Building Community Resilience to Disaster: Lessons Learned from Community-based Initiatives Malcolm Williams, PhD, MPP March 18, 2014
Community Resilience Definition Developed with Communities (2008-2010): The ongoing and developing capacity of the community to account for its vulnerabilities and develop capabilities that aid in: 1. preventing, withstanding, and mitigating the stress of a health incident; 2. recovering in a way that restores the community to a state of self-sufficiency and at least the same level of health and social functioning after a health incident; and 3. using knowledge from a past response to strengthen the community's ability to withstand the next health incident A10158-AC-06/2013 2
Elements of Community Resilience A10158-AC-06/2013 3
Community resilience acknowledges the intersection between individuals and organizations Faith Based Animal Services Labs City Planners Transit Mental Health Home Health Drug Treatment Civic Groups Parks and Rec Neighborhood Orgs. Corrections Law Enforcement Public Health Dept Social Services NGOs Nursing Homes Elected Officials Employers Health center EMS Tribal Health Fire Schools ADAPTED FROM: NACCHO (MAPP website): http://www.naccho.org/topics/infrastructure/mapp/index.cfm A10158-AC-06/2013 4
Resilience building combines key features of preparedness and community well-being promotion Emergency preparedness Community resilience building Community well-being promotion A10158-AC-06/2013 5
Determining costs across disaster continuum Emergency $$ Prepare $$ $$ Respond Recover $$ Mitigate A10158-AC-06/2013 6
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LACCDR is about moving from just me to include we Individual Resilience Emergency kits Emergency plans Individual education and training Individual stockpiles Individual/household oriented messages Community Resilience Assessing and addressing community vulnerabilities Developing community partnerships Community training, education, and engagement Community preparedness networks/social connections A10158-AC-06/2013 8
LACCDR tests four levers of RAND s eight community resilience levers Education Self sufficiency Engagement Partnership A10158-AC-06/2013 9
Neighbor to neighbor reliance, organizational readiness low in Los Angeles County RESILIENT COMMUNITIES Organizations are ready and prepared to respond and recover There are enough volunteers to help in a disaster People can rely on each other (neighbor to neighbor) Individuals/families have the knowledge to prepare for and respond to disaster A10158-AC-06/2013 10
Community resilience requires building neighbor to neighbor reliance and organizational connection RESILIENT COMMUNITIES There are strong relationships between organizations Organizations are ready and prepared to respond and recover There are enough volunteers to help in a disaster People can rely on each other (neighbor to neighbor) Individuals/families have the knowledge to prepare for and respond to disaster A10158-AC-06/2013 11
We have begun the comparison of preparedness only vs. resilience communities 16 Los Angeles County Neighborhoods (8 Preparedness, 8 Resilience) Usual Preparedness Usual coalition with traditional emergency planners Use of preparedness tools (e.g., brown book ) Community Resilience Resilience Team with diverse array of community organizations Use of community resilience toolkit Concerted focus on vulnerable populations Use of enhanced asset mapping tools A10158-AC-06/2013 12
What s next for the community resilience agenda? Benchmarks and costs of human recovery How long and why? Who is responsible? Money in resilience or recovery? Response reliability of NGOs Use of social media A10158-AC-06/2013 13
What s next for the community resilience agenda? Dual benefit of disaster resilience and health, economic and social system improvement A10158-AC-06/2013 14
Leverage Points for Funders A10158-AC-06/2013 15
Funding: Opportunities for Donors and Grantmakers New coalitions (current and future activities) Cross county collaboration through ENLA Neutral convener: Convene stakeholders to discuss lessons from LA and other communities Bring new voices to the discussion in both governmental and nongovernmental sectors Expertise Business, advocacy, social and health services A10158-AC-06/2013 16