Community resilience refers to a community’s ability to withstand, recover or respond to an adverse situation using individual and community resources.
There are many resilience frameworks and approaches for building community resilience. There is no one solution that fits every community, situation or context. El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center values working side-by-side with our community, respecting and partnering with the inherent wisdom of each person. Therefore we appreciate Post Carbon Institute’s six foundations to resiliency that align with El Sol’s community organizing fundamentals. These foundations support building community resilience, rather than achieving resilience as a “fixed goal, to emphasize resilience building as an ongoing process.”
The six foundations of resiliency are:
1. People
People. The power to envision the future of the community and build its resilience resides with community members.
2. Systems thinking.
Systems thinking is essential for understanding the complex, interrelated crises now unfolding and what they mean for our similarly complex communities.
3. Adaptability
A community that adapts to change is resilient. But because communities and the challenges we face are dynamic, adaptation is an ongoing process.
4. Transformability
A community that adapts to change is resilient. But because communities and the challenges we face are dynamic, adaptation is an ongoing process.
5. Sustainability
A community that adapts to change is resilient. But because communities and the challenges we face are dynamic, adaptation is an ongoing process.
6. Courage.
A community that adapts to change is resilient. But because communities and the challenges we face are dynamic, adaptation is an ongoing process.
To achieve equitable, positive transformation in the Inland Empire, El Sol integrates each of these resiliency principles into every program, advocacy campaign and policy on which we work. Community Health Workers/promotores are trained to be resilient and teach resiliency skills throughout the Inland Empire. These are skills that are needed now more than ever. To learn more about our resiliency work and and/or CHW trainings, contact [name], [title], at [email address].