Case Studies / Place-based community resilience
Helping Casey communities lead local resilience
KEY information
Place-based community resilience
completed 2026
stakeholders
City of Casey
Community participants
Helping communities grow local connections through actions
Opportunity
The City of Casey wanted to put its Climate Resilient Casey Plan into action by supporting residents to shape and lead local resilience initiatives.
Council engaged Resilient Ready to work with two community groups: one across the Coastal Villages of Blind Bight, Warneet and Cannons Creek, and another in Hampton Park.
The opportunity was to build the relationships, confidence and local leadership needed for residents to identify shared priorities, develop practical solutions and continue taking action beyond the project.
Our approach
We combined facilitated conversations, collaborative planning and practical implementation support to help each group move from individual ideas to a shared purpose.
Our approach responded to the people involved, their existing knowledge, connections and the time they could realistically contribute. We helped participants understand community resilience, explore local priorities and agree on initiatives they could own and deliver.
Building social capital was central to the process: strengthening connections among residents, across community groups and between participants and Council.
We recommended Council staff participate throughout the project – so long as the community was ok with this. Their consistent involvement created opportunities for residents to build trusted relationships, ask questions and gain confidence seeking support for community ideas.
As the groups progressed, we adapted our facilitation to their needs. In the Coastal Villages, we gradually stepped back from leading meetings so participants could practise making decisions and progressing activities themselves. In Hampton Park, we helped a smaller core group develop an achievable initiative that reflected their volunteer capacity.
What I loved most about this project is watching the local community members grow - in confidence, connections and capabilities to drive local change.
Renae Hanvin
CEO Resilient Ready
Two communities. Two pathways to resilience.
Outcomes
A new community organisation in the Coastal Villages
Participants established Casey Coastal Villages Resilience Support, creating a shared identity and an ongoing structure for local resilience activities.
We supported the group to work through its purpose, governance needs, branding and future activities. Members then brought preparedness into an existing Community Fire Day through a treasure hunt that helped adults and children learn about local disaster readiness.
By project completion, the group was running its own planning meetings, developing future initiatives and progressing formal incorporation.
A practical conversation starter in Hampton Park
The Hampton Park group developed the “Be Ready, Casey Community” sticker initiative to encourage conversations about preparedness and community connection.
A total of 13,000 stickers were produced, with approximately half distributed locally by the July 2026 reporting date.
Although participation was smaller than anticipated, the committed core group developed stronger relationships with Council and a practical starting point for further community engagement.
Growing local confidence to lead
Metrics
Evaluation of the Coastal Villages group recorded increases in average participant ratings:
- Confidence connecting with Council: from 5.4 to 8.8 out of 10.
- Confidence establishing a community-led initiative: from 4.5 to 7.3 out of 10.
- Confidence preparing for extreme weather: from 7.3 to 8.3 out of 10.
At completion, participants rated feeling better prepared to take community action as a result of the project at 8.4 out of 10.
Results reflect self-reported ratings from a small participant group, with different respondent numbers at the first and final sessions.
An approach other councils can apply
The Casey project demonstrates how councils can support community-led resilience through sustained relationships, skilled facilitation and practical help turning ideas into action.
Each community needed a different pathway. Recognising those differences helped participants develop initiatives that suited their priorities and capacity, while strengthening their connections with Council.
Resilient Ready helps councils design and deliver this process—from understanding local priorities and bringing people together to supporting implementation and evaluating progress.
Ready to turn your council’s resilience objectives into community-led action? Talk to us about an approach tailored to your communities.
Community-designed initiatives in two very different communities
New community resilience organisation formally established
Preparedness conversation stickers produced
Community-designed initiatives in two very different communities
New community resilience organisation formally established
Preparedness conversation stickers produced
