RALEIGH, N.C. - Resilient North Carolina, a website created by the NC Healthy & Resilient Communities Initiative (NCH&RCI), has launched. Resilient North Carolina is intended for all North Carolinians, with the goal of sharing best practices and connecting individuals and organizations building resilience and reducing trauma statewide.

NCH&RCI works to build healthy and resilient communities for young children and families, creating resilience across each generation by bringing together more than 40 multi-sector community collaboratives to increase their capacity and best practice implementation strategies.

The new website, created for and by North Carolina partners, will better enable collaboratives and partners to serve communities and is focused on healing through the strengths of its members.

“Creating communities and organizations who are aware of the wide reach of trauma, how to respond to it, and importantly make investments in prevention is so important for all North Carolina communities,” stated Mebane Boyd, Resilient Communities Officer, at the North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC). “Communities know best what is needed to make a meaningful difference. We want to support these efforts in whatever way works for them.”

Through funding by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, the website is grounded in racial equity– recognizing that racial inequities are at the root of much of the trauma living within North Carolinians. The website is organized around the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)’s four domains of a trauma-informed approach (1. Recognize, 2. Realize, 3. Respond, and 4. Resist (Re)traumatization).

Resilient North Carolina website features include:

• A map for users to connect with others doing the same work,
• A shared calendar to enable initiatives to know what is happening across the state,
• Data to inform a community’s work,
• A resource library to support resilience in areas such as early childhood, K-12 education, and law enforcement.

“I am so thankful that NCPC and the Smart Start Network can play a role in enhancing protective factors against adverse childhood experiences and environments through our role in leading the NC Healthy & Resilient Communities Initiative,” says Amy Cubbage, president of NCPC. “It takes all of us to create a more resilient state and by listening to and supporting local coalitions, we are better positioned to know what is needed in communities to help their children thrive.”

Added Karen Anzola, Executive Director, Partnership for Children of Lincoln/Gaston Counties, Inc. (Partnership), “We are proud to be part of community-wide conversations where the effects of trauma in all forms are identified, and supports and services are designed and shaped to help us individually and collectively build resilience in ourselves, in our families and in Lincoln and Gaston Counties.”

Other organizations who participated in Resilient North Carolina’s creation include NC Courts, Rural Opportunity Institute, the Kellin Foundation, the HopeStar Foundation, DHHS, the NC Injury and Violence Prevention Center, Prevent Child Abuse NC, the BYE Foundation Trauma Informed Institute, the NC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.

Other NCH&RCI activities include funding nine non-profit community organizations to address trauma and resilience and creating a Healthy & Resilient Communities Dashboard.

To find out more about Resilient North Carolina, visit resilientnorthcarolina.org. Resources will continually be added to the website. The public is encouraged to submit events to the shared calendar page.

About the NC Healthy & Resilient Communities Initiative:  NCH&RCI is a program funded by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. NCH&RCI works to 1) reduce multiple forms of childhood adversity; 2) increase protective factors and positive childhood experiences for children, families, and communities; and 3) promote systems change, through community infrastructure and cross sector collaborations, for preventing and responding to toxic stress and trauma. A Resilient Communities Officer works with local resilience collaboratives and coalitions to build capacity, provide resources and assistance, and learn from the unique initiative. Each local coalition determines their own strategies and processes towards statewide resiliency goals. Learn more about Smart Start’s NC Healthy & Resilient Communities work here. Contact- Resilient Communities Officer, Mebane Boyd.

About Smart Start and The North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC): Smart Start is a network of 75 nonprofit local partnerships that serve all 100 North Carolina counties. This network is led by NCPC which ensures fiscal and programmatic accountability and coordinates the statewide Smart Start Network to create better outcomes for children and families.