Resilience Hack youth team responds in Byron Bay

Community Stories, 27 July 2021

Resilience Hack is a unique program responding to extreme weather events, empowering young people by developing their leadership and emergency response skills. Delivered through the latter half of 2020, amid many COVID-19 related challenges, this program from the Byron Youth Service Inc was funded through FRRR’s Disaster Resilient: Future Ready program.

It created a ‘Youth Response Team’ of students aged 12 to 18 from the north end of Byron Shire who developed connections, knowledge and skills to share across generations and community groups. The idea was for the ‘Youth Response Team’ to meet after school hours once a week over two terms to participate in activities that build emergency response skills and awareness, team building, leadership, volunteering and community contribution. The primary aim was to build capacity in the community to be more aware, prepared and responsive to natural disaster events. 

The pandemic’s emergence meant that practically every date, event, visit, and collaboration planned for the project were altered, but FRRR and Byron Youth Service knew they could still create value and just needed to apply a flexible approach to the project.  

  • As an alternative to the Tree Top Rope Challenge they planned (which as across a state border) they went on a local kayak trip on the Brunswick River, which turned out to be much more relevant to the program.
  • When the peer leader training couldn’t go ahead at school, students and teachers collaborated on a ‘Zine’ resource creating both personal and group idea clouds based on themes of self-care and resilience which have been distributed throughout the community. 
  • The community event couldn’t go ahead due to restrictions on gathering, so they adopted the strategy of a walk-by, multi-media, revolving art exhibition and information display at the main entrance to the shopping centre to showcase the young peoples’ work. 

“The art exhibition brought a sense of place-making, connection and resilience to the community,” reported Karma Barnes, Youth Response Team Coordinator.

The importance of caring for Country and cultural awareness is paramount in disaster resilience and response, and the group engaged in a workshop with Arakwal Bumberbin Bundjalung Woman, Delta Kay. The workshop took place along the Byron Bay coast, where they visited The Pass Midden Site, identified and tried bush tucker, and learnt about resilience through being ‘Connected to Country’. The group also participated in workshops with the Mullimbimby Fire Brigade and Byron Bay Police, learning from the professionals’ experiences and stories from in the field. 


The young participants also featured on BayFM and YAC Radio, and the project was visually documented by Gold Coast media specialists, which was launched at the final session of the program and played on rotation at the shopping centre entrance.

“We are most proud of delivering a project supporting young people through wellbeing activities and resilience skills in direct response to the challenging times that we are living in. The program was delivered post COVID-19 lockdown and brought positive wellbeing support to our young people while addressing our communities compounded lived experiences through the pandemic and recent fires, drought and floods through showcasing the project in a two-month community arts display at the Ocean Shores Youth Pop-up space.”
Karma Barnes, Youth Response Team Coordinator

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Amy Crawford

Amy Crawford has an extensive career in complex public policy and its intersection across government and communities.

Amy is the Chief Executive Officer at the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), representing 537 councils across the nation. Amy holds over 20 years’ experience in the Australian Public Service. She has a deep understanding of federal government policies and structures, with over 10 years’ service in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and has worked for the federal Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories. Amy has shaped a wide range of policies and programs including regional development, telecommunications, immigration, emergency management, social policy and pandemic preparation.

Amy is a Board Director of Austroads and represents ALGA on the Public Skills Australia Industry Advisory Group, and the Australia-New Zealand Emergency Management Committee. She is also a Board Director for the Canberra Youth Theatre which provides voice for Canberra’s youth through intelligent and challenging theatre.

Amy holds a Bachelor of Laws (honours) and Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications) from the University of Queensland, is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an alumnus of the Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership. Amy was appointed to the FRRR Board in January 2025.

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Kylie Hansen

Kylie brings leadership and management experience from across academic, corporate, not-for-profit, social enterprise and impact investment sectors, having deep dived into a myriad of specialisations and systems. Her six tertiary qualifications are equally as diverse and complimentary, covering commerce, politics, international development, community development, project management and law. Her breadth and depth of experience enables her to draw on a number of disciplines and innovative ways of working and thinking, and she is well recognised as consistently delivering work and services of a high quality.

Kylie uses her strong background in sustainability, governance and impact measurement to support collaborative initiatives across sectors oriented at improving social outcomes, and to support socially conscientious businesses to articulate their social impact. As founder and director at Impact Seed she has been instrumental in developing the impact measurement, evaluation, learning and ESG practice which advises numerous corporates, and is passionate about supporting First Nations empowerment particularly in the context of regional economic development.

Kylie is also a Director of the WA Social Enterprise Council, a member of the B Council (B Lab Australia and New Zealand), and a Governor of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

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Hon. John Anderson AC

The Hon. John Anderson AC is a sixth-generation farmer and grazier from NSW, who served in the Australian Parliament from 1989 to 2008.

He was a senior Cabinet minister in the government led by John Howard (1996 to 2005), including six years as Leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister.

In the latter role, Mr Anderson played in important role in FRRR’s history, working closely with Baillieu Myer AC and others on a proposal to establish a philanthropic organisation to benefit rural Australia. The concept was discussed at the National Regional Summit in 1999 and FRRR was established shortly thereafter.

Mr Anderson currently hosts a regular podcast, where he is in conversation with thought-leaders from around the world, and is a regular media commentator.

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Regina supports FRRR as the WA Partnerships Specialist. With over two decades of experience in partnerships and marketing, she has a deep understanding of Western Australia’s social impact landscape. She brings a strong passion for leveraging purpose-built networks to create positive change.

Regina previously worked with Playgroup WA and founded a Health Promotion Charity dedicated to supporting Social Emotional wellbeing for underserved communities. She’s excited about the opportunity to connect with partners and explore ways to make a meaningful difference in WA.

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Anna Palmer

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From Mildura originally, Anna has postgraduate qualifications in Change Management and a Masters in Organisation Dynamics.

Anna is currently completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts to balance her creative pursuits and work as an HR professional.

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Philippa Twaddle

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Carolyn joined the FRRR team in March 2017, and is responsible for providing executive support to the CEO, effective coordination of the FRRR office and general administrative support to the management team. A key responsibility is supporting the administration of FRRR’s Donation Account Services.

She has over fifteen years’ experience working in local government in the Tourism and Arts Sector, Civic and Event Management and Community engagement.

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