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Putting
Community into Community Resilience
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Within past decades, there has been
a shift toward understanding community resilience, which is
characterized by a community's ability to rebound and adapt following
disruptions, such as natural and human-caused disasters. Although
some assert that the term community resilience is a buzzword,
Community Science views it as a useful framework for conceptualizing
how key actors, including local residents and organizations, can
strengthen their community's ability to prevent, withstand, and
mitigate such stressors. Recently, we developed a community
resilience framework, expanding on other community resilience models
related to disaster. The Community Science's community
resilience framework expanded upon existing frameworks in order to
provide a more complete understanding of what is a strong community.
Existing community resilience models heavily emphasized the service
and delivery systems and did not fully take into account a more
comprehensive view of community, which also includes informal
institutions, the infrastructure of informal and formal institutions,
social capital and sense of community, as well as access to services.
Furthermore, the Community Science model emphasizes the importance of
equal access and justice, which is integral, as times of disaster
commonly exacerbate pre-existing inequities.
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SPOTLIGHT ON:
The Retired and
Senior Volunteer Program's Contribution to Community Resilience
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As one of the largest volunteer
networks in the U.S., the Corporation for National & Community
Service (CNCS) Senior Corps Retired and Senior Volunteer Program
(RSVP) aims to engage volunteers aged 55 and over to support disaster
preparedness, response, and recovery, and increase community
resiliency. In 2013 and 2014, CNCS provided Disaster Services
Augmentation Grants for several RSVPs. These grants focused on
addressing the 2014 Hurricane Sandy recovery in New York and a range
of disasters that happened in 2013, including floods in northern
Colorado; a flash flood in Waynesville, Michigan; a tornado in Moore,
Oklahoma; and a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas. In the
aftermath of disaster, RSVPs deployed thousands of volunteers who
played key roles in various activities such as developing disaster
preparedness kits, operating volunteer reception centers and call
centers, performing direct outreach to disaster victims, rebuilding
homes, and managing donation centers.
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Staff
Profile: Marcella Hurtado Gómez
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 Marcella
Hurtado Gómez, Ph.D., Associate, has expertise in social issues
related to immigrant populations, the utilization of evidence-based
programing with ethnic minority youth and families, and managing
grant-funded programs in community-based organizations. Dr. Hurtado
Gómez has 10 years of experience in conducting, analyzing, and
disseminating research. She has expertise in program monitoring and
evaluation, running statistical analysis, writing outcome reports,
and presenting findings in pragmatic terms to a variety of audiences.
She has worked on projects involving large data sets and building
research studies from the ground up.
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Check us out
at these upcoming conferences this fall!
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American
Public Health Association's (APHA) Annual Meeting & Exposition
(October 31 - November 4, 2015, Chicago, Illinois)
American
Evaluation Association's (AEA) Annual Conference (November 9-14,
2015, Chicago, Illinois)
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Community Science Participates in a Day of Service
Community Science participated in its
biannual day of service at A Wider Circle on September 18, 2015. A Wider
Circle is a nonprofit organization with a mission to
end poverty. Through programs targeting job preparedness, health and
wellness, and housing, A Wider Circle addresses the needs of the
whole person. One of their programs, Neighbor-to-Neighbor, provides
beds, dressers, tables, and other large and small home goods free of
charge to individuals in need. Earlier in 2015, A Wider Circle opened
a program office in Barry Farm, a neighborhood in Southeast
Washington, DC.
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Upcoming Conferences and Call for Papers
October
31-November 4, 2015
Chicago, Illinois
November
9 -10, 2015
Austin,
Texas
Annual
Conference of the American Evaluation Association
November
9-14, 2015
Chicago, Illinois
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Careers @ Community Science
We currently have several positions
open for evaluation and capacity building professionals who have
experience in producing community and systems change work of the
highest quality and who want to see it make a difference in this
world. Visit the Community Science CAREERS page to learn more
about working at Community Science.
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About Community Science
Community Science is an award winning research and development
organization that works with governments, foundations, and non-profit
organizations on solutions to social problems through community and
other systems changes. To learn more, visit our PROJECTS page.
To discuss how Community Science can collaborate with
your organization, contact us at 301-519-0722 or info@communityscience.com
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