Communications Intern
Published
May 14, 2026
On May 5-6, leaders from business, government, and the nonprofit sector gathered at the Building Resilience conference in Washington, D.C. This year's event posed a central question: How do we prepare communities, businesses, and the next generation of leaders for a future shaped by more frequent and severe disasters and disruptions?
Explore key takeaways from the 2026 Building Resilience conference below.
Setting the Frame: Building Resilient Communities
Tom Fanning, chair of the Alliance for Critical Infrastructure, opened the conference with a challenge that set the tone for everything that followed. In an era of polycrisis, the country needs public-private collaboration, not just coordination. Parallel efforts and quarterly check-ins are no longer sufficient. Modern infrastructure, and the communities that depend on it, run on partnership.
The Confidence-Preparedness Gap: Small Business Focus
Timed during National Small Business Week, new research from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Verizon revealed a striking disconnect in how small businesses think about disaster readiness. While 94% of small businesses say they could recover from a disaster, only 31% have a plan in place—and just 34% know what types of disasters are likely in their region.
That gap matters far beyond individual businesses. Small businesses make up 99.9% of all U.S. businesses and employ nearly half of the private-sector workforce, making their preparedness essential to the resilience of local communities and the broader economy.
The data points to what speakers described as a “confidence paradox.” Small business owners are optimistic by nature—it's what drives them to start, to grow, to keep going. But the survey suggests that confidence is often not matched by readiness.
That message came to life through the stories of small business owners Mario Jaramillo and Natasha Broxton. Broxton, founder and CEO of Select Auto Parts & Sales in Milwaukee, shared how her 125,000-square-foot auto recycling facility has weathered floods, snow emergencies, and electrical outages and stayed open through all of them, with every employee paid. Her message to small business owners: get a plan before life teaches you why you need one.
The session also spotlighted key preparedness tools available to small businesses, including the U.S. Chamber Foundation's Readiness for Resiliency (R4R) program. This multi-year initiative—supported by Verizon, the American Red Cross, Fiserv, MetLife, and founding sponsor FedEx—helps small businesses access preparedness tools and, in the event of a disaster, recovery grant funding.
Foundation SVP Marc DeCourcey and Verizon's Donna Epps announced a new strategic partnership, which will help small businesses access tools and resources to better prepare, respond, and recover from natural disasters. The collaboration will also connect small businesses to resources through Verizon's Small Business Digital Ready program.
Securing Tomorrow: Cyber Threats and Critical Infrastructure
The risks facing businesses today aren't just physical. Cyber threats are growing faster than ever. Steve Casapulla, executive assistant director for infrastructure security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the U.S. Chamber's Christopher Roberti discussed how cyber threats cut across industries and sectors, and why preparation, not reaction, is the only viable posture.
Casapulla urged attendees to scrutinize their own networks and business relationships: "Ask them those tough questions: how do they manage their networks, how are they protecting you?" During the panel, CISA also unveiled CI Fortify, a new initiative designed to strengthen the security and resilience of America's critical infrastructure.
AI as the Next American Lifeline
Artificial intelligence (AI) surfaced across multiple sessions as both a tool and a topic. A dedicated session made the case that AI is joining power, water, and communications as an essential foundation for modern society. By bringing together diverse perspectives—ranging from global data forecasting at Google and policy research at Aspen Digital, to physical resource management at Xylem and network protection at Zscaler—the panel examined what it means to manage AI with the same rigor and resilience Americans demand from traditional lifeline systems. One standout example: Google's Flood Hub, which can deploy relief before a flood strikes.
Building Back: Housing, Workforce, and Mitigation
One data point from Esri's mapping stopped the room: after Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, 8,800 homes were destroyed. As of the conference, just 35 had been rebuilt.
Roy Wright of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety and Team Rubicon CEO Jim Brooks addressed the workforce and mitigation challenge head-on. Their message: local capacity will never be sufficient when disaster strikes at scale. The biggest obstacle, Wright argued, is "the failure of imagination" —a truncated view of what partnerships can actually look like.
The U.S. Chamber's Makinizi Hoover also moderated a panel exploring how economic stability and housing resilience are intrinsically linked, featuring leaders from James Hardie, the National Association of Home Builders, and Airbnb.
A Resilient Operating System: Equity, Access, and Community
UnidosUS Vice President Rita Carreón and fellow panelists reinforced that information that people cannot access is the same as not having any information at all. The full discussion called for timely, clear, in-language communication and noted that disasters don't just create inequalities—they reveal them.
United Way’s Marcus Coleman highlighted six levers for building resilience, with two-way communication and cross-sector leadership at the center. "Incoming executives on the nonprofit side need to continue connecting with executives on the private sector side," he said, calling for proactive investment in community engagement.
Evolving Disaster Philanthropy
GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan spoke about the evolving nature of disaster philanthropy, drawing on lessons from leading through the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. His focus: how trust, speed, and coordination between public, private, and nonprofit sectors shape outcomes in the earliest hours of a crisis—and how platforms like GoFundMe complement, rather than replace, the broader ecosystem of government agencies and nonprofits.
360 Resilience: Learning by Doing
Attendees participated in a disaster simulation—led by Asha Varghese of the Caterpillar Foundation, AshBritt CEO Brittany Perkins Castillo, and Brad Kieserman of the American Red Cross—to put principles into practice. Participants navigated a realistic natural disaster scenario in real time, working through preparation, response, and recovery with live polling and audience decision-making built in.
Voices of the Next Generation
The most forward-looking moments belonged to the youngest voices in the room. National Civics Bee state winners Juniper Ward and Cameron Parker spoke about what resilience means for Gen Alpha. For Juniper, it's "kindness and helping to rebuild." For Cameron, it's "community connections," pointing to neighbors filling sandbags during Texas floods as an example of communities showing up for one another.
Both had a direct message for the adults in the room: share your expertise, provide resources, and trust that young people "have ideas, plans, grit, and determination to better their communities."
Beyond the Main Stage
Throughout the conference, attendees had the opportunity to explore a Verizon disaster response connectivity van, an interactive on-site activation showcasing the mobile technology deployed to restore critical communications and keep communities online following emergencies.
On Day 2, attendees walked to the American Institute of Architects Global Campus for a field trip focused on future-proof infrastructure design—a fitting close to a conference about building for the next generation.
The Direction Forward
Across both days, the message from stages, hallways, and social feeds was consistent: resilience is not built alone. The work of strengthening communities—before, during, and after disaster—is urgent, ongoing, and squarely in the business of all of us.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
This conference would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors: Verizon, Walmart, UPS, Amazon, Caterpillar Foundation, Procter & Gamble, FedEx, Esri, EM1, IEM, and Pratus.
Take Action
- Watch the conference replay →
- Read the new small business resilience research →
- Take steps to prepare your business for disasters with our Readiness for Resiliency (R4R) program →
- Explore the Building Resilience event series →
If your organization is driving real impact in disaster preparedness and community resilience, we want to hear from you. Nominate your company—or a business you admire—for a 2026 Citizens Award in Community Resilience and Disaster Response.
Nominations are free and close June 19.
Don't miss the next opportunity to join us.
About the authors
Alicia Sondberg
Alicia Sondberg is the manager of communications and digital marketing at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Olivia Letts
Olivia Letts was an intern on the U.S. Chamber Foundation's communications team during spring 2026.
