My Life. My neighborhood. Our world.

It is no accident that Sohodojo is a sponsor and program administrator for Rebuild And Grow. Sohodojo has a long-standing mission to envision and support innovative networks of microenterprise and small business networks in rural and distressed urban communities. These networks are, by definition and design, decentralized and distributed. So Timlynn and I were excited to see this insight and strong recommendation cited in the Introduction of The Broadmoor Guide to Community-Driven Recovery...

The Bottom-up Neighborhood Approach In post-disaster situations, reconstruction planning, assistance, funding, and responsibility often comes from the top-down, in a centralized approach to recovery and rebuilding. The centralized reconstruction approach is often managed by city, state, or federal government, and/or international agencies (such as the United Nations). The centralized management and support is vital to effective and efficient reconstruction that follows best-practices. Emergency funding can be appropriated and distributed to areas affected by the disaster, and myriad agencies are coordinated to move forward in reconstruction. But rebuilding is really an individual task. Rebuilding is a task undertaken by individual homeowners and business owners: home by home, business by business, and block by block. While centralized authorities can support and stimulate this effort, the actual work of rebuilding (other than public infrastructure) is a bottom-up decentralized approach. The decisions made by tens or hundreds of thousands of individuals determines the outcome. These decisions made by individuals are made in response to the specific context of the situation- they take their cues from their neighbors, from what other individuals are deciding. This decision-making environment is influenced by the media, the local leaders and by what is seen being done in other neighborhoods and elsewhere. A decentralized neighborhood approach to rebuilding starts with the individual and the next largest building block from the bottom-up: the neighborhood or community. The collective power of individuals is harnessed by banding together and organizing in neighborhood groups. These groups address issues close to their home: the school down the street, the park across the road, the community center for their children. These neighborhoods are best suited to planning for their own community. They have the vision, knowledge and motivation. They are also the key drivers to implementation- they are the stakeholders willing to fight to bring their neighborhood back. They know that by taking ownership over their planning and recovery process, they also have to see it through to completion. Those invested and empowered from the early stages will have the motivation to continue their involvement beyond the planning process and into the implementation of the recovery projects.