Building Community Resilience Vision Session

"Community Resilience" Beyond Covid.

Join us for an in-person meeting focused on how we think through the transition from the
stark and drastic start of the pandemic to the gradual arrival of the next normal...and the intentional work on how we get there.

We hope your fall is off to a cozy start. The October meeting of the Greater Middletown Community Collaborative will be:

Tuesday, October 4th
9:00am until 10:30am
DeKoven House Community Center
(map/parking info below)

To help us plan, RSVP HERE

As discussed in previous meetings, a theme of this year will be on supporting youth, parents, and youth serving professionals from the chaos, stress, and instability of the pandemic towards whatever our "next normal" may be. We want to recognize that as COVID-19 becomes endemic and our precautions begin to wane, the effects of collective stress/trauma, disrupted supports/relationships, and delayed skill development will be felt for years unless we actively and intentionally address it.

This will be a conversation and visioning meeting on community resilience where participants will have an opportunity to set think about the needs of the three groups and offer thoughts on the roadmap forward.

We will utilize the Harvard Center for Developing Child's resilience model to frame supporting the needs of youth, parents, and youth-serving professionals. As they describe it:

"One way to understand the development of resilience is to visualize a balance scale or seesaw (see above). Protective experiences and coping skills on one side counterbalance significant adversity on the other. Resilience is evident when a child’s health and development tips toward positive outcomes — even when a heavy load of factors is stacked on the negative outcome side."

Simply put, we want your ideas to find ways to reduce stressors, provide protective factors/supports, and build skills.

Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim will be joining us for this meeting and offer a greeting around the importance of this work.

Never been to a GMCC meeting before? No problem. These meeting are open community meetings and anyone with interest in the topic can join (whether it be this one or any future meeting). We also welcome folks who may just come to listen so that they can bring information and resources back home, to their neighborhoods, and/or their workplace.

A Google map to the meeting location can be found HERE.

A note on parking: There are limited spots available for meeting participants at the deKoven House itself and their lot can be accessed off both Washington Street and deKoven Drive. There is also a municipal lot adjacent to the meeting house which charges $1 an hour and payments can be made on-site at kiosks or using the Park Mobile app.

We hope to see you there!