Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: 1. Obj 1: Create a Family Financial Recovery Collaborative of Extension educators, faculty, identified family-serving agencies, and disaster response agencies to better understand the family financial long-term recovery process and resources to support financial recovery. A Collaborative was created. Agencies included: Red Cross, businesses impacted by a recent flood in MN, Agricultural Services, United Way, VOAD, Extension educators, Extension administrators, Home Land Security Emergency Management, local disaster response coordinators, and Lutheran Disaster Response. 2. Obj 2: Develop a resource guide. "Recovery After Disaster: The Family Financial Toolkit" was developed. Units include: How do I use this toolkit; What are the key strategies for financial recovery; Where do I Start; Where am I Financially; Where Will I Live as a homeowner; Where will I live if I'm a renter; The New Normal; Resources for Families. RAPID UTILIZATION OF TOOLKIT: Extension colleagues have self reported that the Toolkit has been used by disaster survivors in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Montana, Missouri, Kansas and Virginia. WEBSITE HITS: From 4/15/2011 to 09/15/11 (5 months) web visits to the toolkit on numbered 110,049. providing direct links to the toolkit from their websites. 3. Conduct staff development to implement using the tool kit. Training topics included: The complexity of agency roles in disaster response; The dynamics of family financial recovery from a natural disaster; human response to loss and anger in financially stressful times & how it affects decision-making; emotional recovery and resilience; introduction to financial recovery tools including: eXtension, EDEN, and disaster recovery resource fair, and the "Family Financial Toolkit"; Case Studies using the toolkit; discussion of roles and when to refer to mental health or financial specialists; & planning for implementation. Over 550 individuals were trained from the 10 educational offerings offered. 4. Assess pilot project and disseminate through national launch of Family Financial Recovery Program. Assessment provided in outcomes section. National Trainings occurred both in-person and via webinar: webinars were conducted for Cooperative Extension professionals (102 participants from 36 states) and an additional webinar by request for National Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster (66 participants representing 27 voluntary and governmental agencies). Additionally, trainings about the toolkit and how to use it were conducted at the following state and national conferences: Financial Recovery from a National Disaster Conference: 9/8/2010, Fargo, ND; National Extension Disaster Education Annual Mtg: 11/2-11/5, 2010 Lexington, KY; Minnesota Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster Annual Conference: 2/26/11, Minneapolis; NDSU Extension Spring Conference, 4/15/2011; Minnesota Financial Fitness Conference: 4/21/11, Alexandria; National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster: 5/24-26, 2011 Kansas City, MO; EDEN National Conference 10/11-14,2011 Portland Oregon, AFCPE Annual Conference: 11/16-18, Jacksonville, FL. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals (1) principal investigator Patricia Olson, PH.D. University of Minnesota Extension. Project director: Phyllis Onstad,University of Minnesota Regional Extension Educator Family Resource Management (2) each person who has worked at least one person month per year: Sara Croymans, University of Minnesota Regional Extension Educator Family Resource Management; Lori Scharmer, NDSU Extension Agent, Family Economics. Partner Organizations: FEMA, SBA, Red Cross, Lutheran Social Services, EDEN, eXtension, VOAD. Collaborators and contacts are others within the recipient's organization: Susan Shockey, NIFA Program Leader. Trainings: Financial Recovery from a National Disaster Conference: 9/8/2010, Fargo, ND; National Extension Disaster Education Annual Mtg: 11/2-11/5, 2010 Lexington, KY; Minnesota Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster Annual Conference: 2/26/11, Minneapolis; NDSU Extension Spring Conference, 4/15/2011; Minnesota Financial Fitness Conference: 4/21/11, Alexandria; National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster: 5/24-26, 2011 Kansas City, MO; EDEN National Conference 10/11-14,2011 Portland Oregon, AFCPE Annual Conference: 11/16-18, Jacksonville, FL. Telephone townhall training for those impacted by flood in Red River Valley. Virtual Resource Fair Webinar for agency staff during flood. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audience was extension family and consumer science educators and partner agency staff to understand the complexity disaster response & recovery, of the financial impact of disasters to individuals and households, and how to utilize the "Recovery After Disaster: The Family Financial Toolkit" to meet survivors of disasters educational needs. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: We added smartphone "app" application as an additional outreach educational tool for through experience during the duration of the grant it became more prevalent that smartphone apps were being utilized more and more in the two years we had the grant and so developing one with the resources from this grant made sense. We needed to utilize our resources in a responsive way during the duration of the grant. It took a bit longer to implement than we anticipated. We conducted more outreach activities than anticipated due to the increasing need - due to the increasing number of disaster in the context of a national recession. Disaster and recession together make for a "double disaster" for unemployed or under-employed. Additional information: Potential partnership between NIFA & FEMA. Susan Shockey, NIFA Program Leader, is in conversations with FEMA for potential partnership for family and consumer science extension educators to conduct education nationally (in each state) utilizing "Recovery After Disaster: the Family Financial Toolkit." This potential collaboration is at beginning stages - but it offers an insight of how the Smith Lever Special Needs funding can provide the seed money for great educational outreach. 2011 AFCPE Outstanding Consumer Financial Information Award to "Recovery After Disaster: the Family Financial Toolkit" a joint project of the University of Minnesota Extension and North Dakota State university Extension, November 18, 2011. Onstad, P., Croymans, S., and Scharmer, L. (2011). Putting the Pieces of the Puzzle Together: Financial Recovery After Disaster., Juried Conference Presentation. AFCPE Conference, Jacksonville, FL Onstad, P.A., Danes, S. M., Hardman, A. M., Olson, P. D., Marczak, M.S., Heins, R. K., & Croymans, S. (submitted, review and resubmit status to Community Development). The Road To Recovery from a Natural disaster; Voices from the Community.
Impacts
The following findings are from evaluation data collected from state and national trainings on how to utilize the "Recovery After Disaster: The Family Financial Toolkit" Quality of the sessions Participants across the learning sessions (n=113) were asked to rate on a four point scale from "Poor" to "Excellent" on the following: overall quality of the sessions; usefulness of the content for their work; usefulness of the content for their personal use; usefulness of the content for teaching their participants; as well as the quality of the instructor. Overall, participants found the content of the sessions useful (as evidenced by 86% to 93% of those who said "Good" or "Excellent" on items measuring usefulness). Nearly all participants rated the sessions and the instructors highly (96% and 98%, respectively). Knowledge gain Knowledge gain was assessed using 5-7 items asking how much they knew about existing resources and how to support survivors of disasters before the session (retrospectively) and then after the session. Participants rated their knowledge on a 5 point scale from "Very Little" to "Very Much." Paired T-Tests were conducted on all retrospective pre-then post knowledge items. The results of the T-Tests indicated there was significant learning happening across all knowledge items in all sessions (t-values ranging from -5.812 to -11.129; all p-values were less than .000). Participants reported knowledge changes from a full point to two points on the scale. Intention to use the training Four items asked all participants across the sessions to what extent they will: promote the Financial Management in Times of Disaster eXtension resources; promote the Recovery After Disaster: The Family Financial Toolkit; work with survivors to find the resources online; use the toolkit to work with survivors. Participants rated their intention to act using a 5-point scale from "Very Little" to "Very Much." The results indicated that a majority of participants intend to both promote the resources as well as use the resources to support their work with survivors.
Publications
- (2011) "Recovery After Disaster: the Family Financial Toolkit" http://www.extension.umn.edu/family/tough-times/disaster-recovery/fam ily-financial-toolkit/
- (2010) Guide to Conducting Disaster Recovery Resource Fairs http://www.extension.umn.edu/family/tough-times/disaster-recovery/dis aster-recovery-resource-fairs.html
- (2011). The Disaster Recovery Log. http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension/apps/disaster-recovery-journal
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Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: 1.A Family Financial Recovery Collaborative was created to better understand the family financial long-term recovery process after a disaster and resources to support financial recovery after a disaster. On March 24, 2010, the collaborative met and provided input to the content that should be included in the Tool Kit. Agencies represented included: Red Cross, businesses that had been impacted by a recent flood in Minnesota, Agricultural Services, United Way, VOAD, Extension educators, Extension administrators, Home Land Security Emergency Management, local disaster response coordinators, and Lutheran Disaster Response. 2.A draft resource guide for family and community response titled "Recovery After Disaster: The Family financial Toolkit" was developed. Units of this draft document include: Introduction, Where do I Start, Where am I Financially, Where Will I Live, and Tools for Financial Recovery. The tool kit was in draft form for the Extension Educator training conducted in early September with the intent to receive feedback from extension educators to improve the toolkit prior to final copy. This toolkit will be the main dissemination output of this grant. 3.Planning was conducted for a September 8, 2010, staff development training for extension staff in Minnesota and North Dakota. Topics planned for the training include: Understanding the complexity of agency roles in disaster response; understanding the dynamics of family financial recovery from a natural disaster; human response to loss and anger in financially stressful times and how it affects decision-making; understanding emotional recovery and resilience;introduction to financial recovery tool including: eXtension, Eden, and disaster recovery resource fair, and "Recovery after Disaster: the Family Financial Toolkit"; Case Studies using the toolkit; discussion of roles and when to refer to mental health or financial specialists; and ND & MN breakout discussion for implementation. Final report will provide evaluation from training. 4.Planning has been conducted to conduct evaluation of "Recovery After Disaster: the Family Financial Toolkit." Planning is also being conducted for training conducting national web education on the use of the "Recovery After Disaster: the Family Financial Toolkit." Results will be reported on in the final report. PARTICIPANTS: Regional extension educators who work in the area of family resource management provided content expertise for toolkit development. A Family Financial Recovery Collaborative was developed to provide input on toolkit development. Agencies and organizations who participated included: Red Cross, United Way, VOAD, Homeland Security Emergency Management, Agricultural Services, and local business impacted by a recent flood. In particular case workers from Lutheran Disaster Response provided additional expertise in toolkit development. In our no-cost extension year, MN and ND extension educators will be trained to utilize the "Recovery After Disaster: The Family Financial Toolkit." TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences include: extension educators in MN and ND. After training in MN and ND and testing the toolkit, a national webinar on use of the toolkit will be conducted via eXtension and or EDEN, therefore reaching a national audience of extension educators. Final report will share evaluation results of these efforts. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: We are still on target with our original plan. After we have piloted the toolkit, the format and content may be modified.
Impacts
Qualitative data analysis was conducted of of over 40 interviews of residents, business owners, farmers, disaster response agency staff, and social service providers impacted by the 2008 August flood in SE Minnesota. This data directly influenced the development of the "Recovery after Disaster: the Family Financial Toolkit" and the Guide to conducting "Disaster Recovery Resource Fairs." Findings from this analysis include: PROFILE OF ONE TOWN'S SUCCESSFUL RECOVERY and WHAT COMMUNITIES CAN DO WHEN A DISASTER HAPPENS. The outcomes and impacts of the toolkit use will be reported in the final report. Data from our Family Financial Recovery Collaborative was also utilized to inform the development of the draft copy of "Recovery after Disaster: the Family Financial Toolkit." Input provided included both content and format. The collaborative stressed the need to have information in a "consumable" format so those impacted by a disaster could read and understand and not be overwhelmed by information. An unanticipated outcome occurred due to a 2010 spring flood in the Red River Valley where we could "test" some of our materials. We conducted a "virtual" Disaster Recovery Resource Fair for agency staff, where we had a webinar for service providers to discuss agency response and plans for coordinated response to the flood. Another innovative educational opportunity was utilized, for the 2010 Red River flood response, was a telephone townhall meeting. This educational opportunity allowed hundreds of residents impacted by the flood to receive information about flood response, flood resources and family resiliency coping strategies. Evaluation conducted online provided positive feedback on this method of education. In addition it was evident that elderly and disabled were reached by the questions received and answered during the call. Both the virtual resource fair and the telephone townhall were informed by our developmental work on the toolkit.
Publications
- (2010) Draft report "After the Flood: Rushford's New Chapter" - report back to the community of findings from over 40 interviews with those impacted by the 2008 flood.
- (2010) Draft "Recovery After Disaster: the Family Financial Toolkit"
- (2010) Guide to Conducting Disaster Recovery Resource Fairs
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