When: From the 1st on February 2023
Northern Rivers NSW: Ahead of the anniversary of the 2022 floods Resilient Byron today announced a change of name to Plan C, with the tagline Our Plan is the Community.
This milestone is a major move for Plan C on its mission to further build disaster preparedness in the Northern Rivers Region.
The name change reflects the activities of the organisation over the past 12 months and our goals for the future.
Since its inception in 2019, a lot has changed in the Northern Rivers and we have too. Initially, our focus was on connecting and supporting communities in the Byron Shire. But it soon became apparent that we needed to reach out across the whole region to have the level of impact necessary to really make a sustainable change.
As part of the announcement, Plan C is releasing another 170 free training places for any local resident to join for free the Northern Rivers Community Carers and Responders Network (CCR) (dates and all details are available here: https://www.ccrnetwork.org/).
This project aims to support greater crisis prevention, preparedness, response and recovery at the community level. It seeks to achieve this by setting up a network of 300+ volunteer CCRs across the Ballina, Byron, Tweed, Kyogle, Lismore and Richmond Valley LGAs who form a trained, connected and empowered network of community leaders dedicated to improving community cohesion and disaster resilience. CCRs learn about disaster resilience and community well-being, plus food, water, energy and housing security and also receive free training in first aid and psychological first aid.
Jean Renouf, CEO of Plan C explains “The change underlines our desire to ensure that our name reflects our renewed focus. We continue building resilience, but we focus equally on fostering community connections and regeneration. We continue working in the Byron Shire, where we originally started, but have expanded to 5 other local government areas of the Northern Rivers, namely Ballina, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed. And yes, we’re looking into the Clarence Valley, but we’re just not ready yet.
Plan C. “C” refers to community, connection, caring, cohesion, and collaboration. “Plan” refers to resilience, readiness and response, as well as our intent to steer our region to be more regenerative. And of course, the name also makes a quirky reference to Plan B, which meaning refers to an alternative strategy.”
“We now invite anyone in the region to apply to become a Community Carer and Responder (CCR).”
This news comes in the wake of many recent initiatives and accomplishments of the charity, including:
⦁ Training 130 Community Carers and Responders since the 2022 floods.
⦁ Launching our peer-to-peer Mentoring Program to improve further community resilience and connection.
⦁ Launching ‘Facing Up’ a series of symposium-style events to build emotional resilience to climate change in the Northern Rivers.
⦁ Undertaking a scoping study to improve food security in the Northern Rivers.
⦁ Taking an active role in the flood response and recovery.
⦁ Supporting Covid-19 affected communities.
⦁ and more.
About Plan C
Plan C is a not for profit charity founded by Dr. Jean Renouf in 2019 to build the resilience and regenerative capacities of Northern Rivers communities in the face of future disasters and crises.
About Dr. Jean Renouf
Dr. Jean Renouf, founder, and chair is an academic at Southern Cross University, a local firefighter, and a former international aid worker with 15 years of experience working in war and disaster zones.
Learn more about Plan C at: www.planc.org.au.