SNOWY VALLEYS RESILIENCE HUB
The Snowy Valleys Resilience Hub is about to start. This staffed central resilience hub located in Batlow for the Snowy Valleys Region aims to assist the communities and people who live in the area devastated by the Black Summer Bushfires.
The Hub’s Advisory Committee is now calling for Expressions of Interest from individual community members and organisations, community service organisations and private providers, as to if, and how, they would like to be part of this exciting community led initiative.
This involvement could be anything from providing suitably qualified staff, a need to have a physical presence in the space, a willingness and capacity to support the project in some way, or as an individual.
The Hub will become a one-stop shop providing for residents and local industry to meet face-to-face with all levels of government support, and other support and health agencies. It will also be a home base where local groups meet to share, organise and support each other’s recovery projects. It is envisaged that the Hub will also house local tourist information available to visiting agencies as well as to the general public.
The initiative was funded to achieve goals that include:
1. The establishment of regular community gatherings / group meetings, etc to connect people so that co-ordination and sharing of their recovery projects occur and people remain connected.
2. To develop tools and systems to research the changing needs of the community, and work with partnering agencies to deliver programs to respond to these needs.
3. To facilitate and/or develop appropriate educational/recovery/resilience/capacity and preparedness programs to develop a more resilient community against future disasters and improve the general wellbeing of the community.
4. To be inclusive of all sections of the community including youth, Indigenous, the aged, itinerant workers, business, etc.
5. To support project groups to achieve their goals in maintaining the viability of the region through projects that use our natural environment and heritage to improve identity of place and attract tourism, improve the liveability of the place for residents and ultimately improve the local economy and population growth through job creation.
6. To co-ordinate community engagement workshops and annual evaluation and planning workshops that will engage government agencies, local support agencies and community organisations.
7. To support the community in its consultations with local authorities to ensure that high level emergency response planning and preparedness programs meet the needs of the community and that the community is part of the planning process.
Community service organisations and/or private providers are encouraged to contact us if they believe they can supply staff under a contract arrangement to fulfill the roles we need. It is envisaged that there will be 2 part time roles:
Project management/secretarial
This role will essentially support community identified and led recovery projects that will assist in the long-term sustainability and liveability of the region through improved facilities, increased employment opportunities and tourism visitation.
Educational co-ordinator/facilitator
This role will assist the Advisory Committee to identify emerging community needs especially around well-being, resilience and preparedness. From this knowledge base the role will assist in resourcing and/or developing a series of workshops / conferences / programs that are designed to improve regional knowledge and resilience in response and preparedness to future natural disasters and how to be better prepared for hazards into the future.
The project is funded until June 2023. Past this date a central hub of this kind has the potential to morph over time into a community asset past the current bushfire recovery period into a preparedness hub; one that retains the community knowledge. of what has occurred and builds future resilience as individuals, groups and the community as a whole understand how to prepare for the future.
The project is funded by the Bushfire Community Recovery and Resilience Fund and auspiced by Do It For Batlow. The project’s Advisory Committee are volunteers and representative of several community sectors and organisations.
If you would like to find out more information or place an expression of interest please contact:
Ray Billing, Project Manager, Snowy Valleys Resilience Hub
Email: ray.billing@bigpond.com
M: 0412 539 535