“A resilient nation is created and sustained through thriving communities with secure and adaptable social, economic, environmental, housing, infrastructure, and institutional systems. Addressing resilience from only one perspective or through only one resilience lens will not be successful.” Nation Resilience Guidance

COE HSEM Community RESILIENCE WORK group agenda

As 2024, our “Year of Resilience”, came to a close, our Center’s staff, Volunteers, and Advisory Board Members at our February 12, Board meeting, re-confirmed their commitment to building resilient communities to secure our future.  Demand for talent was just one of many strains across regions and sectors this year, as geopolitical turmoil and economic uncertainty featured prominently. One way to reduce the impact of all hazards is to enhance resilience within communities.

Our 21^st year, will be the “Year of Transformational Leadership.”  Today’s leaders continually face challenges of meeting high expectations and adapting to rapid change.  It is critically important to maintain a diverse and educated public.  We need to continue leading with a steadfast commitment to our shared values of equity, belonging, and understanding the interdependencies of building capacity and community resilience.  We will need resilient transformational leaders more than ever.

Date: March 14, 2025

Time: 1: 00pm – 4:00 pm

Community Resilience Focus Group Session

Contact: Linda Crerar, Director, lcrerar@pierce.ctc.edu

Registration Link

Focus Group Questions

THE FOCUS GROUPS SEEK TO COLLECT YOUR THOUGHTS, IDEAS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BUILDING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE.

PRIOR TO beginning, THESE DEFINITIONS OF RESILIENCE MAY HELP SET THE FOUNDATION:

United Nations office of disaster risk reduction:

The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management.

Riskonnect – Business Continuity consultant:

Resilience management is the process of integrating all of an organization’s protective activities under one, clear, management structure. The methodology is subdivided into two areas: readiness and response.

From FEMA:

National resilience is a complex topic and building it requires whole community effort. The National Resilience Guidance (NRG) offers a unifying vision of resilience. It provides the principals and steps all communities and organizations can take to increase their resilience in every sector and discipline. The NRG strives to help everyone understand and fulfill their critical roles related to increasing national resilience with the goal of increasing community and national resilience.

The National Resilience Guidance:

• Promotes a common understanding of resilience.
• Emphasizes the critical relationship between chronic community stressors and acute shocks.
• Addresses the resilience roles of individuals, organizations, and all levels of government.
• Provides an actionable approach to resilience planning and implementation.
• Incorporates a community resilience maturity model that walks through concrete steps to build resilience.

The National Resilience Guidance emphasizes that strengthening resilience requires a collective approach. A resilient nation is created and sustained through thriving communities with secure and adaptable social, economic, environmental, housing, infrastructure, and institutional systems. Addressing resilience from only one perspective or through only one resilience lens will not be successful.

1. Workforce Needs & Roles in Community Resilience

• What makes a community resilient?
• What are the most critical roles in a workforce that is resilient?
• Is Community resilience tied to the workforce, or to other factors and the workforce?
• If other factors, what are they?
• How do emergency management programs contribute to building community resilience?
• Are there positions in either emergency management or resilience planning that don’t currently exist or need additional emphasis to contribute to building community resilience?” What do we want them to help us identify?
• What job titles or roles do you foresee becoming necessary in the next 5-10 years that could contribute to resilience building?

2. Knowledge & Training Needs

• What foundational knowledge areas should those focused on building community resilience have? (e.g., disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, social equity, or something else?)
• What specific training or certifications do you consider essential for professionals entering the field of emergency management?
  • Or for a position focused on building community resilience?
• How should workforce training incorporate equity and inclusion in community resilience efforts?

3. Essential Skills & Abilities

• What technical skills (e.g., GIS mapping, data analysis, emergency planning) are becoming more important in community resilience building work?
• What soft skills (e.g., crisis communication, leadership, collaboration) are most critical for success?
• How important is digital literacy in resilience management, and what specific tools should professionals be proficient in?

4. Emerging Challenges & Opportunities

• What new challenges do you see affecting emergency management?
• What new challenges do you see affecting community resilience building work?
• How should workforce training evolve to address:
  • climate change
  • cybersecurity threats
  • the need for building infrastructure resilience?
• What role should cross-sector collaboration (government, nonprofits, and private sector) play in building a resilient workforce? (a workforce contributing to building resilience?)

5. Future-Proofing the Workforce

• How can we attract and retain the next generation of emergency management professionals?
  • How do we convey to new emergency management professionals that community resilience building is part of their jobs?
• What learning formats (online, hybrid, in-person, simulations, etc.) are most effective for training resilience professionals? How are we defining “resilience professionals?

What final recommendations would you give for shaping an adaptable, well-prepared resilient workforce?