Following on from the success of our August event, Devon Communities Together is hosting a second FREE online community resilience event this year, which will cover a whole range of topics designed to support communities in emergency situations, including flooding, lockdowns, emergency shelters and more.
The event, on 2nd and 3rd December, is being run by Devon Communities Together as part of its role as facilitator of the Devon Community Resilience Forum. Anyone with an interest in community action and community resilience is welcome to attend, including Councillors, Community Response Team members and flood wardens.
Delegates can attend all the sessions in the two-day event, or they can pick and choose which ones they join, depending on their interest. All sessions are free of charge and will be held using the online software, Zoom.
Sessions include a winter preparedness session from Devon County Council Highways; using ‘Zoom’ software; a lockdown community case study from Swimbridge; a session on supporting those with hearing loss from Action on Hearing Loss; and a keynote speech from Simon Kitchen, Head of Communities at Devon County Council.
Devon Communities Together Project Manager Louise MacAllister, commented:
“Community resilience has already played a huge part in the grass roots response to the pandemic so far this year, but as we head into winter, the pandemic will add a new layer of complexity to the seasonal situations that communities face at this time of year such as flooding and snow. As we digest the proposed route out of ‘lockdown two’ and we await news on which tier, or tiers, Devon will be in, we also face the news of an arctic influx bringing the coldest winter since 2012. These free online sessions will help our communities prepare for these challenges.”
For more information and to book your free sessions, visit:
www.devoncommunities.org.uk/virtual-devon-community-resilience-forum-2nd-and-3rd-december-2020
All the sessions are bookable individually via Eventbrite. For full details please see below or visit our website. Joining instructions will be sent to everybody who has booked a space for each session beforehand.
Full programme:
Wednesday 2nd December Sessions
- 9.45 - 10.15 Keynote; the importance of community emergency planning in a unique winter
This winter faces unique challenges with the global pandemic, effects of lockdown, and usual winter issues. Simon Kitchen, head of the Communities Team at Devon County Council provides this keynote address
- 10.30-11.30 -Preparing for Winter – a session with Devon County Council Highways
- 12:00-12:45 – “The new normal”; communicating via Zoom. A session to help local communities enhance and continue their meetings and activities using Zoom.
- 14:00-15:00– Learning from Lockdown; a community case study from Swimbridge
- 15:30-16:30 Challenges faced by people with hearing loss in an emergency – a session from Action for Hearing Loss
Thursday 3rd December Sessions
- 10:30-11:30 – Pathfinder to property protection – understanding how the Pathfinder project will help raise awareness and access to property flood resilience measures.
- 12:00–13:00 The Flood Action Campaign. A new campaign form the Environment.
- 14:00-15:00 – No room at the shelter?; How to ensure your community emergency rest centre can be operationalized with maximum COVID security