impacts of Hurricanes Debbie, Helene, and Milton.Yet, while the rest of the world saw stories of devastation, loss, and even anger and distrust, we witnessed a different side of our communities in the aftermath of these storms.People came together to help their neighbors by sharing food, repairing homes, and donating resources to help farmers recover their land.From the outside, it is easy to forget about the resilience and bonds that underlie communities-especially in today's polarized political climate.In the midst of tragedy and confusion, these glimpses of resilience and hope hold even more power.One of the core tenets of public interest communications is to create sustainable social change.This means there will be setbacks along the way.It is important, perhaps now more than ever, that our field, our researchers, and our practitioners build our own community in a way that foregrounds the importance of resilience.Social change does not happen in a vacuum or overnight; it takes effort, hope, and individuals supporting one another to build a network that can truly sustain change, no matter how dire the situation might appear.We saw firsthand the devastation created by these hurricanes.Houses in Western North Carolina and along the southwest coast of Florida were washed away; some folks lost everything, including loved ones.Observing hardships like these, it would be easy and understandable to lose hope, but that is never the whole story.Instead, we saw restaurants that reopened quickly to serve free meals to those in need.Universities in hurricane-struck areas in both states opened their doors to those who had been displaced, needed a warm shower, or a place to charge their phones.