Building resilience in Anchorage

Anchorage, Alaska, resident Kathy Goins knows firsthand what it means to be a part of a resilient community. She’s known since 1964, when a catastrophic earthquake struck her home state. “We weren’t as prepared as maybe we should have been,” she remembered. “We were without heat, without electricity, and we depended on the food that was already in the cupboards. So we all had to work together.” Today, Goins has joined other members of her community to ensure Anchorage is better prepared for the next emergency, earth-shaking or not. Cities of Service (in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the AmeriCorps VISTA program) is supporting their work and helping everyone in the community — from children to seniors — invest in community issues.