Community involvement (or resilience) is about empowering individuals, businesses and community groups to:
- Take collective action to both increase their own resilience and that of others
- Come together to identify and support vulnerable individuals
- Take responsibility for the promotion of individual and business resilience
Every member of society should be given the opportunity to help in the development of their own and their communities’ resilience.
Everyone has something to offer; the more people that you include in the development of your resilience plan, the stronger it will be.
So you want to learn more about making your community resilient?
Should the worst happen, and an incident develops into an emergency, the Community Emergency Response Plan (CERP) is your written down plan of who will do what, when, why and how of managing an emergency in your community . The Community Resilience Liason Officer (CRLO) will work with you on your plan, to help you identify:
- What risks your community may face and how it could affect you
- What you can do to manage the risks
- Who in your community has useful skills and training that could help
- The equipment you have available should you need it
- How to support people who are vulnerable safe
- How to look after and utilise your volunteers.
You may already have a CERP, or you may be in the process of developing one. Once you are ready and if you wish to do so, the CRLO, alongside your local authority Emergency Planning Team, will help you to test your plan. This will help to ensure that it will be fit for your needs should it need to be activated. This will test will last 2 to 3 hours during which time the plan will be exercised and tested against an agreed scenario that is realistic for the risks your community may face. Following this event, you will be able to add in any details that might have been missed, clarify detail, or make any changes that might help you to progress the plan.
We have two key documents for you to read, the first is a Community Emergency Response Plan, or CERP.
Let’s start with:
Then we’ll move on to:
The Getting Started Guide gives some in depth information around your first steps.
The template Community Emergency Response Plan, provides key guidance and sets out common practice as to how a plan should be structured. Of course there may be some elements that you need to know more about, when you consider a community plan. The Dorset CRLO can give you support and advice with completing the template.
So emergencies happen. Your local emergency services will always have to prioritise people in greatest need during an emergency, especially where life is in danger. There will be times when you may be affected by an emergency, but your life is not in immediate danger.
In an emergency, individuals and communities may need to rely on their own resources to ensure they are able to cope with the consequences of the emergency. Many communities already spontaneously help one another in times of need, but previous experience has shown that those who have spent time planning and preparing for this are better able to cope, and recover more quickly.
How resilient is your community? Your Council ward, Council borough, village or street? Your sports club or other community group? And what can you do to help build this resilience?
Prepared communities:
- Are aware of risks that may affect them (both nationally and locally) and how vulnerable they are to such risks. Prompting these communities to take action to prepare for the effects of emergencies.
- Prepared communities can liaise with emergency services and other organisations before, during and after an emergency situation.
- Use existing skills, knowledge and resources to prepare for, and deal with, the consequences of emergencies.
You can get in contact with us by using the message box at the bottom of this page.
Community Emergency Hubs – what they are and setting one up
Community Emergency Hubs (CEH) will be places around Dorset where you and your neighbours can go to help each other in a major emergency. The idea of a CEH is a new concept and here in Dorset we are making a start on what such a hub could look like, where it could be located and how the community could run it. A CEH could be a religious building, a pub, a leisure centre, or a library. Schools could also be used.
Community members run a hub without official assistance – it’s essentially a place for neighbours to help each other in a coordinated way. Each hub has a hub guide which explains the roles people can undertake to work in an organised manner. Some of the roles at a hub could include
- Hub supervisor
- Information Officer
- Receptionist
- Welfare officer
We need to ensure that any building used as a hub could support people, with the basic essentials, so this could be water, toilets and insurance cover. A hub likely won’t come with food, so the community will need to consider how they will feed people who are evacuated. With any new concept, it’s working out how it will work in practice, so in Dorset we want to talk to communities and help them agree on their plans.
Support for your community from voluntary organisations in Dorset
Within Dorset a number of voluntary organisations offer support to communities in times of need, this is in addition to the emergency services attending incidents.
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Our responses to questions from community, and answers can be found here.
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Community Action Network (CAN) is a charity that provides professional and practical support to organisations working within the voluntary and community sector in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, as we want to see these communities healthy, diverse, vibrant and flourishing. Our mission is to empower the voluntary sector, enable volunteering and involve communities, and we believe that together, we CAN make a difference.
We provide professional expertise, practical services and a platform for promoting and sharing volunteering opportunities. We help groups set up, speak up on their behalf to ensure they have a say in the local community, support them to network, and give them the tools and knowledge they need to grow and thrive.
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The British Red Cross responds to an emergency in the UK approximately every four hours. The charity and its volunteers support rest centres and provide safe spaces where they offer emotional and practical support. Every year it helps around half a million people in the UK to prepare for, respond to and recover from a crisis such as house fires, floods and evacuations.
Community Reserve Volunteers help their local community during a major emergency. They form a network of like-minded people who the British Red Cross can call upon when we need additional support during an emergency.
This role is perfect for people who want to do their bit but do not wish to commit to regular volunteering. No specialist skills are required and when an emergency strikes in your area you can choose whether to volunteer with us or not.
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Dorset Search & Rescue (DorSAR) are a charity, entirely staffed by volunteers, who provide specialist search capabilities to Dorset Police. DorSAR search for people at a time when they are at their most vulnerable. DorSAR currently has over 100 members providing cover for the county of Dorset (and neighbouring counties when requested by sister teams) and they all work tirelessly.
DorSAR has a particular shortage of support volunteers who are able to assist the charity with non-operational tasks, such as administrative processes, writing grant applications, fundraising, and raising the profile of the organisation. Currently, much of this falls onto the shoulders of our operational members, who already dedicate a significant amount of time to searching and training.
Please note this will open a Facebook page and you will need a Facebook login to view more information
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The Salvation Army is a denomination of the Christian Church, with a strong social conscience, seeking to alleviate distress wherever it is found and is able to fulfil a crucial role during and after a major emergency.
Potentially The Salvation Army can respond to emergencies in the following ways:
- Providing on site refreshments and emotional support to responders and those affected by the incident
- Providing support to individuals at any designated Rest Centre or Humanitarian Assistance Centre
- Providing support to family members and friends at an Emergency Mortuary Viewing Area and acting as the conduit for relevant faith support
- Providing personnel to assist at any Support Helpline set up following an emergency
The Salvation Army has access to support internationally in over 100 countries.
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Victim Support (VS) is the leading independent charity dedicated to supporting victims of crime and traumatic events in England and Wales. Our purpose is to provide specialist support to help people cope and recover to the point where they feel they are back on track with their lives.
Our service is free, confidential and available to anyone affected by crime or traumatic events, regardless of whether it was reported or how long ago it happened. Our specialist teams deliver tailored support and work closely with the agencies of the criminal justice system and other organisations to ensure victims get the support the need and the respect they deserve.
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At the Volunteer Centre, we are passionate about all things volunteering! Whether you are looking for a fulfilling voluntary role, or need volunteers for your organisation, we can help.
Our work is focused around the ambition to offer Leadership, Inspiration, Facilitation and Expertise, or LIFE, to those throughout Dorset who wish to volunteer.
The aim of the Volunteer Centre is to support individuals find rewarding volunteering opportunities and help them through this role. We also help charitable organisations gain volunteers and support them in looking after their volunteers, whether this is through general guidance or offering training courses to the organisation and their volunteers.
