New IEI Project Explores What Resilience Means for North Carolinians

Resilience is a term often used to describe the ability to “bounce back” after a challenging circumstance. However, the COVID-19 pandemic’s long-term impact has changed the definition from a short-term response to an endurance model where survival for a prolonged, indefinite period of time may be necessary. 

IEI’s Project Resilience will explore the concept of resilience – past, present, and future –  within the context of an individual, household experience. The pandemic is a unique lens through which to reassess resilience, determine strategies for cultivating it, and identify barriers that interfere with it.

Our main focus areas for this project are employment, healthcare, debt and/or safety nets. IEI will integrate evidence-based research, stakeholder interviews, and community feedback into strategies that households, banks and credit unions, small businesses, and policymakers can implement to promote resilience and preparedness for North Carolinians across our state. 

If you work with an organization or collaborative that helps people navigate barriers and/or cultivate financial resilience, we want to hear from you! Are you a community partner that provides information, education outreach, or basic needs resources (i.e., rental assistance/homeownership down payment grants) to community members? Or, are you an employer that provides resilience-enhancing benefits like paid leave, public transportation subsidies, or free or reduced-cost childcare for your employees? If so, please share your stories with us via email: ieiprojectresilience@ncsu.edu. 

Simply put, resilience is extra capacity to get through an emergency. The extent of what “extra capacity” looks like may differ from person to person. If you have a resilience-building personal story that you’d like to share, we want to hear from you. Please email ieiprojectresilience@ncsu.edu and let us know what was helpful, or not, and what information, resources, or support ultimately helped you obtain (or regain) your financial composure.