Communities Prepared is a national community resilience programme that trains and equips community volunteers and flood wardens with the knowledge and confidence to build their communities’ resilience to emergencies. Building on a successful pilot phase, which ran from 2016-18 in South West England and supported 300 volunteers in 30 communities, the programme has been rolled out to communities throughout England, funded by The National Lottery.

Run by the charity Groundwork South, with partners including the Environment Agency, the programme trains and supports Community Emergency Volunteer groups nationwide to prepare for, respond to, and recover from, a range of emergencies, including flood, snow, utilities failure, and public health. It follows a holistic and joined-up approach to training and knowledge sharing, linking in and signposting to existing organisations and initiatives. Tailored online training, resources, advice, and a first-of-its-kind online resilience hub are all features of the support on offer to communities.