Climate Resilience & Disaster Recovery

Vision

Climate change is no longer an abstraction. It manifests in flooded homes, prolonged power outages, toxic air, and families displaced in the aftermath of storms. West/Southwest IAF climate resilience and disaster recovery efforts are grounded in a vision articulated by Pope Francis: that care for the earth and care for people are inseparable, and that economic life must be judged by how well it serves human dignity and the common good.

Laudato Si’ names what many communities already know from experience – environmental damage falls hardest on those with the least power to avoid it. Flooding, pollution, and fragile infrastructure reflect economic systems that concentrate risk in working-class neighborhoods. Climate resilience, then, is not only about emergency response; it is about addressing the conditions that make disasters more destructive and recovery more unequal.

West/Southwest IAF affiliates organize people rooted in congregations, schools, and nonprofits to build the capacity to confront decision-makers, secure public investment, and insist on accountability. This work includes fighting for clean air, stopping public subsidies for destructive energy projects, protecting renters after floods and hurricanes, repairing homes, and building locally controlled energy systems that keep power on during increasingly severe storms.

Taken together, these efforts reflect a shared understanding of human ecology: resilient communities, dignified work, and collective responsibility for our common home. Across the region, West/Southwest IAF affiliates are translating this vision into concrete state and local impact.

Impact

1. Building Solar-Powered Resilience Hubs in Louisiana & Texas

   Together Louisiana’s Community Lighthouses provide commercial-scale solar power and battery backup at churches, health clinics, and other trusted community spaces during extended power outages, comprising the largest network of solar-powered resilience hubs in the world.

   Together New Orleans secured $30 million for solar batteries at 1,600+ homes, businesses, and public facilities in 2025—creating the largest community-based virtual power plant in the Deep South and keeping neighborhoods powered during disasters.

   In 2026, The Metropolitan Organization secured $250,000 to establish the first Community Lighthouse in Houston, Texas. This was in response to repeated outages during extreme weather events that left millions without access to electricity, particularly in neighborhoods already facing longstanding infrastructure challenges.

2. Reducing Tax Breaks for Industrial Polluters in Texas & Louisiana

   Texas IAF leaders closed a major corporate loophole that subsidized industrial polluters by blocking the reauthorization of the state’s Chapter 313 tax abatement program. Before the program expired, leaders with Valley Interfaith and Bastrop Interfaith blocked tax breaks for a proposed natural gas shipping facility and a project that would have clear-cut more than 2,100 acres of trees and endangered a local school and neighborhood—prioritizing Texas schoolchildren over corporate giveaways.

   Together Louisiana reformed one of the largest corporate subsidy programs in the nation, the Industrial Tax Exemption Program. Leaders’ reform work helped return hundreds of millions in annual property tax revenue from major petrochemical, oil and gas, and manufacturing companies to schools, law enforcement, and parish services.

3. Mitigating Air Pollution in Pomona, CA

   Pomona Valley leaders with the Inland Empire Sponsoring Committee (now ICON) won concessions in a waste transfer station agreement to reduce pollution and strengthen clean air compliance.

4. Shutting Down Crusher Plant Operations in Brownsville, TX

   Valley Interfaith led public outcry about serious health impacts tied to clay dust emanating from an industrial plant. After 10 months of organizing, the company agreed to shut down operations at that location.

5. Disaster Recovery in Texas & Louisiana

   The Metropolitan Organization responded to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Harvey, and Beryl by helping thousands of survivors rebuild their homes, leveraging $27 million in food aid, and persuading the city to invest $100 million in funding for home repairs.

   In 2026, when Winter Storm Fern left 85% of East Carroll Parish, Louisiana without power, Delta Interfaith coordinated with allies to deliver food, water, and portable batteries, and open two warming centers where local residents could warm up, enjoy a meal, and charge their phones.