After the May 2025 floods and recent landslips, Bellingen Shire residents will soon get more help preparing for the next emergency, with young people in Dorrigo to play a key role.
Bellingen Shire Council has secured $115,000 in disaster recovery funding to deliver four community resilience projects.
The projects focus on young people, older residents, people with disability, and their support networks. They aim to help residents prepare for future emergencies, share their experiences, and strengthen community connections.
Two of the projects will give Dorrigo’s 14 to 24 year olds a voice in disaster recovery.
Interactive emergency preparedness workshops will help young people understand local disaster risks, make practical emergency plans, and build personal resilience. Council will work with agencies and young people to shape the workshops so they are engaging, relevant, and reflect what matters most to them.
A youth-led storytelling project will also see young people work with specialist facilitators to produce a six-episode podcast series. They will share their experiences of recent disasters while building communication and digital storytelling skills.
Three Person-Centered Emergency Preparedness (P-CEP) Workshops will be held across the shire. They will help people with disability, carers, support workers, and service providers develop personalised emergency plans that consider individual needs, including transport, medication, assistive technology, communication, and evacuation.
Older residents will be able to attend three Connected and Resilient workshops in Dorrigo, Bellingen, and Urunga. These will cover practical emergency planning, understanding warnings, managing service disruptions, and building local networks.
Council will work with local schools, community organisations, emergency services, disability support providers, and others to deliver the projects, which are already underway.
The funding comes from the NSW Reconstruction Authority’s Community Resilience and Recovery Program, under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
Workshop dates and ways to take part will be shared through Council’s website, social media, and community networks.
More information is available on the Bellingen Shire Council website.
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