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Creating Humanitarian Opportunities for Professionals and Educators

Creating HOPE is a conference and information-sharing event produced by CHSE. It brings together practitioners, academic experts, students, and community members for discussion, research, and information sharing across a variety of topics related to domestic and international disaster resilience and humanitarian operations, simulation-based training design and implementation, and emerging issues in those fields. CreatingHOPE also serve as a planning session for various Hope Exercises, and a venue for in-person meetings of the Board of Directors.

Creating HOPE 2025: “HELENE +1”

A Post-Crisis Learning Exercise for Disaster Preparedness & Resilience

One year after Hurricane Helene devastated Upstate and Western North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, and Southern and Western Georgia, Creating Hope 2025 – “Helene +1” serves as a critical convening of emergency professionals, academics, and student practitioners. This two-day event will examine the cascading effects of the storm, illuminate post-crisis recovery efforts, and prepare attendees to lead in future disasters through actionable learning and cross-sector collaboration.

Event Details

📅 Dates: Friday–Saturday, November 7–8, 2025


📍 Locations:

Why This Matters

On September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene tore through the Carolinas, leaving behind:

  • $370M in emergency and infrastructure damage across South Carolina

  • 49 lives lost in SC, 107 in NC

  • 27+ tornadoes and over 30 inches of rain in NC alone, causing $59.6B in damage

Helene exposed critical gaps in regional preparedness. Creating Hope 2025 asks:

  • What have we learned after a year of response, recovery, and analysis?

  • What preparedness and response gaps did Helene and the July 2025 Guadalupe River disaster in Texas highlight?  

  • What must change in local, state, federal, and community preparedness and response before the next storm hits? 

Agenda

Day 1 – Friday

  • Café Helene: A participatory storytelling and lessons-learned session

  • Lunch:  Food truck rodeo (planned) 

  • Breakouts:

    • SC National Guard - Exploring statewide disaster simulation readiness

    • Academic Panels - Abstracts and research on disaster preparedness and response

    • Additional breakouts to be scheduled following collection of abstracts

  • Networking Social: Closing the day with informal collaboration

Day 2 – Saturday

  • Virtual EOC Simulation: Interactive emergency operations exercise using real-world scenarios

  • Facilitated Discussion: Reflection and strategic insight exchange

Logistics

💵 Planning Fee: $50 per participant (covers snacks, breaks, materials)
🚗 Travel & Lodging: Participants are responsible for transportation and housing. Off-site housing will be arranged for staff and faculty as needed.

This isn’t just a conference. It is a call to action—to build smarter systems, tighter networks, and stronger communities before the next disaster strikes.

This event is hosted by the Consortium for Humanitarian Service and Education (CHSE), known for its immersive, hands-on training that blends academic insight with operational realism.