Stronger Together
Deepening Social Connection for Climate ResilienceUsing social connection to build climate resilience: a practical overview for busy climate practitioners.
Community climate resilience starts with people—the people who make up a community, the social bonds that keep them connected, and the sense of belonging they feel to the place they call home. In the face of increasing climate changes and their accompanying impacts, social connection is a crucial element to ensuring that no one is left behind both in moments of disaster and in their aftermath. Cultivating this sense of trust and belonging starts with a simple concept: strengthening social relationships.
Local governments are uniquely positioned to cultivate conditions for more socially connected communities. Sitting at the nexus of many different actors, from decision-makers and planners to community partners and everyday residents (and more), they have the ability to craft spaces and opportunities that bring people together in unique, place-based ways. They also have a responsibility to recognize, prepare for, and respond to the impacts of a changing climate on the health and wellbeing of the communities they serve.
Stronger Together: Deepening Social Connection for Climate Resilience aims to build off this potential, supporting local governments and other interested parties to strengthen community connection, foster inclusivity, and cultivate a sense of belonging. Inspired by the Connecting Beaconsfield initiative, this guide provides users with the knowledge, tools, and inspiration needed to shape community climate resilience that is people-shaped and people-driven.
What you’ll find inside the guide:
- Insights into the ways that social resilience contributes to community resilience.
- Activities designed as jumping-off points for different phases, stages, and components of connection-building initiatives at all scales.
- Practical examples from the Connecting Beaconsfield project, as well as many case stories.
- Key concepts and takeaways that can be used to identify where projects that are already underway in your community might be tailored, improved on, or built upon to create more meaningful and impactful outcomes.
About Connecting Beaconsfield
Connecting Beaconsfield is a project initiated by the City of Beaconsfield, co-created with multiple community partners, and supported by ICLEI Canada. It is an initiative that demonstrates how strengthening social connection can serve as a foundation for climate resilience and broader community wellbeing.
Stronger Together: Deepening Social Connection for Climate Resilience was co-developed by ICLEI and the City of Beaconsfield. The Connecting Beaconsfield project was officially launched in 2022, and received financial support from the Fonds d’initiative et de rayonnement de la métropole (FIRM), of the Government of Quebec. FIRM has since been replaced by the Fonds signature métropole (FSM).
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