ISD is a 501(c)3  "action tank"  (we turn ideas into action) made up of long-term recovery, resilience, and community economic development experts. We were  founded in the North Carolina Research Triangle in 2003 by a unique combination of business leaders and academics in efforts to help our communities become more resilient, sustainable, and successful.

We focus on persistent development issues that are under-addressed. For the past two years, because of the magnitude of recent disasters, the bulk of our work has tended to focus on resilience and long-term disaster recovery.

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Our heroes are positive change agents and members of the "conspiracy for good" - people who aren't afraid to take on existing preconceptions and look for better solutions.

• Small business resilience and entrepreneurship empowerment

• Distributed and sustainable community economic development

• Housing and urban development

• Climate adaptation and critical infrastructure protection

• International development

• Population displacement, refugees, and diasporas

• Inner city chronic stresses

• Rural development

• Education and workforce development

• Community health

• Legacy systems of the past

• The role of technology and innovation in the future of sustainability

• We research and curate existing best practices, research, and useful news and tools

• We develop proprietary research, analysis, and after action reports

• We work with big businesses to empower small businesses.

• We work with federal agencies to help smaller communities.

• We work with subject matter experts to help level the playing field for areas that typically don't get the same access to resources.

• We develop public-private partnerships and identify other ways to build capacity.

• Research into gaps, failures, challenges, and how to make them better

• After Action Report on Hurricane Harvey: Need to Level the Playing Field for Smaller Communities

• After Action Report on the Thomas Fire: Need to Promote Resilience Measures for Small Businesses to Cope with the Recovery Process

• After Action Report on the Woolsey Fire: Need to Develop "Common App" and Other Assistance Measures

• Technical Assistance and Capacity Building

• Supporting the County of Hawai'i Disaster Economic Recovery Framework​

• Community Resilience Improvement

• Supporting Rocky View County READI Resilience

• Business Resilience Network Support

• Community Stakeholder Engagement and Healing

• The ISD Sustainable Community Buyers Guide