Performing Department
Office of Sponsored Programs
Non Technical Summary
The State of Florida is vulnerable to all types of disaster, both natural and manmade. As the weather patterns and climate changes, it is a priority that our citizens and communities have adequate knowledge on how to prepare for, respond to, recover from and mitigate against disasters and emergencies and their impacts. Within the last 5 years, there have been a series of disasters which have severely impacted residents in the Florida Panhandle, resulting in millions of property damage, loss of homes and crops. Rural and at-risk urban communities are particularly vulnerable due to their location and lack of access to resources. Therefore, their capacity to respond effectively and their recovery time is often among the slowest. The goal of this project is to develop an effective and timely mechanism for providing research based information that will help rural and at-risk rural communities, limited resource farmers, and the individuals and families living in these areas. To be more resilient,local communities must build community capacity to effectively address social and economic vulnerability to disasters and community recovery from disasters. Giving these persons and groups the knowledge and skills needed to respond effectively will help increase their ability to effectively mobilize before, during and after an emergency. The intent is to develop an educational program that can be replicated to increase preparedness and resiliency. Accomplishment of this goal and supporting objectives will be achieved through developing peerreviewed curricula, conducting workshops/trainings, recruiting train-the-trainers/participants and evaluating results. The 4-H/youth delopment component will consist of disaster education and career exploration in related areas including natural resource management, weather, climate and water.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The proposed project is designed to provide educational and technical assistance in disaster vulnerability, preparation, mitigation, response and recovery. Local communities must build community capacity to effectively address social and economic vulnerability to disasters and community recovery from disasters. Stakeholders will develop a better understanding of disaster vulnerability, preparation, mitigation, response and recovery. This project will provide limited resource producers with disaster planning tools for livestock and agriculture to build capacity to effectively address social and economic vulnerability to disasters to reduce the need for emergency response and decrease recovery timeframes. Stakeholders will develop a better understanding of disaster vulnerability, preparation, mitigation, response and recovery. This project will identify existing gaps in local emergency preparedness education to develop a comprehensive, updated disaster education program to improve disaster recovery. The project will also identify how vulnerable populations in rural communities were assisted by long term recovery organizations to address unmet needs.The grant objectives are to:1. Engage underserved and underrepresented youth in disaster preparedness education. Youth will understand how to respond when faced with a crisis. 2. Empower individuals, older adults and families in at-risk urban and rural areas to be prepared to respond to disasters and emergencies. Citizens will be educated citizens about the importance of assuming individual responsibility for their safety and well-being during an emergency or disaster event.3. Increase the number of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) in vulnerable communities. Community members will be trained in the areas of fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and first-aid to provide assistance to first responders and/or respond to disasters until help arrives.4. Assist limited resource farmers and ranchers with developing disaster ready farms. Limited resource farmers and ranchers will learn how to plan for disasters and be better prepared for disasters that can impact their farms or ranches. This project will implement education programs, training and tools to effectively engage and integrate the entire community into local emergency management activities to strengthen resilience and improve outcomes. Overall, everyone in the community will understand how to prepare for, respond to, recover from and mitigate against disasters.
Project Methods
FAMU Cooperative Extension will establish a comprehensive all-hazards disaster preparedness education program for historically underserved populations including individuals, families, youth, seniors, communities, and limited resource producers and ranchers. The first priority is identifying and assessing disaster risk in the targeted areas. In rural areas like Florida's Panhandle, adequate information is needed on population size, location and composition. The most effective way to collect this data is by working with nonprofit agencies, volunteer groups, faith-based organizations, community-based centers, neighborhood-level groups, hospitals and governmental organizations. The goals of this project will be carried out by:Task 1. Implementing a disaster preparedness curriculum for 4H Youth DevelopmentNot only are adults impacted by disasters but children too. The 4H youth development component of this project is to deliver disaster preparedness curricula in Title I schools in classes, afterschool programs and 4H clubs. This program will encourage the participation of Title I schools and afterschool programs in the State of Florida Severe Weather Awareness Week, which includes a statewide tornado drill. A summer camp that focuses on Earth, natural resources/energy, environmental sciences and career exploration in these disciplines will be held. Part of the summer camp will include CERT training for teens. The Teen CERT, Community Emergency Response Team, is a national training program designed for teens who would like to volunteer to 11 help out during a local disaster. It will also help them manage their needs follow a disaster as well.Task 2. Implementing a community awareness seriesThis series will be designed to train and educate individuals, older adults, caregivers and families on how to be prepared and self-sufficient following a natural or man-made disaster for 72 hours up to 2 weeks. It will involve developing educational presentations, demonstrations and hands?on experiential activities that will be delivered to citizens. Topics will include food safety, finances and home protection. The program areas are: i. Personal Emergency Preparedness workshops and social media campaign ii. Emergency and safety awareness for seniors/older adults and caregivers. Seniors/older adults face different challenges. Special programming will address their specific needs. iii. Development of incentive program to form and train Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) in at-risk urban and rural areas. The CERT training includes learning how to operate Amateur Radio (HAM) and basic first-aid techniques. It also includes safe use of chain saws and generators. CERT team members provide critical support before the first responders arrive.Task 3. Developing a disaster ready farm training program for limited resource farmers and ranchersLimited resource producers and ranchers/small farmers have to prepare for hazardous events to not only prevent or minimize the impact on human but on animal and crops as well. The plan is to: i. Assist limited resources producers and ranchers with development of business continuity of operations planning. ii. Train farmers on the use of various technologies for pre and post disaster assessments. In addition, farmers will also learn how to reduce risk and improve resiliency to climate change conditions such as drought and extreme cold. The disaster ready farm training will assist limited resource producers on preparing their farms before a disaster strikes. It will also provide them with websites, videos, guides, worksheets and checklists of assistance before, during and after disasters.