A region where neighbors have each other’s backs.
Picture a place where a need rarely goes unmet — where a tool gets borrowed instead of bought, a meal shows up after a hard week, and when the heat wave or the fire comes, people already know who to call. Not because an agency arranged it, but because the relationships were already there.
We’re starting a pilot to find out what it takes to grow that kind of resilience on purpose — and we’re looking for partners to build it with us.
Can a coordination layer make a region measurably more resilient?
Lots of people and groups are already doing resilience work — mutual aid, food systems, disaster prep, watershed care. They rarely have a good way to find each other, share resources, or move together when it matters. So energy gets lost, and good work stays siloed.
The pilot is a living laboratory: trained, compensated local stewards working alongside trusted anchor organizations, using Hylo as a shared coordination backbone. We connect people and resources, build trust across neighborhoods, and practice mutual aid before a crisis — so the network is already alive when one arrives.
We’re beginning in the East Bay (Oakland), but the real goal is a model others can carry home. If it works here, we want the structure documented clearly enough that any region could adopt it.
More than bouncing back. A region that holds together.
Needs and offers move through the network freely — non-transactionally — so help arrives without a transaction.
Emergency prep and disaster response woven into everyday life, not stood up in a panic.
Free pantries, food forests, crop swaps, and buying clubs that keep people fed close to home.
Riparian restoration, stream clean-ups, and care for the watershed we all depend on.
Trusted relationships and real collaboration between groups that used to work alone.
Members making real decisions together — building the culture for democratic stewardship.
A patient three-year arc.
We move at the speed of trust. The shape will change as we learn — this is a sketch, not a blueprint.
Recruit founding anchors, train and compensate local stewards, and start building community through in-person events and everyday mutual aid on Hylo.
Deepen stewardship through ongoing projects, encourage cross-group collaboration, and document the model so another region could pick it up.
Measure what changed against where we started, share an honest public report, and refine the model for broader adoption.
We’re looking for partners, not just users.
Our primary ask is for anchor organizations — but individual stewards and neighbors are just as welcome. You might be a fit if…
- You’re an established group already doing resilience work in your community, with real trust and relationships.
- You have a community you could invite into a shared experiment — and the willingness to try.
- You can work across tension and difference, and you’re curious about coordinating with groups beyond your own.
- You can nominate someone to steward your space on Hylo and help organize in person.
- You’re an individual who cares about your place and wants to help weave it together — as a steward, a contributor, or a neighbor.
These are the same questions we’d ask in a first conversation. If they spark something, we should talk.
- 1 What does resilience mean to you, in your place?
- 2 When this network is succeeding, what would you see and feel?
- 3 What resilience work are you already doing that this could strengthen?
- 4 Who would you trust to help steward it — maybe even you?
Let’s start a conversation.
The right regions and partners emerge through relationships, not top-down assignment. So the first step is simply to talk.
See what’s taking shape, meet the people involved, and start exchanging offers and requests.
Open the group on Hylo →We read every note personally. Expect a real reply, not an autoresponder.
Resilience isn’t built in a crisis. It’s built beforehand, together.
If any of this resonates with the work you’re already doing — or the place you call home — we’d love to hear from you.