Recover Delaware Roundtable #4: Networks for Resilience and Recovery

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic tested local resilience in many ways—including straining social infrastructure such as schools and healthcare systems, exposing gaps in broadband internet access, and altering supply chains and how households and individuals access essential commercial and government services. Delaware’s recovery from the pandemic presents many opportunities for our communities to take stock of lessons learned and apply this knowledge to future planning that builds resilience to the next event.

Networks bring a variety of individuals, groups, and organizations together around overlapping and shared interests. They contribute to the creation of social capital that can support disaster response and recovery. Social capital refers to the extent to which an individual involves themselves in different informal networks, as well as formal civic organizations. This social capital adds capacity and extends the reach of governmental response and recovery efforts.