Local governments have a tough job trying to predict where and how they spend ratepayers’ money to support their communities as best they can, but even Councils never quite know what is around the corner.
The start of 2022 ushered in a host of challenges for communities everywhere: COVID-19, storms, and floods, to name a few. The strain on local government resources was unparalleled.
But the extent of the struggles faced by local business communities threw up bigger questions about their ongoing operating viability, and the critical role they play in bringing their community together.
The news isn’t all bad though.
Resilient Ready, through our founding company corporate2community, has this year worked with nearly 400 businesses in Northern and Southern NSW, and Queensland through our Business Community Resilience Toolkit pilot program.
Topics we have covered so far include how to plan for a power outage, what to do if you have no internet access or how to get to know your neighbours better to plan and recover together.
And everything we are teaching is proving to be as relevant as ever with similar disruptions facing businesses daily. The toolkits are a positive and accessible solution that can be applied to all businesses, big or small.
This program is easy to engage, takes very little time and will produce real benefits in our community.
Andy Ireland
Livingstone Shire Mayor
Tailored and targeted understanding
We are directly engaging with steering committees across 24 local government areas. We share all the de-identified data with Councils so they can discover what capabilities, gaps and vulnerabilities exist in their local business communities, and guide them in how they can focus on providing the right kind of support local businesses need.
Most recently, we have been working with Livingstone Shire Council in Queensland to roll out a tailored version of our Business Community Resilience Toolkit pilot program.
Mapping local capabilities
Their program helped Queensland businesses in their local government area to learn, prepare, connect, and drive action to ensure they can thrive in the good times and the bad. Councils interested in a similar tailored solution to support their local business communities should get in touch.
By investing in business community resilience, Councils can better understand what is going on in their own business communities, and how they can support business owners, operators, and employees to ensure critical services are not lost to their community.
For Councils that are open to fresh thinking and innovation and are agile enough to adapt, disasters can also create opportunities to do things better and be prepared for future disruptions.
Is the toolkit right for you?
At Resilient Ready, our mission is to build the resilience capability of as many Australian Councils, businesses, and communities as we can. Our solutions include working directly with Council leadership teams to ensure local governments everywhere are as resilient as the communities they are supporting.
Through our unique approach to educating Councils, corporates, and businesses, we can help prepare participants to be ready for 80% of disaster impacts with only 20% of the effort.
It might just make the difference as to how well your community makes it through the next disaster – or not.
Book a conversation
Resilient Ready is a social enterprise delivering innovative solutions to enable every organisation to thrive before, during and after disasters. To keep updated on news and current projects, sign up to our newsletter.
