Creating Resilient Communities

Republished with permission from CJSF Guest Blogger Jess Stohlmann

Resilience is the ability to succeed and prosper even after facing challenges, setbacks, and hardships. It is supported by a set of skills that can be developed. In the fields of character education, psychology, etc., we look at individuals’ capacity to be resilient. While the Carson J Spencer Foundation celebrates its core value of resilience this month, I would like to shift the scope to start considering what it means to build resilient communities.

Resilience is contagious and has the power to transform communities, as well as the lived experiences of their members. Community resiliency is deeply rooted in community trust, connectedness, respect and cooperation, which in turn help communities thrive. For a community to be resilient, it needs to do three big things: prepare for crisis, plan for the best, and mobilize social capital.

Preparing for crisis means that a community looks at risk factors and builds the capacity to prevent crises and intervene when they occur. This would include things like having the budget and infrastructure to respond to community needs, and finding highly qualified people to deliver prevention and intervention services. This capacity should be created with the help of all relevant for profit, for impact, and government agencies. Getting everyone involved in prevention and intervention creates a system of checks and balances, and ensures that when hard times come (as we know they will) there is a web of support in place.

Planning for the best is my way of saying, “Be optimistic.” Opportunities are missed every day because communities aren’t looking for them or aren’t prepared for them. Taking an optimistic approach and being open to innovations and opportunities that could have a positive impact on the well-being of a community and its members allows for amazing, unexpected happenings to occur. Planning for the best means taking calculated risks, and trusting that we are prepared to handle the outcomes. Growth and progress are instigated by the process of planning for the best. When we evaluate and take risks, we open the doors to a bigger, brighter future than we could have imagined before. Creating a culture of planning for the best ensures new successes and opportunities for the community.

Mobilizing social capital is the practice of identifying the successful organizations and approaches to work and lifestyle, and finding ways to grow them and replicate their success. Finding ways to expand the positive attributes of our community only builds greater networks of support and opportunities for growth and success.

These three strategies for building resilient communities poise us for success and prosperity even in times of hardship. Creating a connected, synchronized plan to build resilience allows communities to respond to the needs of each individual and group, and to be successful together.