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The First Annual Meeting of the Alberta Resilient Communities Research Project
The first annual meeting of Alberta Resilient Communities Research Project: Engaging Children and Youth in Community Resilience Post-Flood in Southern Alberta was held on September 17, 2015, at the Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Based on the 2013 flood that took place in Southern Alberta, this project responds to provincial, national and global calls to prioritize disaster and population resilience in the wake of devastating and costly disasters. This project focuses on the lived realities of children, youth and their communities, in order to inform and strengthen child and youth mental health and enhance disaster preparedness, disaster risk reduction and resilience in Southern Alberta.
During the meeting, the research team presented the research project’s purpose, goals, research streams, and management structure. Following a group activity, the research team invited all the partners to share their expertise, interests and hopes for the outcome of the research project, and to indicate any learning opportunities and contributions that they would like to present to strengthen the research project. Then, the research team requested partners’ input regarding field trip locations, participant recruitment, and knowledge mobilization.
The research project comprises three streams: a community stream, a youth stream, and a children stream. Dr. Haorui Wu (back, the first from right) has been working with Dr. Julie Drolet (back, the fourth from left) on the community stream to decipher how community service has enhance the resilience of children and youth in the scenario of post-flood reconstruction and recovery in Southern Alberta since 2013. Both of them will closely work with community-based researchers and community service agencies to improve service plans, regulations and policies to better service children and youth.