Businesses are at the heart of communities, and without them a community would not be able to survive.
That’s why I’m passionate in advocating for businesses to also be at the heart of any community resilience planning and the activating of local solutions in an emergency.
Through my experience at corporate2community and as a Red Cross volunteer, I’ve come to notice a gap in the emergency management space – we do not always integrate local businesses into preparedness conversations.
I believe that’s a big loss of opportunity.
We should always include business owners and operators in any plans to support disaster-affected communities to get the help they need before, during and after disasters. A business owner is also a member of the local community, and they have daily interactions with their families, friends, employees, customers and suppliers. They are also often the first responders when the community is in crisis, and the first place tourists go to get information. What better way to drive resilience conversations within a community!
We’re putting Southern NSW Businesses at the heart of resilience
The 2019-2020 bushfires in Southern NSW have greatly affected local businesses and the experiences of these business owners has highlighted the need to build a culture of disaster risk reduction, preparedness, recovery and resilience in their everyday conversations and interactions.
Since June 2021, I’ve been lucky to spend time on the road visiting communities in Southern New South Wales as part of our NSW Bushfire Community Recovery and Resilience Fund (BCRRF) grant program.
I’ve heard first-hand experiences of how business communities are building their collective resilience to possible future impacts. Time and time again I’ve heard how knowing your neighbours can make such a difference to how you bounce back after a disruption or disaster.
It comes down to this – connected people help each other out, in the good times and in the bad.
Strengthening local connections and resilience capability
I’m very excited and passionate about the BCRRF grant-funded program I’m leading in Southern NSW to build a Business Community Resilience Toolkit. This free online program will be available to over 40,000 local businesses from bushfire-affected areas in the Southern NSW region to better prepare, connect and build resilience over the course of 26 fortnightly modules.
If you are a business or business chamber located in the Local Government Areas of Bega Valley, Cootamundra-Gundagai, Eurobodalla, Goulburn Mulwaree, Greater Hume, Queanbeyan-Palerang, Shoalhaven, Snowy Monaro, Snowy Valleys, Upper Lachlan, Wagga Wagga or Wingecarribee please register to be part of the free program.
We do disasters differently
We know that people are the foundation of resilience. The more we build capabilities in people, the more resilient our communities will become.
Our expertise means that we can help communities, businesses and governments to think and do disasters differently.
To find out more about how we can help your community, contact us at [email protected]
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