Meet Surviving Disasters: Northern Rivers

Our youth disaster resilience program has had a glow-up! After a thoughtful co-design process with young people at Evans River High, NextGen Navigators is now officially known as Surviving Disasters: Northern Rivers — a humbling name that captures the spirit, strength and honesty of the next generation in our region.

Next week, Surviving Disasters: Northern Rivers lands at Byron Community College, where 14 Year 10 and 11 students will take part in a full-day workshop on disaster preparedness. The training, delivered by Plan C, complements their current Certificate II in Pathways to Employment by bringing together skills in critical thinking, disaster planning, and community resilience. With first aid and bushcraft already built into their course, this session helps round out their knowledge so they’re ready for anything.

Then, in July, we're off to Kyogle for a four-day school holiday program. In partnership with local youth agencies, the program will combine practical workshops in disaster preparedness with hands-on bush survival skills and first aid — giving young people the tools and confidence to face future challenges.

We’re excited to be on the road and would love to bring Surviving Disasters: Northern Rivers to more groups of young people across the region. If you're connected with a local sporting club, youth service, school group, leadership program, arts collective, homeschool group, scouts group, or any organised group of young people aged 14–24, we’d love to hear from you. This is a great opportunity for teams, crews and collectives to build resilience together. To find out more, get in touch with our Project Coordinator, Jen, at jen@planc.org.au.