Over five years ago, the nation watched and grieved with the citizens of Joplin MO as one of the deadliest tornadoes in decades ripped through their community. The storm’s damage was tremendous, killing 161 and injuring 1,000 people, destroying 7,500 residences, 500 businesses, and displacing 9,200 people. Jane Cage, a Joplin Missouri community leader, facilitated a community listening effort entitled CHART – The Citizens Advisory Recovery Team that led to the formation of a long-term recovery plan.

Read snippets of how this community leveraged their own known, trusted relationships and expanded their efforts to unite public, private, and many volunteer agencies to support the recovery process. Reflect upon the number of local governmental leaders that retired or left the area in the years after the disaster and how the community continued with new leaders and their established public-private networks to foster community resilience.

View their Facebook site for “Joplin, MO Tornado Recovery” to learn more about this amazing effort.

Leave a Reply