NATIONAL YOUTH PREPAREDNESS INITIATIVE: PREPARING TEENS; PREPARING COMMUNITIES - PHASE 4 & FINAL EXPANSION

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: ACTIVE
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1029080
• Grant No.: 2022-41210-38065
• Cumulative Award Amt.: $150,000.00
• Proposal No.: 2022-05513
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2022
• Project End Date: Aug 31, 2025
• Grant Year: 2022
• Program Code: [MB]- ESNP Special Needs

Recipient Organization
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
(N/A)
MISSISSIPPI STATE,MS 39762

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
Faced with declining financial resources, agencies focused on emergency preparedness must forge strategic partnership that maximize impact on individual, family, and community preparedness. Land-grant universities and their respective Extension Service units are prime agents for change and can provide resources, networks, and outreach, dramatically impacting community preparedness, by engaging, enabling, and empowering a largely underutilized target group --- youth.The precursor to MyPI National, the Mississippi Youth Preparedness Initiative (MyPI) has an innovative outreach model, emphasizing service and leadership by teenagers, who are led through a comprehensive preparedness campaign by trained instructors. The model includes delivery of the certified CERT curriculum, specialized technology tracks, career exploration, smoke alarm awareness, CPR/AED certification, COVID and public health awareness and mitigation, active shooter awareness, disaster simulation participation, and a capstone leadership project, in which every student assists seven families in developing emergency supply kits and communication plans.For its innovation and success, the MyPI model has the following distinctions:2019 National Association of Extension 4-H Agents National Award winner for Leadership in 4-H Youth Development2018 FEMA National CERT Conference Award winner for Preparing the Whole Community2017 and 2014 FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Award winners for "Outstanding Youth Preparedness" and an Honorable Mention for "Preparing the Whole Community"Dr. C. Ryan Akers, Project Coordinator and Creator of MyPI and MyPI National, was named a White House "Champion of Change" in 2014.The program is a recognized Affirmer of the National Strategy for Youth Preparedness Education, meeting all nine of its strategic priority steps.In 2016, MyPI National was funded for a Phase 1 Pilot Expansion, which included partnering entities in Nebraska, Hawaii, Washington, Virginia, New Jersey, Tennessee, Illinois, and Mississippi. In 2017, MyPI National was funded for a Phase 2 Expansion which included partnering entities in Georgia, North Carolina, Arkansas, South Dakota, Nevada, Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Alabama, Oregon, and Guam. In 2018, based on the great success of the program and to support the proposed two year (9/1/2018 - 8/31/2020) project, "National Youth Preparedness Initiative: Preparing Teens; Preparing Communities - Phase 3 Expansion, MyPI National received funding for a Phase 3 Expansion of the program in Alaska, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, and the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands.To support the proposed two-year (9/1/2022 - 8/31/2024) program, "National Youth Preparedness Initiative: Preparing Teens; Preparing Communities, Phase 4 Expansion", we request $150,000 to replicate MyPI National's success within South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Oklahoma, Iowa, California, Louisiana, Connecticut, Maryland, Utah, and Idaho. Funding can enable these partners to deliver the program to 1,500 students, directly impacting 10,500 households, while producing positive impact on civic responsibility, community service, youth leadership, family cohesion, among others, and most importantly, individual, family, and community preparedness and resilience. This funding will allow MyPI National to grow to 36 states and 2 US territories. Documented success and developed partnerships will sustain each program for years to follow.

Animal Health Component

80%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

10%

Applied

80%

Developmental

10%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
807	6099	3020	50%
802	6020	3020	10%
806	6050	3020	20%
723	6099	3020	20%

Knowledge Area
807 - Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery; 806 - Youth Development; 723 - Hazards to Human Health and Safety; 802 - Human Development and Family Well-Being;

Subject Of Investigation
6020 - The family and its members; 6099 - People and communities, general/other; 6050 - Communities, areas, and regions;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;

Keywords

civic responsibility

community resilience

emergency management

youth preparedness

Goals / Objectives
For a variety of unfortunate reasons, children and youth are a remarkably overlooked population group when it comes to engagement in emergency preparedness education (Ronan and Johnston, 2001b). This runs counterproductive to effective individual, family, and community preparedness and resilience. In an era seemingly defined by an increasing number of natural disasters and emergency scenarios and capitalized by the sheer strength and destruction of many of these events, society must absolutely provide plentiful opportunities to directly engage children and youth in the preparedness discussion. Unfortunately, these programs are rare and not consistently offered across the country. Our youth population is particularly vulnerable to hazards, emergencies, and disasters. Comprising over 25% of the population of the United States, approximately 66.5 million children are adversely impacted by a disaster each year (National Commission on Children and Disasters, 2009b; U.S. Census Bureau, 2004; Penrose and Takaki, 2006). That is a staggering statistic when one factors in the rising number of disasters and those living in poverty. Approximately 14.1 million children in the United States live below the poverty line. Barriers to youth preparedness education for children living in poverty are quite numerous (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2009).The problem is that despite these trends and gaps, there is little national focus on youth and children when it comes to involvement in disaster preparedness education. Even smaller is the number of truly engaging and comprehensive disaster preparedness education programs for youth across the country. Seeking to provide a remedy for this problem and to increase awareness, leadership, civic responsibility, community service, teamwork, family communication and cohesion, among other concepts, and to enhance individual, family, and community preparedness and resilience, the associated proposal, "National Youth Preparedness Initiative: Preparing Teens; Preparing Communities, Phase 4Expansion" seeks to capitalize on the resounding success and positive impact created from an innovative and comprehensive youth preparedness education model developed and delivered in Mississippi and replicated in 23additional states and twoUS territoriesunder the Pilot phase of MyPI National and the Phase 2 and Phase 3 Expansions. The program also seeks to set the new standard for youth preparedness outreach throughout the United State and to provide the impact data to support such a goal.Program Area Alignment: Specifically, this project will improve regional/national stakeholder partnerships across traditional boundaries to decrease the impact of disasters through extension education.Overall Project Goal: To serve as an incubator program that develops sustainable youth preparedness programs in each partner state/territory through a comprehensive and engaging, three-pronged outreach model and to produce a viable option for a new standard for national youth preparedness outreach through extension education and partnering.

Project Methods
Upon receiving award for Phase 4 Expansion of MyPI National, the National Coordinating Team (NCT) will immediately begin communicating with established Points of Contact with the 12 new partnering states (South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Oklahoma, Iowa, California, Louisiana, Connecticut, Maryland, Utah, and Idaho). Of note, if a state subsequently decides to decline participation post-award, the NCT has a solid list of states on standby. The Project Director will begin logistics planning with the POCs to identify five counties in each state along with at least two personnel per partnering agency, and to schedule each of the Instructor Training and Certification Workshops (ICTWs), one per partnering agency. These workshops will require three full days as opposed to MyPI Mississippi's two day workshop due to the added time necessary for explanation of evaluation protocols and website development, hosting, and use. Once the workshops are scheduled, the NCT will work with the POCs to finalize remaining logistical matters for each training. The MyP National Team (Project Director, CERT Instructor, Evaluation Specialist, and Technology Specialist) will then travel to each preferred training location with all necessary training materials and resources needed to deliver the workshop. Due to the extensive work and time needed to train and certify, it is customary to provide working lunch and working dinner along with small snacks, as the workshop begins at 9:00 am and concludes at 9:00 pm each day. During working lunches, we designate time to explore Frequently Asked Questions and Lessons Learned from instructors and continue to cover curriculum. During working dinners, we review CERT content and discuss required paperwork, including calendar drafting, reporting system review, waivers, etc.During the workshops, all instructors will be taken through the delivery of the CERT curriculum where they will demonstrate their mastery of the curriculum, and their ability to perform and assess skills and to teach portions of the material. CERT includes the following modules: Disaster Preparedness, Fire Safety and Utility Control, Disaster Medical Operations I and II, Light Search and Rescue, CERT Organization, Disaster Psychology, and Terrorism and CERT, along with all specific hazard annexes. The Add-On Catalog along with its prepackaged presentations and guest speaker opportunities will be discussed in detail. Instructors will also be made aware of the additional logistical components of the national model as well as how to incorporate or build relationships with the local and state response community. Promotion of the program and recruitment of students are also two critical components of these workshops. As part of the national project, MyPI National, a portion of the funding is allocated for the development, hosting, and maintenance of a dedicated, multi-functional and uniform website for each partner's youth preparedness program, which was modeled after Mississippi's website, mypi.extension.msstate.edu.Once the two year project timeline ends, the hosting and maintenance of the websites will transfer to those partnering entities. The website will partner with social media outlets to serve as a primary marketing tool for potential students, parents, instructors, and community leaders. The website also houses the resource library with all documents, presentations, evaluation system, videos, and required paperwork necessary for MyPI National program delivery. Also included in the website is the password protected Course Progress Submission for instructors and the online learning community via a dedicated message board.

Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:No major changes to report here other than to again state that Connecticut, who agreed twice to participate in the program and submitted the necessary paperwork, decided to withdraw. Texas took Connecticut's place in the program. The Connecticut withdrawal was somewhat frustrating as the newly appointed Program Manager (not who originally committed to the project) did not seem to be able to connect the dots in terms of how we execute the project. She was caught up in curriculum issues and ultimately decided that Connecticut didn't have the staff to achieve our goals, although another staff member seemed much more optimistic. Although we have replaced Connecticut with Texas, we have not closed the door on this state and are looking at other potential host agencies. To this point, we've been unsuccessful in finding a statewide agency with which to partner and grow the program. While this project focuses on youth (specifically teens), the project's wide-reaching nature also involves instructors, parents/guardians, communities, and those families/households that become a part of each student's leadership/service project. We will first train up to 15 instructors per state, which represents 3 instructors per selected county. In total, up to 180 new instructors can be trained under this funding among the new partners. 1,500 students (125 per state) can graduate from the program. As a result of their enrollment and participation (and subsequent graduation), each student will complete a rigorous curriculum and also work with their own household plus six additional households they select for a total of seven households per student. That formula allows for 10,500 households to be directly impacted by delivery of MyPI National in these new states, producing a substantial impact and proven formula for enhancing individual, family, and community preparedness and resilience. Developed partnerships and impact data will help enable the framework for delivery will be sustained for continued impact after the project's funding period closes.Project goals remain intact and achievable. Changes/Problems:There is nothing new to add from previous progress reports here. The inflated costs associated with virtually all curriculum and marketing resources for the project (as well as travel) have presented some challenges along the way, but we've cut costs in certain areas to make adjustments for these increased expenses. One example, our backpacks with emergency supplies at the onset of the project were essentially $67 per backpack. They are now $85per backpack. That's a large increase but we have been able to make up for those elevated expenses with two budget modifications. Inflation is a problem across the board and our program is not immune to the financial challenges. However, we like a good challenge and have been working on strategic ways to push through the project. I remain optimistic about our ability to do so. We do still have a few programs that have been slow in building back staff resources which has resulted in new program installation as a slower pace than in previous Expansion phases. As I mentioned in the our last progress report, the "Great Resignation" is definitely something that we have dealt with in some of the states that signed on with official letters of intent. Reassignment of duties, new leadership, and decreased staff presence have been topics of conversation with Connecticut, Idaho, South Carolina, and Ohio. While we have added Texas to the Expansion (to replace Connecticut) and have had conversations with other states about coming onboard, we have continued to work with those states that have remained solid in their commitment to the project. We have already installed MyPI Utah, MyPI New York, MyPI California, MyPI Oklahoma, and MyPI South Carolinaand will be installing 2more new programs and certifying their initial cohort of instructors in Pennsylvania and Louisiana in 2024. We continue to schedule into 2025as well. To enhance the programmatic aspect, we have added a second program to our installations, that being the pre-MyPI Hazard Indentification and Mitigation program, Ready in the Middle (RITM). We took RITM national during the pandemic and it has remained popular. We are offering that program to each state with a new MyPI program. And we contine to successfully monitor and install new programs around technology challenges related to our comprehensive websites. This is really no longer considered a problem as it once was. The old content management and programmic system used in building the MyPI websites was known as Drupal. In 2023, there was an announcement that Drupal was going away and there would no longer be support for issues within that content management system. So we had to use WordPress and create a mirror website model for our old site. The new WordPress CMS is working great for all involved, perhaps even better than Drupal and all systems continue to accomplish what they were intended to do. And again, from the perspective of the students, they never noticed the change. This was mainly for instructors and program managers. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As a National Coordinating Team, we are still primarily focused on installing all new programs, so opportunities for training and professional development independent of our program for us has been somewhat limited. We are solely focused on our installation and program promotion and delivery goals. However, we have had some ofour state partners that have indicated completed conference presentations and professional meetings focused on their new programs. And our MyPI National team will eventually join in with more formal presentations as well. There have been plentiful opportunities for us and all state programs to do exactly this in terms of training and professional development in other phases of this project. In Phase 4, we have completed five ICTWs, and those programs are delivering MyPI content. Participation, response, and support has remained overwhelmingly positive and the motivation to push this project is very inspiring. The VERY active severe weather season across the country, especially in the Midwest, has energized agency partnership and increased a desire to bring in MyPI and Ready in the Middle. In the ICTWs, we essentially take our instructors through a CERT Trainer the Trainer and a MyPI Train the Trainer, so they understand both the content of the program and how to deliver all components of it. The State/Territory program managers and/or attending members of the state/territory/local emergency management and first responder communities have cleared many of these partnered programs to lead future CERT trainings and of course, our process clears them to lead future MyPI trainings. Just as in the Phase 1 Pilot, the Phase 2 Expansion, and the Phase 3 Expansion, we have local, state/territory, and federal emergency management representation that will stop in and introduce themselves, learn more about the program, and offer their support to the instructors. The networking between instructors and members of the emergency management and first responder communities that takes place in these ICTWs leads to additional opportunities in the future. Utah already has a developing path towards sustainability...a goal that was achieved by having an influential member of state government present in our first ICTW there. South Carolina and New York have also communicated the same. Many of our other programs are already discussing sustainability issues and making the critical local/state partnerships that would benefit that and expand their programs. This was made possible by the initial Train the Trainer and/or connections made by MyPI National in developing their programs. Members of the MyPI National team have been incorporated in these additional trainings as well. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?There is no cumulative final data to report yet from this phase of MyPI National expansion, however, partnered programs and their respective program managers and instructors can utilize their access to their evaluation data. This data consistently confirms the many benefits of our program as it relates to not only individual, family, and community preparedness, but also enhanced youth leadership characteristics, youth development, civic responsibility, communication, family cohesion, decision-making, etc. This information is shared with program managers in order for them to promote program impact to their stakeholders and typically used for local and state-level support and advocacy as well as statements of impact. This also assists with potential funding opportunities as their programs continue to grow. The compelling data will continue to be collected from the students as the program deliveries continue to progress within these partnered programs. Data and themes will eventually be reported at a variety of state and national-level emergency management and youth development meetings and conferences. The MyPI National NCT is still concentrating on instructor certification and training for new programs installations at the moment. We will distribute and share this information for state-wide and national audiences at relevant conferences across the country. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?WIth a one year, no-cost extension of the project, we will continue to execute the program as proposed and complete the final ICTWs and continue to monitor program delivery. We have also begun to transition parts of the program (namely the website monitoring and maintenance and social media sites) over to their host agencies and will continue to do so throughout the remainder of the project. MyPI National will continue to assist the program managers and instructors as needed, not only with delivery and instruction, but also with program promotion and branding, network building, any virtual deliveries necessary, etc. Each partnered program will continue to deliver to their students, who will continue to progress through the course content and the service projects. Websites and social media accounts will continue to be updated with program information and resources/information related to all risks and hazards. Ownership of all these resources will eventually transfer over to the partnered programs during the transition period. Data will continue to provide evidence of individual and community impact. This data will continue to be compiled and presented to a variety of local, state/territory, and national entities. Our hope and charge remains constant and as critical as ever...that sustainable youth preparedness programs in each state/territory will continue and be of benefit to youth leadership/youth development as well as individual, family, and community preparedness and resilience for years to come.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Similar to the successful implementation and execution of the Phase 1 Pilot, the Phase 2 Expansion, and the Phase 3 Expansion progress of this program, MyPI National remains centered around the stated program goals within the Phase 4 expansion of this project. We are following our proposed model to certify 10-15 instructors per partnered program, graduate 125 students per partnered program, and directly engage and impact 875 households per program, while collecting the data necessary to produce impact reports that can lead to sustainable youth preparedness programs for years to come (which is the overall goal of the project). We have successfully installed new programs and completed Instructor Certification and Training Workshops (ICTWs) for this four-time, national award-winning program in Utah, New York, California, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. We have also provided Instructor Certification and Training Workshops for Ready in the Middle (our pre-MyPI Hazard/Risk Awareness and Mitigation program) to each of these participating partners as well. Additionally, we have ICTWs scheduled for Pennsylvania in September, Louisiana in November, and Texas in January. In total, 83 new instructors have been added thus in the Phase IV expansion and all programs are delivering. Websites and social media platforms for all installed programs are operating successfully. Successful partnerships with local and state agencies in each state are either fostered or are in development. Promotion and advocacy for these programs extends beyond MyPI National and the host agencies. FEMA Regional Admin, state level emergency management, education professionals, etc., have all been a part of the advocacy efforts as the individual program continues to grow and position itself for long-term success. We continue to remain in contact with all state-wide programs and partnering agencies in those states as we work towards new installations that will complete the Phase 4 Expansion.

Publications

Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:No major changes to report here. After two well-attended Zoom sessions with potential instructors and the required Letter of Intent, Connecticut chose to withdraw from the project and has been replaced with Texas. The Connecticut withdrawal was somewhat frustrating as the newly appointed Program Manager (not who originally committed to the project) did not seem to be able to connect the dots in terms of how we execute the project. She was caught up in curriculum issues and ultimately decided that Connecticut didn't have the staff to achieve our goals, although another staff member seemed much more optimistic. Although we have replaced Connecticut with Texas, we have not closed the door on this state and are looking at other potential host agencies. While this project focuses on youth (specifically teens), in the five counties selected among the partnering states of South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Oklahoma, Iowa, California, Louisiana, Connecticut (replaced with Texas), Maryland, Utah, and Idaho, the project's wide-reaching nature also involves instructors, parents/guardians, communities, and those families/households that become a part of each student's leadership/service project. We will first train up to 15 instructors per state, which represents 3 instructors per selected county. In total, up to 180 new instructors can be trained under this funding among the new partners. 1,500 students (125 per state) can graduate from the program. As a result of their enrollment and participation (and subsequent graduation), each student will complete a rigorous curriculum and also work with their own household plus six additional households they select for a total of seven households per student. That formula allows for 10,500 households to be directly impacted by delivery of MyPI National in these new states, producing a substantial impact and proven formula for enhancing individual, family, and community preparedness and resilience. Developed partnerships and impact data will help enable the framework for delivery will be sustained for continued impact after the project's funding period closes. Changes/Problems:While the process of new program installation has been a little slower than in previous Expansion phases, that was to be anticipated. The "Great Resignation" is definitely something that we have dealt with in some of the states that signed on with official letters of intent. Reassignment of duties, new leadership, and decreased staff presence have been topics of conversation with Connecticut, Idaho, South Carolina, and Ohio. While we have added Texas to the Expansion (to replace Connecticut) and have had conversations with other states about coming onboard, we have continued to work with those states that have remained solid in their commitment to the project. We have already installed MyPI Utah and will be installing 3 more new programs and certifying their initial cohort of instructors in California, New York, and Louisiana. We continue to schedule into 2024 as well. To enhance the programmatic aspect, we have added a second program to our installations, that being the pre-MyPI Hazard Indentification and Mitigation program, Ready in the Middle (RITM). We took RITM national during the pandemic and it has remained popular. We are offering that program to each state with a new MyPI program. The second issue that we have dealt with was a technology component. The old content management and programmic system used in building the MyPI websites was known as Drupal. In 2023, there was an announcement that Drupal was going away and there would no longer be support for issues within that content management system. So we had to use WordPress and create a mirror website model for our old site. We did that for Utah and the system works even better from the perspective of admin and instructors using it. From the perspective of the students, they will never notice the change. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As a National Coordinating Team, we have been primarily focused on installing all new programs, so opportunities for training and professional development independent of our program for us as well as our state partners haven't been undertaken as of yet. However, there are discussions taking place that will lead to that, and certainly, there have been plentiful opportunities for all state programs to in terms of training and professional development in other phases of this project. In Phase 4, we have completed one Instructor Certification and Training Workshop(ICTW) in Phase 3 Expansion, so that programiseligible to deliver MyPI and to start reaping the many benefits associated with MyPI. We will soon add California, New York, and Louisiana to that list, followed by more in 2024. Utah has begun delivery and will continue to work towards their program goals.Participation, response, and support has remainedoverwhelmingly positive and the motivation to push this project is very inspiring. In the ICTWs, we essentially takeour instructors through a CERT Trainer the Trainer and a MyPI Train the Trainer, so they understand both the content of the program and how to deliver all components of it. The State/Territory Program Managers and/or attending members of thestate/territory/local emergency management and first responder communities have cleared many of these partnered programsto lead future CERT trainings and of course, our process clears them to lead future MyPI trainings. Just as in the Phase 1Pilot,the Phase 2 Expansion, and the Phase 3 Expansion, we have local, state/territory, and federal emergency managementrepresentation that will stop in and introduce themselves, learn more about the program, and offer their support to theinstructors. The networking between instructors and members of the emergency management and first respondercommunities that takes place in these ICTWs will no doubt lead to additional opportunities in the future. Utah already has a developing path towards sustainability...a goal that was achieved by having an influential member of state government present in our first ICTW there. Many of our other programs arealready discussingsustainability issues and making the critical local/state partnerships that would benefit that and expand their programs. This was made possible by the initial Train the Trainer and/or connections made by MyPI National in developing theirprograms. Members of the MyPI National team have been incorporated in these additional trainings as well. As mentionedpreviously, MyPI received our program's 4th national award in 5 years by being recognized as the National award winner forCitizenship in 4-H Youth Development by the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?There is no cumulative final data to report yet from MyPI National, however, partnered programs and their respective Program Managers and Instructors canutilizetheir access to their evaluation data. This data consistentlyconfirmsthe many benefits of our program as it relates to not only individual, family, and community preparedness, but also enhanced youth leadership characteristics, youth development, civic responsibility, communication, family cohesion, decision-making, etc. This information is shared with Program Managers in order for them to promote program impact to their stakeholders and typically used for local and state-level support and advocacy as well as statements of impact. The compelling data will continue to be collected from the students as the program deliveries continue to progress within these partnered programs. Data and themes will eventually bereported at a variety of state and national-level emergency management and youth development meetings and conferences. We are just concentrating on instructor certification and training for new programs at the moment.We will distribute andshare this information for state-wide and national audiences at relevant conferences across the country. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to execute the program as proposed and complete the final ICTWs and continue to monitor program delivery. We will also begin to transition these programs over to their host agencies around early summer of 2024. MyPI National will continue to assist the Program Managers and Instructors as needed, not only with delivery and instruction, but also with program promotion and branding, network building, any virtual deliveries necessary, etc. Each partnered program will continue to deliver to their students, who will continue to progress through the course content and the service projects. Websites and social media accounts will continue to be updated with program information and resources/information related to all risks and hazards. Ownership of these resources will eventually transfer over to the partnered programs during the transition period. Data will continue to provide evidence of individual and community impact. This data will continue to be compiled and presented to a variety of local, state/territory, and national entities. Our hope and charge remains true...that sustainable youth preparedness programs in each state/territory will continue and be of benefit to youth leadership/youth development as well as individual, family, and community preparedness and resilience for years to come.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Similar to the successful implementation and execution of the Phase 1 Pilot,the Phase 2 Expansion, and the Phase 3 Expansion progress of thisprogram, MyPI National remains centered around the stated program goals within the Phase 4expansion of this project. We are following our proposed model tocertify 10-15 instructors per partnered program, graduate 125 students per partnered program, and directly engage andimpact 875 households per program, while collecting the data necessary to produce impact reports that can lead to sustainable youth preparedness programs for years to come (which is the overall goal of the project). OneInstructorCertification and Training Workshops (ICTWs) have been completed (MyPI Utah with 16 new instructors and 1 new program manager) and hasbegun delivery under the fundingand MyPI National administration. Three additional new state program installations will take place in 2023 in California, New York, and Louisiana. A new content management system is part of the Comprehensive statewebsite for MyPI Utahand its social media accountislive andupdated on a regular basis. The same will be done for the 3 new programs in 2023 and the remaining programs in 2024. Successful partnerships with local and state agencies in eachstateare either fostered or are in development. Promotion and advocacy for these programs extends beyond MyPINational and the host agencies. FEMA Regional Admin, state level emergency management, education professionals, etc.,have all been a part of the advocacy efforts as the individual programcontinues to grow and position itselffor long-termsuccess. We continue to remain in contact with all state-wide programs and partnering agencies in those states as we work towards new installations that will complete the Phase 4 Expansion.

Publications