"Community Resilience"
Authors: Sousa, Cindy; Moss, Tamarah
Source: Encyclopedia of Social Work, NASW Press and Oxford University Press, April 2022, DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.1441
Type of Publication: Article
Abstract: Community resilience describes the dynamic, ongoing process of coping and recovery in the face of collective stressors and trauma. Social and monetary capital, technological expertise, and strong physical and organizational infrastructure all undergird strong systematic responses to massive hardships. Other factors that underlie community resilience, such as shared philosophies; patterns and cultures of survival and meaning-making; emotional qualities such as optimism and trust; and norms around cooperation and interdependence, are more ethereal. Our world faces continual onslaughts to collective well-being. Thus, notions and practice models around community resilience are increasingly urgent to develop, with implications for macro practice across multiple methods - including community organization, policy practice, and management/administration.
Cindy Sousa is an associate professor of social work and Tamarah Moss is an assistant professor of social work and social research on the Alexandra Grange Hawkins Lectureship in Social Work.