In this time of global change, we must meet our needs closer to home and rely on community more than ever.
What is a community?
Community is not a place or its people – it’s a feeling. It exists among people, and consists of feelings of belonging, trust, and acceptance. Community is created when people strive to meet common needs. Every community is unique and each one of us exists within multiple layers of communities including nuclear family units, extended family, neighborhoods, gathering places, cities, and clubs.
How can we create resilient communities?
Resilient communities are those that have the capacity to weather the storms of change in order to enact transformation. Resiliency is a trendy term that describes the capacity to adapt in the face of difficulty and adversity. There are individual, relational, communal, cultural, and physical elements of resiliency.
The pillars of resiliency that we have relied on have changed faster than anyone could have imagined due to COVID-19. The mass gatherings founded on recreation, arts, religion, and culture that once helped us establish a sense of belonging and trust were currently on hold and sometimes still are. We must now adapt and solidify resiliency factors that meet our need for safety while increasing our sense of belonging.
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