Support your community or neighbourhood

We help you create a support group within your community (it can be your street, neighbourhood or simply a group of friends) so that we can help each other out. We provide resources, ideas, inspiration and connect you with other local leaders.

If you wish to organise a support group in your neighbourhood, consider the following

1) Inform your neighbours about it and invite them to join in.

  • Drop a message in their letterbox (see template below) explaining the purpose of the neighbourhood support group and a way to stay in touch.

  • Consider creating a Facebook group specific to your neighbourhood or a WhatsApp group so that you can keep in touch easily. You can also check out NextDoor, a neighbourhood-based social networking app see it would fit your needs.

2) Invite your neighbours to connect, meet and perhaps discuss how you can prepare together for the next disaster or even how you can transform your neighborhood to become regenerative!

3) Join other neighbourhood and community leaders in the Northern Rivers via the Plan C facebook group.

RESOURCES

  • Template letter to invite your neighbours to create a neighbourhood support group.

  • A helpful document that provides lots of good tips on creating a mutual aid neighbourhood group.

  • This one on “social street” is based around an Italian street community that has inspired many neighbourhoods around the world.

  • And this one, called Gifts I can give my community, is a simple guide to discovering people’s gifts.

  • If you want to be inspired, this TED talk provides many simple but brilliant ideas about how to build a community in your neighbourhood, well beyond the current COVID-19 crisis.

  • The Australian Red Cross has published this guide to assist individuals, volunteers or community groups, who are interested in building the resilience of their communities to natural and man-made hazards, climate change and other emergencies.

  • The Community Resilience Building website provides great tools to organise community workshops in your area.

  • The Community Resilience Toolkit 2.0 is a collection of online tools to help users understand local impacts of the climate and energy crisis in their region and what they can do about them. The toolkit is comprised of four different documents. Each of these outline activities, and step-by-step instructions.

  • The Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University and the Center for Living Environments and Regeneration provide this in-depth field guide to Becoming a Regenerative Practitioner.  This paper offers the first stepping stones to regenerative practice.

OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY

  • Check in with family, friends, neighbours & colleagues to see if they need support.

  • Create a sense of community online; help others face events with calm, courage, & compassion.

  • Look for ways to support vulnerable community members whilst maintaining physical distancing.

  • Consider helping with a meal, coordinating any needs, errands or admin: .

  • Drop a flyer under neighbours' doors offering help. You can download a template from here. 

  • Participants who are house-bound or still active can provide help and connection with each other – e.g. by being phone or Zoom/Skype buddies.