“We’ve really moved the bar in terms of working with partners in the community,” said Madelyn Mackie, external relations officer for the Red Cross. “And we are making significant strides in helping communities understand the importance of being as prepared as possible for an unexpected event.”
Using an earlier campaign called Prepare Bay Area, through which the Red Cross and other community organizations provided 1 million Bay Area residents with personal disaster preparedness skills, the Ready Neighborhoods program is designed to improve community engagement and disaster preparedness among residents, business owners and organizations that provide vital community services. The program focuses on neighborhoods in the greater Bay Area, Capital Region, Central Valley and Central Coast.
“The program was designed to help support and empower the people who will lead the ongoing readiness and response efforts, and ultimately help their community recover more quickly following a disaster,” Mackie said.
As of early this year, Ready Neighborhoods had reached more than 9,000 customers through trainings and outreach at community events.
Community-Based Approach
“We first identified underserved and vulnerable communities and then focused on community trainings, outreach and information events in those areas,” said Tamar Sarkissian, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) spokeswoman. PG&E is a significant financial supporter of the Ready Neighborhoods program, making a $1 million contribution to three regional Red Cross chapters (Bay Area, Capital Region and Central Valley region) last year and this year committing to add two regional chapters (Central Coast and Northwest Region) and another $2.5 million over two years.
Using this ground-up approach starting with the most underserved or vulnerable communities, Ready Neighborhoods can make a huge difference during a disaster or significant public emergency, according to Mackie. “We selected six communities in the Bay Area with which to dig a bit deeper in terms of disaster preparation,” she said. “We felt these neighborhoods had a great potential to rally together and really prepare while also being perhaps a bit more vulnerable than others due to location or other factors.”
The six communities include Alameda (Elmhurst neighborhood), Contra Costa (Iron Triangle neighborhood), Marin (Canal neighborhood), San Francisco (China Town), San Mateo (East Palo Alto) and Solano (North Vallejo).
Under Ready Neighborhoods, each target community is building partnerships and setting goals to meet its specific needs. The Red Cross then works closely with community leaders, local businesses, government agencies, schools and nonprofit organizations to assess readiness needs and set community-specific goals.
“We are also focusing on making sure residents and community leaders are equipped with disaster preparedness and response skills, tools, supplies and plans,” Mackie said. “We also want to ensure this program is helping to foster sustainable relationships so that they are willing and able to continue the ongoing disaster readiness efforts well into the future.”
Mackie said specific Ready Neighborhoods activities within the community include conducting disaster preparedness trainings for individuals and organizations, identifying potential shelters and establishing a group of organizations dedicated to leading readiness activities.
“The program educates on the importance of creating an emergency plan for when disaster strikes, being informed on what you need to do, who to call, where to go and last, but not least, having a kit that will help you in the first 72 hours of a disaster,” Sarkissian said. “These simple steps can help people remain self-sufficient during a disaster and keep families connected, even if they are in different areas or cannot talk on the phone.”
The Canal District in Marin County is one example of a community that has taken the Ready Neighborhoods program very seriously and made significant strides since the program launched. The community holds regular partnership meetings to discuss concerns and plans. “It’s amazing what they’ve been able to do,” Mackie said. “They are highly motivated, and they are covering a good amount of ground in preparedness quickly.”
On March 21, members of the Canal neighborhood of San Rafael and the surrounding area gathered for the Canal Disaster Readiness Conference. The conference was a followup to a Readiness Summit that was held last December. It brought together 35 individuals representing 15 agencies serving the Canal area to discuss community hazards, personal preparedness, organizational disaster planning and services provided by the San Rafael Office of Emergency Services.
“Disaster readiness conferences are easily scalable, and organizations in each Ready Neighborhood community will benefit from them,” said Mackie. “Communities can continue to learn from each other and improve lines of communication.”
Moving It Forward
Mackie is pleased with the response to the Ready Neighborhoods program thus far. And by utilizing a train-the-trainer approach, they hope the program will continue to grow. They recently trained 54 new people how to teach CPR skills. They then used those new trainers, as well as existing trainers, and held a Save-a-Life Saturday event during which they trained 1,200 individuals in CPR in one day.
“The more people we train in CPR and personal disaster preparation, the more it spreads because those people can then go and teach those skills in other areas,” Mackie said. “It makes the program sustainable.”
The other key to programs like this is tapping into what a community is already doing,” Mackie said. “No one has time for extra work right now, so tapping into any momentum a community might already have going is a great way to get a program like Ready Neighborhoods off the ground.
“For example, if a community already has a forum for getting together and solving a problem, like graffiti for example, they are already used to working together to help solve a problem. That’s when we approach them because now we are feeding into a mechanism that already exists. They already know who in the neighborhood should be at the table so it just makes our job that much easier. When the community is at the table, they can figure out the best way to keep the program going.”
Mackie said a good example is in Alameda County where the Ready Neighborhood’s main partner is the Allen Temple Baptist Church. The church already holds monthly staff meetings about community needs. “They invited us to their staff meeting because everyone is already there who would be important to have at a Ready Neighborhoods type of gathering,” she said. “Organizations looking to start a program like Ready Neighborhoods should look for community events already being organized and tap into those. If they are holding a health fair, for example, call and ask if they want to make it a health and safety fair. You add the Red Cross, police, fire, etc., and suddenly you are off and running.”
No matter how it starts or who takes the lead, Mackie said just doing something to prepare for a potential disaster is the key. Sarkissian of PG&E agrees. “Through programs like this, people are taking the right steps to be prepared for whatever disaster may strike,” she said. “It’s key that communities are educated that in the first 72 hours of a disaster, they will need to rely on each other, their neighbors and themselves because first responders might not be able to get to them right away.”
