The sun shone through on an otherwise rainy few weeks (though we are certainly in need of the rain) for our Joint Co-op Emergency and Resilience Planning BBQ and Social, as an opportunity to connect with fellow co-op members across our six co-ops. Now that we have completed our Emergency Coordinator’s Guide (see the Resource page), we want to put energy and time into the deeper work of relationship building. As great as an emergency plan is, it will be further strengthened if we know each other. So for example, I may get to know Laura in one of the other co-ops and learn that she has a teenage son who could maybe help with heavy lifting.
Relationship building is at the essence of community building and strong well connected communities support resilience and inclusion. The Joint Co-op Emergency and Resilience Planning model includes a cluster of six housing co-ops all within 5 blocks of each other. Considered an ideal scale for emergency and disaster response, this mutual aid model will assure that those in our community most vulnerable are taken care of in-place at home so to speak. Each co-op will support each other in the event of an emergency. We have a relationship to each other.
The BBQ centred around food and socializing, a chance to meet others from our collaborating co-ops who we might not yet know. Over time we hope to organize a variety of socials for this purpose. It is also an opportunity to educate and share with people what the core planning team has been doing. Information and activities were available including asset mapping, learning about emergency hub roles and a skills inventory sharing. These events are even more important as a way of demystifying and making emergency planning less scary since many people tend to shy away from this kind of work, choosing to ignore the danger in the hopes that it will never happen. Of course we hope that disasters will not happen, but if they do, the more prepared we are the less stressful the event will be for everyone.
