FROM MARK CONSTANTINE, DOGWOOD HEALTH TRUST, VANNHI NGUYEN, JPMORGANCHASE, AND JAMIE SCHMILL, FOUNDATION FOR LOUISIANA
NOVEMBER 2025
AFN Short Take is a blog series highlighting insights and perspectives from recent AFN programming events.
Natural disasters do more than destroy property. They strip away the foundations of family and community wealth, often erasing what took generations to build. For low- and middle-income households, these events magnify existing vulnerabilities and disrupt the fragile systems—education, employment, housing, and small business—that hold wealth in place.
For philanthropy, the implications reach far beyond emergency response. No matter our foundation’s size or focus area, these events have lasting impacts across every portfolio and every place we care about and invest in.
“Hurricane Harvey tested our communities before and after the storm. Disaster resilience is about ensuring families have the systematic foundation to recover and thrive. VanNhi Nguyen, JPMorganChase
That understanding grounded the first session in AFN’s Beyond the Floodlines webinar series, which drew lessons from Western North Carolina, post-Katrina Louisiana, and Houston’s recurring flood cycles. The discussion explored philanthropy’s role before, during, and after disaster, examining what it takes to prepare communities, sustain recovery, and strengthen long-term resilience.
Lesson 1: Stay for the Long Arc of Recovery
For families still patching roofs, finding childcare, or waiting on insurance payments, urgent needs persist long after the news cameras leave. Flexible, general operating support during this period can mean the difference between stability and displacement. In practice, that looks like sustained investment in local infrastructure and leadership.
At Dogwood Health Trust, that understanding led to more than $70 million in immediate relief after Hurricane Helene, focused on stabilizing housing, maintaining critical health services, and strengthening the local food system and early childhood supports. The foundation also invested $30 million to help small businesses recover and reopen, recognizing that jobs and local enterprises are central to community stability.
As recovery efforts evolved, Dogwood expanded its work to include policy advocacy, coordination, and legal navigation to ensure that resources reached those most at risk of being left behind.
“There’s no fine line—no day when a light switch flips from relief to recovery. Recovery is protracted, and people need navigation and legal services throughout.Mark Constantine, Dogwood Health Trust
Foundation for Louisiana’s two decades of post-Hurricane Katrina work underscore that recovery is generational because the disparities that shaped the storm’s impact are generational, too. Established from the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, the organization continues to work in deep partnership with nonprofits and community-based organizations across the full spectrum of recovery: preparation, adaptation, mitigation, and response.
Today, the work of Foundation for Louisiana extends beyond disaster recovery to include climate and environmental justice, criminal legal reform, and racial equity, recognizing the through line that connects each to community resilience.
For funders, the lesson is clear: recovery unfolds over years, not months. Staying engaged for the long arc and adapting to locally defined priorities is how philanthropy helps communities rebuild and hold onto what they’ve already achieved.
Lesson 2: Invest to Preserve Assets and Sustain the People Behind Recovery
When philanthropy invests through partners with deep community trust and infrastructure, short-term relief can become the foundation for lasting stability.
After Hurricane Katrina, Foundation for Louisiana demonstrated how recovery investments can also repair inequities. One of its earliest catalytic moves was funding policy advocacy infrastructure to strengthen the state’s recovery systems. That work led to one of the most important early wins: establishing legal protections against contractor fraud, making it a felony offense and helping accelerate the safe rebuilding of affordable housing.
In the years since, the foundation has continued to lead with equity—most recently through the Black Business Works Fund, a partnership with the Urban League of Louisiana that provides non-loan capital to help Black-owned businesses recover after hurricanes and stay rooted in their communities.
“Making sure that small businesses are included in strategy work—not just as partners, but as direct recipients of cash support—is incredibly important.Jamie Schmill, Foundation for Louisiana
Whether in the Gulf South or the Appalachian Mountains, the strongest recoveries begin with trusted local institutions that can channel resources quickly and equitably. In Western North Carolina, Dogwood Health Trust partnered with CDFIs—including Self-Help, Appalachian Community Capital, and the Community Reinvestment Fund—to rebuild damaged homes and preserve affordability and help enterprises reopen and retain jobs.
In Houston, JPMorganChase’s investment in the Resiliency Workforce Collaborative is expanding the pipeline of local workers trained for rebuilding and infrastructure jobs, ensuring that communities can meet post-disaster needs with local talent.
In addition, the firm is committed to supporting Heirs Property initiatives, in Texas, Louisiana, and across the country, that help families secure clear ownership of their homes, ensuring long-term home preservation and stability. By addressing these challenges, JPMorganChase is helping to strengthen disaster resiliency efforts and empower communities to rebuild and thrive after adversity.
Just as critical is caring for the people who sustain recovery.
In Louisiana, Foundation for Louisiana’s Communities of Care program takes a similar approach to sustaining the people behind recovery. About a year after each disaster, the foundation provides grants so organizations can care for their own staff—covering needs such as time for rest, housing repairs, new workplace policies or benefits, and access to therapeutic supports for long-term healing.
Lesson 3: Center Residents and Fund Them to Lead
Durable recovery depends on centering the people most affected, ensuring residents and community organizations lead decisions about what rebuilding looks like, and who benefits from it.
In Louisiana, the Foundation for Louisiana’s TOGETHER initiative offers one example. The program equips residents to lead on policy and investment priorities, resulting in coalitions such as the #PutHousingFirst Triad—HousingNOLA, HousingLOUISIANA, and the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance. This alliance, led by residents, advances a housing-first agenda integrating weatherization, heirs’ property, and insurance reform.
“Funders don’t need to tell communities their solutions. They already have them. Our job is to resource and protect so those solutions can take root.Jamie Schmill, Foundation for Louisiana
In Western North Carolina, Dogwood Health Trust is applying the same principle through its collaboration with local and state partners to strengthen regional response systems. The foundation was able to contribute to an existing Emergency and Disaster Response Fund at The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, designed for speed and simplicity—allowing smaller $25-50K grants to reach communities within days instead of weeks.
“Before a disaster, know your partners. Build those relationships. And when crisis hits, keep things simple—let go of the hoops and get money out the door.Mark Constantine, Dogwood Health Trust
Looking Ahead
Preparing for the next disaster starts long before the storm. Effective recovery depends on coordination—among funders, local governments, and community foundations—to clarify who moves which resources, when. That groundwork enables faster responses, less duplication, and stronger recovery infrastructure when crises hit.
True resilience also requires more than empathy; it takes logistics and clarity of purpose. Funders strengthen recovery when they move beyond solidarity to tactical coordination, such as sharing back-office capacity, co-locating staff, and identifying their specific lane of action. Knowing what you can do well, and where to rely on others, is essential for a systemwide response.
Recovery is never a single act of generosity. It’s an ongoing practice of partnership, patience, and learning. As disasters grow more frequent and more costly, every funder—no matter their focus—has a role to play in strengthening the systems that help communities withstand, rebuild, and thrive.
———————
Join us for the remaining sessions in AFN’s Beyond the Floodlines webinar series by registering here. For additional insights on how philanthropy can advance climate and economic resilience, explore AFN’s brief, Climate Resilience and Economic Security: How Philanthropy Can Drive Inclusive Solutions.
