The Patterson Foundation strengthens the efforts of people, organizations, and communities by focusing on issues that address common aspirations and foster wide participation. From a catastrophic storm to rising waters, people routinely face unforeseen challenges that affect their well-being. Understanding that disaster takes many forms, The Patterson Foundation works to create outcomes that strengthen communities in preparing and recovering from challenging circumstances while developing innovative ways to build resilience.

Our communities have long been vulnerable to natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and, more recently, increasingly higher temperatures and the pandemic. The increased prevalence of natural disasters creates an opportunity for The Patterson Foundation to connect and collaborate with our communities to strengthen three distinct disaster focus areas: Preparedness, Recovery, and Resiliency. These three areas are defined as follows:

• Preparedness: the process of planning, organizing, and equipping people, organizations, and communities to better respond to and cope with the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
  
  
• Recovery: the process of resuming normal operations, which begins with stabilizing the incident and ends when the community has recovered from the disaster’s impacts. Effective recovery includes communication, coordination, collaboration, cooperation, and adaptation.
  
  
• Resiliency: the ability of individuals, organizations, and communities to organize themselves in innovative ways to learn from past disasters and reduce their risks from future ones. It includes the aptness to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from disasters and stressors in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth.

Hurricane Ian’s southwest Florida landfall in September 2022 illustrated the opportunity to strengthen the resources and community structures necessary for preparedness, recovery, and resiliency.

In the discovery phase, The Patterson Foundation will connect with and learn to identify existing community resources related to community engagement in disaster preparedness, recovery, and resiliency. Additionally, TPF will connect beyond the four-county region of Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties to identify programs and efforts that can be replicated locally while creating spaces for others to collaborate.

Within each of The Patterson Foundation’s diverse initiatives, one will find a consistent thread of efforts working toward outcomes that strengthen opportunities for people to thrive.

The Patterson Foundation created its Higher Waters initiative to explore and understand how the rising levels of our gulf, bays, rivers, and inland waters could significantly alter our coastlines and landscapes — and, therefore, our quality of life.

In September 2022, Hurricane Ian landed in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, leaving much destruction and damage behind and impacting millions of people directly and indirectly.

Hurricane Ian’s impact reaffirmed our work in this space but also reminded us of how natural disasters beyond rising water levels affect our Suncoast region. Near Hurricane Ian’s first anniversary, TPF evolved its Higher Waters: Suncoast Quality of Life initiative to Community Preparedness, Recovery, and Resiliency to reflect a transition of focus to exploring how our community navigates disaster preparedness, recovery, and resiliency.

Capitalizing on ongoing efforts and conversations to learn from Hurricane Ian to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from disasters, this initiative will connect and collaborate with our communities to strengthen three distinct disaster focus areas: Preparedness, Recovery, and Resiliency.

From a catastrophic storm to an unpaid bill for a family working to make ends meet, people routinely face unforeseen challenges that affect their well-being. Understanding that disaster takes many forms, The Patterson Foundation works to create outcomes that strengthen communities recovering from challenging circumstances.

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County’s Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund gives generous donors the opportunity to support long-term, long-range programs to sustain human service agencies serving people in Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. To help our region recover with resilience, The Patterson Foundation strengthened the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund through catalytic funding and matching donations.

The Patterson Foundation’s Aspirations to Actions initiative works with people, businesses, nonprofits, government, and the media to create opportunities for purposeful engagement. Through various community conversations focused on disasters, this initiative will help our community turn its aspirations into actions that positively change how it approaches issues and develops innovative, collaborative partnerships that may not have otherwise been formed.

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) prioritizes its work on the medium- and long-term recovery phases of disasters. The Patterson Foundation strengthens CDP’s efforts to be a resource to the philanthropic community by connecting the organization with others and providing capacity-building support that enhances the organization’s ability to provide timely and relevant advice from experts with in-depth knowledge of disaster philanthropy.

Partnering with the world’s largest nonprofits and with technology innovators across the globe, NetHope is a catalyst for productive collaboration, innovation, and problem-solving to reimagine how technology can improve our world. The Patterson Foundation supports NetHope’s information communications technology responses to disasters worldwide through catalytic funding.

Season of Sharing is a time-tested and trusted resource that inspires our caring community to donate to help families in Florida’s Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, and DeSoto counties regain stability following a crisis. Powered by a partnership between the Herald-Tribune Media Group and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, Season of Sharing provides individuals and families with the critical assistance they need to get back on their feet, covering emergency expenses like medical bills, rent, child care, and transportation. Each year, The Patterson Foundation provides unique matching opportunities to spark further displays of generosity from community donors throughout Season of Sharing by strengthening the impact of their gifts.

Rather than making grants to individual organizations or programs, The Patterson Foundation invests in identified collaborative efforts that incorporate proven practices, data, and wide participation. While The Patterson Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding, it values the dedicated efforts underway to strengthen community preparedness, recovery, and resiliency.

For more information, contact Community Preparedness, Recovery, and Resiliency initiative lead Karen Windon: kwindontpf@gmail.com.