Resilient Uki has won a 2026 NSW Resilient Australia Award for its Northern Rivers Community Emergency Hub Guide, developed with funding from Northern Rivers Community Foundation.
Designed for use across different types of emergencies, the guide builds on established models from New Zealand and Victoria while reflecting Northern Rivers experiences. It provides practical steps, volunteer role descriptions, checklists and processes that local people can use to establish and operate an emergency hub.
Resilient Australia Awards recognise initiatives that strengthen whole-of-community resilience to disasters and emergencies. As the NSW Community category winner, the guide will now be considered for the National Resilient Australia Awards later this year.
Developed following the 2022 floods, the guide helps local communities organise and support one another during disasters, particularly when power, internet access or formal emergency assistance may be unavailable.
It draws on the lived experience of groups that opened hubs in Tweed and Byron Shires during the devastating 2022 floods, as well as those preparing for future disasters.
Collective effort
Resilient Uki President Melanie Bloor said the award recognised the collective effort involved.
‘This guide grew from the lived experience of local communities and the understanding that, in the early stages of a disaster, neighbours are often the first people able to help one another. It was important that the guide be practical, adaptable and easy for volunteers to use.
‘This award belongs to all the community resilience groups that generously shared their knowledge and helped shape this resource.’
The guide has now been distributed across the seven Northern Rivers local government areas and is designed so it can also be adapted by communities elsewhere in Australia.
Northern Rivers Community Foundation provided a $25,000 grant to support Resilient Uki to develop and distribute the guide. The funding was awarded through NRCF’s 2024–2025 Community Grants round under the Resilience and Regeneration grant stream.
Community leadership
NRCF CEO Sam Henderson said the award demonstrated the value of supporting local organisations to turn community knowledge into practical resources.
‘Resilient Uki has demonstrated the leadership role that Northern Rivers communities have across the national and international community preparedness and resilience space. They have taken the experience, capability and local knowledge developed through difficult circumstances and transformed it into a resource that can help communities prepare for future disasters.
‘NRCF was proud to provide the funding that helped bring this project to life. This award highlights the importance of investing in locally led ideas, particularly those with the potential to benefit communities well beyond the place where they began.’
Resilient Uki Project Coordinator Bec Talbot, who coordinated the project alongside Melanie Bloor, said the award would help bring the guide and its community-led approach to a wider audience.
‘We hope this recognition encourages more communities to explore how an emergency hub could work in their own area,’ she said. ‘Preparedness is stronger when local people have the relationships, tools and confidence to work together.’
The Northern Rivers Community Emergency Hub Guide is available through the Resilient Uki website.
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