Hurricane Recovery: A Sustained View

In a world that prizes instant gratification, a strategic long game can feel a bit out of line with the current reality. In truth, though, strengthening our ability to thoughtfully respond well after a momentous event can wield greater power to adapt to emerging realities.

After the spate of summer and fall storms that has unleashed unprecedented impact on our region, the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund, which focuses on long-term recovery in the months and even years after a disaster strikes, is a prescient example of how that strategic view comes into play long after a crisis has— in theory—abated.

The past two years of recovery from Hurricane Ian, which made landfall on Florida’s gulf coast in September 2022, have offered lessons about disaster recovery that have provided experience and wisdom to draw from now as we embark on recovery from Debby, Helene and Milton. With the proof of concept that recovery from Ian has provided, we have a track record of effective grantmaking and collaboration, along with the assurance experience provides for new recovery efforts that is recognized for its thoughtful planning among the philanthropic field.

Our Community Foundation and partners at The Patterson Foundation activated the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund in 2022. This approach, which was new for us, focused on a strategic rebuilding response after Ian’s catastrophic damage. According to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, recovery considers the complete life cycle of a disaster, anticipating that from a shaky post-storm foundation, rebuilding requires a thoughtful, concerted effort to minimize unequal outcomes that exacerbate existing disparities.

This approach necessarily takes the long view, as much of what is repaired in a long-term recovery effort isn’t even evident for months, or even years, after an event. For the Community Foundation, while guidance was plentiful, a recovery approach required venturing into unfamiliar territory, with many unknowns in front of us.

New life to an important lifeline

According to data from FEMA in 2023, our four-county service area ranks well above the national average in the Environmental Hazard National Risk Index, which considers vulnerability, expected annual loss, and resilience. This made meteorologists’ prediction of a hyperactive hurricane season even more anxiety producing for many living here. After Tropical Storm Debby dumped historic rain that flooded entire neighborhoods, The Patterson Foundation seeded the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund with a $100,000 gift, expanding recovery funding beyond a single hurricane or weather event.

As our region was battered by successive storms, The Patterson Foundation continued to invest more in the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund, gifts that have a combined total of $1.2 million with an additional $1 million available in match funding for gifts up to and including $50,000.

More gifts—a $500,000 matching gift from the Brian and Sheila Jellison Family Foundation and funding from Comcast NBCUniversal—indicate confidence that this approach is necessary to community resilience.

According to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 82 percent of all charitable giving for hurricane response is directed toward immediate relief efforts. Only five percent are currently allocated to recovery and reconstruction. This is concerning, said Kirsten Russell, Vice President of Community Impact at the foundation.

“Hurricane relief is a vital component, of course, but disasters also bring complex and lasting consequences on people’s well-being overall,” Russell said. “What we strive to do with these grants is help make people whole again. We want them to continue to have opportunities for financial, emotional, and social stability, which is vital to an individual, and to our overall community resilience.”

Recovery funding allocations as of October 21, 2024.

Tending to the unseen

Initial disaster relief is important; it’s the work of providing immediate needs like food, water, and shelter to hard-hit areas, restoring power, repairing buildings, and clearing debris. This work is important to get communities up and running after a weather-related event. It is visceral and visual—we all know it because we’ve seen it.

In contrast, long-term recovery begins once the important work of initial relief has concluded, recognizing that vulnerable communities typically lack the resources to bounce back with resilience or at all. For those most in need, the long-term effects of a hurricane can take a toll on their financial, mental, physical, spiritual and social well-being that is never remedied.

While recovery looks different depending on the storm, Ian recovery efforts put processes in place that have already proved paramount in responding to the most recent storms, according to Michelle Croft, Director of Community Impact at the foundation. Key among these is the convening of Long Term Recovery Groups (LTRGs) and Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COADs), comprising nonprofits, county emergency operations personnel, and funders. These groups have been meeting regularly in the 24-plus months since Ian, identifying areas of need and working together to create solutions.

“Communities don’t focus on disaster response in blue skies because of competing priorities,” Croft said. “But we’ve been meeting for two years now because of Ian, and we hit the ground running to come back after Debby, Helene, and Milton. Being good at surviving disasters isn’t at the top of most people’s list of aspirations, but our community is getting better at it.”

While much of the funding has been allocated toward critical home repairs and replacing appliances and furnishings for low-income and underinsured households, Croft notes that some of the most impactful investments were in areas that are often not considered when it comes to disaster response.

Services for youth

Disruptions in youth services create serious ripple effects throughout communities, causing economic distress through parents’ missed work, emotional anguish to parents and children from the stress of financial instability, and inadequate preparedness for children entering kindergarten. Nearly eight percent of Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund investments have been made in this area.

One investment—supporting the Stars Academy in Port Charlotte—addressed the loss of eight childcare centers to Ian, which caused serious economic fallout, as evidenced by an alarming uptick of students qualifying for free- and reduced-price lunch (FRL). In the 2021-2022 school year, 73 percent of students qualified for FRL; two years later, in 2023-2024, this number has risen to 86 percent. More than 90 percent of the children served by the new center will be homeless, in foster care, or living in poverty.

Two years ago, the true costs of addressing childcare in hard-hit Charlotte County were unknown. While the area was pummeled by Ian, it did not qualify for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grant funds—Congressional funding used to help low-income areas recover from disasters and move towards economic revitalization, a revelation that took time.

Legal aid

For many older adults and families trying to navigate insurance and FEMA claims in the aftermath of a disaster, the complexities can feel overwhelming. “It’s not always top of mind, but legal help is such a huge need,” Croft said. “People give up when they don’t know help is available or how to access it. You’ve got families that are still living with a blue tarp in lieu of a roof thinking that’s the best they can do. That’s not okay.”

A man loads his friend's cat into his car the day before Hurricane Milton's landfall as they prepare to evacuate Anna Maria Island.

Legal services have comprised almost 10 percent of overall funding from Hurricane Ian. Through a couple of legal nonprofits, particularly United Policyholders and Florida Rural Legal Services, individuals and families were able to secure funding that makes their homes livable.

Mental health services

The trauma of living through a devastating storm, particularly for those who lose property that can’t be recouped, runs deep. Worse, because hurricane season is an annual event, survivors live in a constant threat of having their lives upended by a new storm.

While both children and adults can be triggered, children lack the ability to distinguish details of meteorological events, so just knowing a new storm is forming can cause symptoms of post-traumatic distress disorder. Aside from existential threat, adults have the emotional toll of financial stress and the exhaustion that trying to rebuild a life can impart.

Mental health services have comprised nearly 10 percent of disaster funding from Ian through grants to organizations specializing in serving unique communities, like Operation Warrior Resolution with a veteran-focused approach, and Child Protection Center, which focuses on mental health wellness for children and families.

The road forward

Lessons from two years of disaster recovery from Ian are still manifesting themselves, but the experience has led to a more agile response now.

When the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund was established, one priority was to help fund capital repairs for human services agencies so they could avert disruptions to the critical work they do with vulnerable populations.

This is a major focus now, with grant applications for capital projects currently under review as of October 2024, just a couple of weeks after Milton, to respond to this need so that these vital services provided by nonprofit partners can continue.

Along with having an effective playbook for recovery as each new weather event makes its distinct mark on our community, another bright spot is having the ability to share what we’ve learned with other regions.

A recent Center for Disaster Philanthropy national webinar on how climate change is altering traditional approaches to recovery because of frequency and severity of storms included President and CEO Roxie Jerde as one of three expert panelists. The webinar comes at a time when increasingly larger swaths of the globe are vulnerable to climate-related devastation, as evidenced by the unprecedented flooding of inland regions of Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina—a result of Helene that was widely unanticipated.

“Just as we learned from other communities’ responses to disaster when we embarked on this journey, we now have the opportunity and responsibility to share our experiences with funders and community foundations across the nation,” Jerde said. “Recovering from disaster will be a challenge most of us will face in some form or another, and I’m hopeful that our journey will provide a playbook for others going through recovery, so that they can achieve resilience.”