About
The Northern Rivers Community Resilience Alliance (NRCRA) was established in March 2024 in response to an increasing recognition of the need for regional grassroots collaboration.
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Following the catastrophic floods and landslides in 2022, local community organisers have played a crucial role in disaster response, recovery, and adaptation. They have dedicated thousands of volunteer hours to developing sophisticated community-based systems, enhancing skills, building knowledge bases, and increasing organisational capacity at the local level.
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Despite minimal formal support, these organisers have amassed significant expertise in community-led disaster recovery and have expressed a growing need for a peer support network, which the Alliance aims to provide.
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The Alliance provides organisational strengthening, peer support and advocacy to independent grassroots, place based community-led resilience groups across the Northern Rivers.
Vision
Connected, collaborative Northern Rivers communities that are empowered to care for themselves and each other before, during and after disasters.
Purpose
To develop a self-sustaining, trusted Alliance of
place-based, community-led resilience groups and organisations. The Alliance will share knowledge and resources; provide mutual support and wellbeing; take collective action,and advocate for
identified community needs.
Our communities were tested
during the 2022 floods.
We saw the courage, improvisation, and mutual support that saved lives. But we also saw the cracks: burnout, lack of coordination, and systems not designed for community-led response.
We formed the Northern Rivers Community Resilience Alliance to change that.​
Together, we’re building a long-term model for community-centred disaster resilience—one that supports grassroots groups to grow stronger, collaborate effectively, and access the systems and tools they need to care for their communities before, during and after disasters.​This mission is grounded in the findings of the University Centre for Rural Health (UCRH), whose research has provided a foundational evidence base for our work.
In their 2025 report, “Collaboration between disaster agencies and communities key to future disaster resilience”, Dr Jo Longman and Emma Pittaway examined the evolving relationship between agencies and grassroots groups in the aftermath of the 2022 Northern Rivers floods.
The study highlights the critical role of local knowledge, lived experience, and community networks in disaster response and identifies key lessons:
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Strong community-led networks emerged organically post-disaster.
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Communication and coordination between agencies and communities were often inadequate.
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Systems must evolve to better integrate and support grassroots action.​
These findings directly informed the creation of the Alliance’s strategic priorities:Improving volunteer coordination, sharing tools and templates, supporting community leadership, and building region-wide systems that are shaped by the people who use them.
The work of UCRH continues to guide our path forward: as we strengthen the voice and capacity of community in shaping a more resilient future.​​
FAQ's
What role does the Alliance play in disaster resilience, emergency management and recovery in
the Northern Rivers?
The Alliance exists to support independent grassroots, place-based resilience groups to develop their own localised approaches to risk reduction, preparedness, and recovery—guided by community knowledge, lived experience, and shared learning.
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By building a strong regional network and creating opportunities to exchange learnings, the Alliance helps prevent the need for each group to “reinvent the wheel.” It provides space outside formal emergency structures for groups to grow in community-led, place-based ways.
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Through this model of peer-to-peer learning and shared capability, the Alliance is helping build the confidence, capacity and connectedness of grassroots groups across the region—strengthening their ability to engage in emergency management structures and support long-term community resilience.
How does the Alliance differ from
Community Resilience Networks (CRNs) in
the Northern Rivers?
Community Resilience Networks (CRNs) have been established in each LGA across the Northern Rivers. They are hosted by councils and, in some cases, chaired or co-chaired by a community organisation.
CRNs enable interaction between community-based groups and organisations that work in emergency management and disaster resilience at the local level. Meetings are usually held quarterly in peacetime (and up to daily during disasters) and are attended by council staff, emergency services such as SES, Police, RFS and Marine Rescue, NGOs like Lifeline and Red Cross, as well as neighbourhood centres, place-based resilience groups and community associations.
CRNs are connected to the Local Emergency Management Committees and support information sharing and coordination within each LGA. During Cyclone Alfred, for example, these networks met daily to help improve communication between community and government.
While many groups in the Alliance are also connected through their local CRNs, the Alliance offers something different—a region-wide network that fosters collaboration, peer support, and shared learning tailored to the needs of independent grassroots, place-based resilience groups. It exists outside of formal structures, providing a flexible space to build capacity across the Northern Rivers, share practical solutions, and strengthen community resilience and recovery efforts.
How does the Alliance differ from Plan C's Community Carers Responders (CCR)?
​CRTs are a great model supported by Red Cross to help establish resilience groups at the community level. CRT members are offered training in emergency preparedness, including first aid, psychological first aid, understanding emergency management, and, in some cases, radio communications. Red Cross also helps groups host community BBQs and events to strengthen local connections.
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​Many groups involved in the Alliance have also completed CRT training. The Alliance builds on this by offering additional support tailored to grassroots coordination needs—such as developing a regional volunteer management system using monday.com, tools, templates and the creation of an online hub to connect groups to tools, training, and resources.
