Climate Disasters Are Here. Resilience Force Is Training The Million-Strong Workforce America Needs To Adapt

Saket founded Resilience Force to give voice to this powerhouse of a community—and to transform the way America responds by training and professionalizing this urgently needed industry. There are not enough workers for the scale of the problem, and under the status quo, Saket realized that communities hit hardest do not have systems to ensure construction companies were doing things “the right way”—providing proper safety training and equipment, heat protection, and paying people fair wages on time.

Once undocumented himself due to a paperwork error, Saket envisions himself as a “bridge between worlds.” He was drawn into the world of low-wage labor after Hurricane Katrina's devastation in 2005, when he helped to uncover one of the largest labor trafficking schemes in modern America, as told in his bestseller The Great Escape. His on-the-ground organizing and his own immigrant experience helped him form connections with workers, following them from storm to storm and reimagining what it would look like if this workforce was protected, supported, and scaled. He has helped to bring these workers' experiences to the halls of power, influencing industry and policymakers at the national level.

The organization offers a pioneering solution for the intersecting challenges around climate, jobs, immigration, and disaster, ultimately seeking to create a new “resilience economy." Their three core areas of focus include building a resilient workforce, bridging the resilience divide, and creating social cohesion across lines of difference. They work alongside those already on the ground rebuilding communities in the wake of disasters and also recruit new workers to be members—a network over 3,000 strong and growing. Through on-the-job training, apprenticeship programs in California, Florida, and Louisiana that serve as models for the nation, and community meetings and advocacy, they are equipping and scaling this workforce and cultivating a sense of community in an often isolating line of work.

In the face of disasters, those with fewer resources are often less likely to be able to rebuild and return to their homes. Moreover, the workers who are there to help rebuild are often exploited—underpaid or not paid at all, and forced to work in unsafe and undignified conditions. This 'resilience divide' widens as disasters become more frequent, without safeguards and equitable investment where communities need it most. Resilience Force is closing this gap by winning major improvements in labor conditions, working standards, certification, and recognition. By engaging with corporations not solely through a moral imperative, but with economic reason, Resilience Force has already won higher labor standards attached to $400 million in contracts and raised minimum wages to $24-34 on average per hour.

The third pillar of the organization focuses on changing the narrative across communities and sectors and bridging connections even across differences and ideologies. By working with workers, but also homeowners, private construction companies, and government agencies and policymakers, Resilience Force is changing perceptions about immigrant workers, and shifting the narrative of how we can better prepare for the future.

Their advocacy efforts have led to significant legislative wins, including a new federal labor category allowing resilience workers to be properly recognized, trained, and scaled: the certified climate resilience technician. Resilience Force also influenced the introduction of the Climate Resilience Workforce Act from US Representative Pramila Jayapal, opening up more resilience jobs and training through federal grants, and removing barriers to employment for immigrants, investing in the frontline communities that often make up these workforces.

As Saket often shares, the United States is a country still being born. Such a young country must be shaped to be ready for the coming impacts of climate change and Resilience Force is laying the groundwork to build a strong, prepared, and equipped national infrastructure. By changing the dominating narrative surrounding these workers, and shining a light on the conditions of these workers, Resilience Force is ensuring a better future for all of us.