About
This toolkit exists because people showed up. When Vermont flooded in 2023 and 2024, neighbors organized supplies, checked on one another, and mapped what their communities needed. Much of this work happened without instruction or official guidance. People figured it out together.
This page is about the people who did that work, how this toolkit grew from what they learned, and how you can take it forward.
Why This Toolkit Exists
After the floods, many communities found themselves coordinating large efforts with no shared framework. Volunteers stepped in as first responders because someone had to. Living rooms became supply centers. Phone trees replaced broken communication channels. People wrote down what worked wherever they could — on clipboards, in text threads, on whiteboards in church basements.
As the waters receded, one question kept surfacing:
What if communities didn’t have to start from nothing next time?
This toolkit is one answer to that question.
How This Toolkit Was Built
The toolkit was created by people who were there. Frontline organizers, mutual aid groups, and community members across Vermont gathered what they had learned and compared notes. They documented what actually helped when crisis hit, not what a handbook said should happen.
The process involved countless conversations, shared spreadsheets, and lessons learned the hard way. Community organizers, mutual aid networks, and grassroots groups across Vermont contributed their experience. The expertise here comes from doing, from showing up day after day, from figuring out how to coordinate hundreds of volunteers with limited resources.
This is a first edition. Like the communities it serves, it will continue to grow and change.
Acknowledgements
This toolkit is the result of countless people caring enough to show up, again and again, for their communities, then writing down what they learned. It is a testament to the expertise that comes from lived experience, and the result of countless minds and hearts collaborating to identify a gap and help fill it.
This toolkit was compiled by frontline, grassroots flood responders across Vermont in the wake of flooding in 2023 and 2024, and we humbly present the first edition of this toolkit in the Fall of 2025. This toolkit will continue to change as communities do.
The people who crafted this tool are community members, organizers, and careworkers; specialists and generalists; writers and builders. So many people and organizations participated in and supported the making of this work, this collection of expertise and vision. Here are some, but not all, of them:
Access Ecologies
Community Resilience Organizations (CROs)
Community Resilience for the Waterbury Area (CReW)
Cooperation Vermont
Lamoille Area Recovery Network (LeARN)
Land Access and Opportunity Board (LAOB)
Kingdom United Resilience and Recovery Effort (KURRVE)
Northeast Kingdom Organizing (NEKO)
Rose Core Collective
Rural Vermont
A Living Toolkit
This toolkit continues to be shaped by the communities using it. CROs stewards the platform, but the content belongs to everyone. It is open source, freely available, and made to be adapted to different communities and evolving needs.
As more people use this toolkit, we learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s missing. Future versions will be shaped by those lessons. This is how mutual aid works — we build together, learn together, and improve what we share.
Join This Work
The toolkit grows through use and feedback. Here’s how you can be part of its evolution:
Share What You Learn
Tell us what worked, what didn’t, and what you discovered along the way.
Suggest Improvements
If you see a gap or something unclear, let us know what would make it more useful.
Request Support
CROs offers free consultations, technical support, training, and fiscal sponsorship for local resilience efforts. Learn more at gocros.org or get in touch below.
Collaborate
If you have relevant experience or want to contribute new material, we welcome collaborators rooted in lived community resilience.
Common Questions
What is a Resilience Hub?
A resilience hub can look many ways, but at its core, it is a centralized source of information, support, and supplies that supports community resilience. Read more about Resilience Hubs on the Introduction page.
Who is this toolkit for?
This toolkit is for community organizers, neighborhood groups, mutual aid networks, faith-based organizations, and anyone working to strengthen community resilience. No special training or technical skills are required.
Is this toolkit free to use?
Yes, this toolkit is completely free and open-source. You can use it, modify it, and share it with others.
Do I need internet to use this toolkit?
Not after your first visit. When you visit this toolkit for the first time with internet, your device automatically saves all the pages (like downloading an app). After that, you can use it anytime—even with WiFi off or in airplane mode.
To test it: turn off your WiFi and visit the site again. If it loads normally, it's working! You'll see a gray banner at the top saying 'You're working offline.'
Your checkmarks and notes save automatically and stay on your device. Learn more on our Downloads page.
Is my information private and secure?
Yes. All information you enter stays on your device in your web browser's storage. Nothing is sent to servers or stored in the cloud. The toolkit works fully offline once loaded, and your data never leaves your device.
Can I use this on my phone or tablet?
Yes. The toolkit is designed to work on any device - phones, tablets, and computers. All features, including filling out forms, printing, and exporting data, work on mobile devices.
How do I save my work and transfer it to another device?
On any module page, click the 'Export local data' button to download your information as a file. You can then email it to yourself, save it to a USB drive, or store it in cloud storage to transfer to another device. On the new device, use the 'Import data' button to load your information (Coming Soon).
Free & Open Source
This toolkit is released under open licenses to ensure it remains freely available to communities everywhere:
- ✓ Code: Licensed under the MIT License
- ✓ Content: Released under Creative Commons licensing
- ✓ Free to use, modify, and share with attribution
Start a Conversation
Prefer to email directly?
resiliencetoolkit@gocros.org