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As communities across the South—from Texas and Oklahoma through the East Coast—dig out from Winter Storm Fern's historic damage, a familiar pattern is emerging: time is the most expensive commodity . Businesses need to reopen, infrastructure must be restored, and communities expect visible progress—often long before federal reimbursements arrive. Winter Storm Fern has exposed what disaster finance professionals already know: most state and local governments are not structure

Preparing Communities for Severe Winter Weather: A Leadership Playbook for the Days Ahead If you don't have time to read the blog, here's a quick checklist to review. Winter Storm Fern (always a bad sign when they name a storm), is forecast to bring snow, ice, freezing rain, and prolonged power and transportation disruptions to large portions of the South, Southeast, and East Coast. For community leaders, this is not just a weather event. It is a continuity test for local go

A powerful winter storm—now forecast to impact millions across the South, Southeast, and East Coast —is bearing down on states from Texas and the Plains through Tennessee, the Carolinas, Virginia, and into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Snow, sleet, freezing rain, dangerously cold temperatures, and widespread ice accumulation are expected from this weekend into early next week. Officials warn that tree limbs and power lines could come down under the weight of ice, leading t

By Stephen Jordan Communities today face disruptions that never trigger a federal disaster declaration — cyber incidents, heat waves, housing shocks, supply-chain interruptions, failing infrastructure, and more. Traditional disaster response frameworks were not built for this reality. They activate after something breaks. But what communities increasingly need is an approach that protects lives, livelihoods, and living environments every day , not only in crisis. This broader

By Stephen Jordan, CEO, Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD), and David Dodd, CEO, International Sustainable Resilience Center (ISRC) We have stared down America's breaking points—not from textbooks, but from the rubble. For Stephen, it was Superstorm Sandy causing trees to crash in the backyard leaving the family huddled with neighbors during a week-long blackout. Housing repairs took months. David is so committed he lost a leg working on the economic recovery of Puer