The Power of Community-Led Action in Building Community Resilience
Tracks
Southport Room 1
| Tuesday, July 28, 2026 |
| 11:55 AM - 12:25 PM |
| Southport Room 1 |
Overview
Moira Williams, South Brisbane Resilient Communities
Details
Three Key Learnings
1. Community‑led resilience is the strongest pathway to long‑term climate preparedness. Communities, knowing their challenges and strengths best, can draw on support from organisations such as The Resilience Canopy to shape priorities, engage partners, and achieve lasting outcomes.
2. A shared framework, like the Six‑Step Future Ready Communities Model and holistic perspective, allows diverse suburbs to collaborate using common tools and language while preserving local identity and context.
3. Locally driven networks, such as the Southside Resilience and Action Network, demonstrate how connected community hubs strengthen a nation‑wide movement, amplifying impact and supporting coordinated resilience across Queensland and Australia.
Speaker
Moira Williams
Southside Resilience and Action Network
The Power of Community-Led Action in Building Community Resilience
Abstract
Across Brisbane’s southside, four Canopy communities—Resilient Annerley, Resilient Fairfield & Yeronga, Resilient Moorooka, and Resilient Rocklea—are demonstrating the power of community-led action in building community resilience and recovery. Their collaboration as the Southside Resilience and Action Network is not only strengthening their local suburbs; it is contributing to a nationwide movement advancing community-led resilience across Queensland… and Australia.
The Resilience Canopy provides a shared foundation for this work. As a national program empowering communities to build resilience in their own way, it equips local groups with skills and tools to understand their challenges, create shared goals and lead their own futures using a proven Six-Step Model. The Canopy’s mission to support over 500 Australian communities reflects a growing national shift—recognising that communities themselves are best placed to make decisions that affect their ability to adapt, survive, and thrive.
Each southside community brings its own story. Resilient Annerley is driven by locals concerned about climate impacts in their diverse suburb. Resilient Fairfield & Yeronga, shaped by past floods and storms, is growing grassroots participation to prepare for future disasters, including heatwaves. Resilient Moorooka, whose informal beginnings followed Cyclone Alfred, centres its work on strengthening neighbour-to-neighbour relationships—an essential resilience asset. Resilient Rocklea, drawing on lived experience from the 2011 and 2022 floods, is deepening local networks to support rapid community driven response during future events.
Together, these communities are living examples of the Canopy’s community-led ethos: tapping into local knowledge, elevating lived experience, and harnessing collective wisdom to navigate future shocks and stresses.
By forming the Southside Resilience and Action Network, these four communities are not only strengthening their local suburbs—they are helping lead a broader, Australia wide movement of locally led, community powered resilience. Their collaboration showcases what becomes possible when communities are supported, connected, and trusted to lead.
The Resilience Canopy provides a shared foundation for this work. As a national program empowering communities to build resilience in their own way, it equips local groups with skills and tools to understand their challenges, create shared goals and lead their own futures using a proven Six-Step Model. The Canopy’s mission to support over 500 Australian communities reflects a growing national shift—recognising that communities themselves are best placed to make decisions that affect their ability to adapt, survive, and thrive.
Each southside community brings its own story. Resilient Annerley is driven by locals concerned about climate impacts in their diverse suburb. Resilient Fairfield & Yeronga, shaped by past floods and storms, is growing grassroots participation to prepare for future disasters, including heatwaves. Resilient Moorooka, whose informal beginnings followed Cyclone Alfred, centres its work on strengthening neighbour-to-neighbour relationships—an essential resilience asset. Resilient Rocklea, drawing on lived experience from the 2011 and 2022 floods, is deepening local networks to support rapid community driven response during future events.
Together, these communities are living examples of the Canopy’s community-led ethos: tapping into local knowledge, elevating lived experience, and harnessing collective wisdom to navigate future shocks and stresses.
By forming the Southside Resilience and Action Network, these four communities are not only strengthening their local suburbs—they are helping lead a broader, Australia wide movement of locally led, community powered resilience. Their collaboration showcases what becomes possible when communities are supported, connected, and trusted to lead.
Biography
