2021 Arctic Blast Report

As the devastating Arctic storms approached Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee in February 2021, The Smile Trust in partnership with the Movement for Black Lives activated the Community Emergency Operations Center (CEOC), a grassroot disaster relief system created in 2017 by The Smile Trust. The CEOC was called to action by a network of 30+ frontline-led organizations and mounted a community-led disaster relief response effort that stretched across five Southern U.S. states. More than 750 volunteers from across the nation performed wellness checks on over 50,000 households to gain an understanding of the specific impacts of the Arctic blast on Black and brown families and communities.