Cultivating Resilience at Retreat Centers
What is resilience?
Resilience is the ability to respond to stressors in sustainable ways that value our interconnection and interdependence in the web of life.
We face a “perfect storm” of interacting global stressors. How can retreat centers bend and not break? What does resilience look like for retreat centers?
Permaculture, sustainable energy, regenerative design, and many other concepts all contribute to the work of resilience.
How could RCC support shifts toward resilience at retreat centers?
As a network of collaborating retreat centers, the RCC is a fertile space to explore resilience together.
What is the role of retreat centers in bringing resilience-oriented mindsets and practices into their ecological, social, and spiritual communities?
What would need to be true for retreat centers to become resilience hubs in their local communities?
Resources
Resilience Education
From What Is to What If: Reimagining and Rebuilding Our World is a year-long, national campaign by Transition US
Global Ecovillage Network offers valuable online courses on “Regenerative Community Design” and “Trauma Informed Community Resilience”
The Resilience Project and The New School offer webinars, trainings, and resources
The Resilient Nation Partnership Network (RNPN) represents a diverse network of voices united in their commitment to help communities act and become more resilient toward natural disasters and climate-related events
FEMA’s fact sheets on Preparedness and the Changing Climate link to many other resources, such as:
Resilience Hubs
Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning toolkit from the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners (NACRP) and the Kresge Foundation
The Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) has prepared this Resilience Hubs White Paper as part of their Resilience Hubs initiative
Resilience Assessment Tools
Conducting a self-assessment can help your organization identify the best next steps in developing greater resilience
USDN’s Guide to Developing Resilience Hubs (pp. 13-14)
Five self-assessment rubric tools from the Copewell model
Resilience Funding
The Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency can help you find relevant programs in your area
Omega incubates new initiatives for living in and through the global polycrisis. Among other projects, Omega coordinates the Omega Collaborative working group and the Resilience Funders Network
Further reading
Read Stories of Resilience: Voices that Inspire from FEMA in the USA
Omega offers a recommended reading list on resilience
The Interaction Institute for Social Change offers this article: From Emergency Response to Resilient Futures: Moving Towards Transformation
Connect with us
If you’re interested in being engaged in the RCC’s conversations on resilience, please contact us.