CCR community project suitability guidelines

To be considered a CCR community project, it should:

• Be initiated or inspired by the CCR training

• something that is a new action/activity for the CCR, something emerging from the training.  

• Be community-focused and resilience-building

• support disaster preparedness, response, recovery, or social cohesion.

• Be practical and grounded

• contribute meaningfully to community resilience - even a small idea/action is valuable 

• Be locally relevant

• ideally connected to the needs, issues, or strengths of the participant’s neighbourhood or community.

• Be inclusive and accessible

• projects that engage diverse community members and support vulnerable populations are encouraged.

Projects would likely be deemed unsuitable if they:

• Were already completed before the participant began the CCR training.

• Are purely for personal or family benefit, with no link to community resilience (e.g., installing a private solar system with no shared learnings)

• Focus solely on business or commercial activity (e.g., promoting a personal enterprise) unless clearly embedded in community benefit (like offering free workshops or tools).

• Are not aligned with resilience-building or disaster preparedness (e.g., painting a mural unrelated to community cohesion or disaster resilience).

• Involve high-risk activities without necessary safeguards or training (e.g., trying to run trauma healing sessions without facilitation experience or co-support).

• Are very general ideas without a clear action plan (e.g., “do something about climate change” with no follow-up).

Note on individual vs community actions:
Individual household actions and plans are already supported within the CCR training through the daily workbook exercises. These include things like creating a family disaster plan or preparing an emergency kit.

However, for participants who are time-poor or have limited capacity, a small individual action can sometimes be extended into a meaningful community project. Volunteers can use the mentoring phone call to explore this possibility by identifying simple steps that build a community connection from a personal action. For example:

• A backyard veggie garden could become a community project by inviting people to help set it up, sharing excess produce with neighbours, setting up a small produce swap, or starting a shared garden bed at a local school or park.

• Creating a family disaster plan could evolve into a project by sharing the plan template with other families (e.g. at school, sport, or playgroup) and encouraging them to do the same.

• Even small acts of connection can strengthen community resilience.

Project examples

Here are some project ideas to inspire CCRs:

• Starting a Community Resilience Team in their street, neighbourhood, or town. You can find some resources on our website: https://www.planc.org.au/neighbourhood

• Creating a local emergency plan.

• Hosting community workshops (e.g., first aid, CPR, food preservation, disaster kits, using emergency radios, etc).

• Coordinating a community pantry, clothes swap, community composting hub or buyers’ group initiative.

• Installing emergency radios or setting up WhatsApp alert groups.

• Organising games or sports afternoons, walking groups, or heat refuges.

• Sharing resources through a street library, tool share, or shared water tank system.

• Collaborating on a neighbourhood garage sale, skills share, or community celebration.

• Creating a disaster plan for family, friends and/or neighbours

Here are some examples of projects previous CCRs have implemented:

• Setting up neighbourhood Community Resilience Teams (CRTs)

• Mapping local AED (defibrillator) locations and creating emergency response maps

• Creating local emergency plans and pod structures

• Organising community workshops (e.g. bushfire preparedness, trauma healing, herbal medicine, mental health first aid)

• Starting community WhatsApp or UHF radio groups

• Running resilience-building youth workshops or school-based initiatives

• Hosting community BBQs, potlucks, and gatherings to build connections

• Offering creative healing spaces such as women’s circles or community ceremonies

• Developing flood plans and evacuation support systems

• Building local food security through produce exchanges, community gardens, or buyers’ groups

• Launching community communications projects, like emergency radio networks or information sharing platforms

• Coordinating resource mapping or resilience audits for local skills and assets

• Supporting local hubs or resilience centres with organising, engagement, or donation management

• Creating local environment projects tied to resilience, such as bush regeneration or landcare

• Connecting neighbours through letterbox drops, meet-and-greet mornings, and street directories

• Contributing to resilience hubs, CWA initiatives, or existing recovery organisations

• Leading or contributing to local resilience festivals, open days, and shared meals