This is a time when Canada must harness its community-driven resilience. We’re asking you to share examples of how Canadian communities are responding to the crisis with creativity and imagination. Collective problem-solving and collaboration will be instrumental in how Canada mitigates the local impacts of COVID-19 and creates on-the-ground solutions.

Highlighted Initiatives

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Initiatives

Harm reduction coalition publishes COVID-19 guidelines for people who use drugs and harm reduction programs

General: Sector resources | Public health

Resources are available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

List of collective intelligence tools being used to respond to COVID-19

General: Sector resources

 

Collective intelligence is the enhanced capacity created when distributed groups of people work together, often with the help of technology, to mobilise more information, ideas and insights to solve a problem.

Restaurants in Minneapolis offer free lunches to children during school closures

Children | Food

Many children rely on school lunches to stay fed during the day, and with the announcement that schools will be closing, several restaurants have said they will give free lunches to any students who need them while they’re home from school.

US academics create remote learning platform to connect students across the US

Children | General: Tools for engagement | Policy leadership

Youth Remote Learning looks to connect students across the United States with free online courses that will help to promote intellectual curiosity in an online platform.

San Diego County schools provide free meals for students during COVID-19 closures

Children | Food

San Diego County schools provide free meals for students during COVID-19 closures. The meals are federally funded through a USDA program that serves low income families throughout the school year.

US Interagency Council on Homelessness creates list of resources for homelessness service systems during COVID-19

General: Sector resources | Housing and homelessness | Policy leadership

The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness has a list of resources that can be used by homelessness services systems in response to COVID-19.

UK digital agency helps to bring cultural content into audiences’ homes

Arts and Culture | Income support

In response to COVID-19, UK-base digital agency The Space is to helping to bring cultural content into audiences’ homes and supporting the creative teams who have made this work.

National Association of School Psychologists releases resource for talking to children about COVID-19

Children | General: Tools for engagement

Talking to Children About COVID-19 (Coronavirus) offers advice, guidelines, and resources for parents.

Vendors in Portland Oregon launch initiative to share COVID-19 information with people experiencing homelessness.

Housing and homelessness

Vendors in Portland Oregon launch the Coronavirus Action Team, an initiative to get information about COVID-19 to people experiencing homelessness. Vendors are paid a stipend to check on each other, dispel myths about the virus & explain health dept guidance

UK’s Creative Review creates guide for creative support during COVID-19

Arts and Culture | General: Sector resources

Creatives and companies the world over are offering help and support during the Covid-19 pandemic. Creative Review has compiled a list of what’s available right now, which will be updated regularly.

China creates national cloud learning platform and broadcasts primary school classes on public television

General: Tools for engagement | Learning and education | Policy leadership

China launched a national cloud learning platform during the outbreak to provide learning materials for students in junior and senior high school. The e-learning platform is meant to provide resources for students but not to replace classroom learning. At the same time, classes for primary school students were broadcast on state-broadcaster CCTV’s China Education Television Channel 4.

Norwegian prime minister holds press conference on coronavirus for children

Children | Policy leadership

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told the country’s children in a televised news conference that it was OK to feel scared during the “special days” of the coronavirus outbreak.

FEANTSA prescribes key priorities for addressing COVID-19 for people experiencing homelessness

General: Sector resources | Housing and homelessness

FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless) prescribes key priorities for addressing COVID-19 for people experiencing homelessness.

Playwrights Guild of Canada is livestreaming 10-minute readings across Canada

Arts and Culture

The Playwrights Guild of Canada is doing a Play Reading Relay, where 29 playwrights will livestream 10 minute readings from their plays over a 7-hour day.

Crowdsourced resource for technologists

General: Crowdsourced tools and resources | General: Online communities and networks

The Coronavirus Tech Handbook provides a space for technologists, civic organisations, public & private institutions, researchers and specialists of all kinds to collaborate on a rapid and sophisticated response to the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent impacts. It is a quickly evolving resource with thousands of active expert contributors.

Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation release handbook on COVID-19 prevention and treatment based on clinical experience in China

Policy leadership | Public health

Experts at the Zhejiang University School of Medicine treated 104 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in 50 days, and recorded their real treatment experience in a Handbook of COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment, offering practical advice and references with medical staff around the world. The handbook provides comprehensive guidelines and best practices by China’s top experts for coping with COVID-19.

Seattle business owners form Facebook group to offer each other support and resources

General: Online communities and networks | Local businesses

A Faceook Group for Seattle business owners offers place to share tips, promote services, and encourage the support of local businesses in the Puget Sound region.

Facebook group formed to evaluate, design, validate, and fabricate open source medical supplies around the world and creates open source medical supply guide

General: Crowdsourced tools and resources | Public health

Open source medical supply guide, crowdsourced via Facebook (https://m.facebook.com/groups/670932227050506). Group formed to evaluate, design, validate & source fabrication of open source emergency medical supplies around the world but specific to locales

Georgetown University think tank creates evaluation tool for assessing local public health and response capacities

General: Sector resources | Learning and education | Policy leadership

The Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University has created an evaluation tool – the Rapid Urban Health Security Assessment (RUHSA) – as a resource for assessing local-level public health preparedness and response capacities. The RUHSA draws from multiple guidance and evaluation tools. It was designed to support city decision-makers prioritize, strengthen and deploy strategies that promote urban health security.

European Commission releases ‘bottom-up’ call for startups and SMEs with innovations related to COVID-19 to apply for €164m fund

Policy leadership

The European Commission calls for startups and SMEs with technologies and innovations that could help in treating, testing, monitoring or other aspects of the Coronavirus outbreak to apply to the next round of funding from the European Innovation Council (Mar 18 deadline). With a budget of €164m, this call is “bottom up”, meaning there are no predefined thematic priorities and applicants with Coronavirus relevant innovations will be evaluated in the same way as other applicants. The Commission will look to fast track the awarding of EIC grants and blended finance (combining grant and equity investment) to Coronavirus relevant innovations, as well as to facilitate access to other funding and investment sources.

Resource: How to set up mutual aid

General: Tools for engagement

A how-to resource for setting up neighbourhood pods of mutual aid.

Resource: pod mapping for mutual aid

General: Online communities and networks | General: Tools for engagement

Pod mapping is a tool specifically for accountability and dealing with harm in communities. However, it can also be adapted to help you assess who you can rely on in a pinch—who you’d turn to for support and who would turn to you. This simple resource was written by an activist as COVID-19 took hold in her region. (includes worksheet and additional resources)

Free Ebook on building collective resilience after a disaster

General: Tools for engagement | Learning and education

“The Response: Building Collective Resilience in the Wake of Disasters”, contains interviews, articles, guides, and personal stories to deepen your understanding of community led disaster response and support deeper engagement with your neighbors, family, and friends as you prepare for the future together.

Youth climate protest adapts to digital #ClimateStrikeOnline

Children

The Fridays for Future movement, started by Greta Thunberg, will shift their national strike (April 3) to a digital strike due to COVID-19.

Halifax restaurant, Basha Restaurant invites anyone who’s struggling financially to come inside and have a free meal

Food

The owners of a Halifax restaurant say the way the community embraced them when they first started has them feeling compelled to give back during this difficult time. All orders are take-out only and they have a strict one customer at a time policy.

Edmonton window art map encourages neighbours to decorate windows and participate in community ‘window walks’

Arts and Culture | General: Crowdsourced tools and resources | General: Online communities and networks

Crowd-sourced #YEGWindowArt map calls on community members to join in on ‘window walks’ by decorating windows and adding them to the crowdsourced map, then enjoying a walk through the neighbourhood to see what others have put up.

Edmonton app reinvents itself to help people find groceries and supplies

Food | General: Crowdsourced tools and resources | Income support

The Edmonton-developed app Spontivly shows where supplies are available amid COVID-19 shortages.

Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations compiles COVID-19 resources

General: Sector resources

ECVO (Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations) has put together a resource outlining COVID-19 impacts on the sector

Edmonton Global launches a COVID-19 business resource page

Local businesses | Policy leadership

Edmonton Global, an Economic Development Corporation in the Edmonton Metro Region, launched a COVID-19 business resource page to help businesses navigate the tools and programs announced by Canada and Alberta.

Resident Facebook group matches people in need with those who can help

Fundraising and volunteering | General: Online communities and networks

This Facebook page serves as a hub to support members of the Charlotte County community impacted by COVID-19. The page enables residents to post about what they need, and other residents to volunteer resources.

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