Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI EXTENSION
(N/A)
COLUMBIA,MO 65211
Performing Department
Division of Plant Science and Technology, Ag. Systems.Tech.
Non Technical Summary
. Project Summary/Abstract:Project Description: EDEN at Work in the Heartlandwill provide training for Extension Personnel in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska to enhance the delivery of disaster management education at the local level and will include special emphasis on reaching under-served and under-represented audiences as highlighted in the FEMA Data Digest: 2022 National Household Survey (NHS) on Disaster Preparedness. This approach will be integrated with the ongoing efforts of the Heartland Extension Disaster Education Network (H-EDEN). The goals of this proposal are:H-EDEN will help individuals and communities understand their hazard risks, how to plan for them, determine ways to mitigate them, and create more resilient communities. 2: Using FEMA's Whole Community approach, Extension professionals will be trained and demonstrate skills in emergency management initiatives that will help and encourage communities to become more resilient.H-EDEN will be recognized as a trusted partner within our communities for emergency preparedness action.Extension personnel will enhance their skills for implementation of emergency management programming at the local level by participating in two in person trainings workshops and will be charged with the mission of delivering local disaster management education upon returning to their home communities as suggested by the NHS results of identifying and developing localized strategies designed to meet people where they are.Key areas this project addresses: (1) Education and Technical Assistance; (2)Interdisciplinary education, training, and technical assistance programs and demonstrationprojects; (3) Long-range family, farm, and community planning projects; and (5)Communications delivery of key information.This project supports the following Extension activities and strategies: 1) Enhancingnetworks; (2) Providing communications leadership; (3) Developing and strengtheningpartnerships; and (4) Delivering Extension education and outreach.This project compliments or enhances available resources: H-EDEN has developed atrusted network throughout the region and nationwide with Extension professionals, emergencymanagement, and non-governmental organizations. This project furthers these efforts byenhancing available resources through these networks and provides opportunities to collaborateand benefit individual and community systems using a localized approach.This projectbuilds upon the H-EDEN training theme of "Extension's Role in Emergency Management" thatprovided a foundational understanding and call to action for Extension professionals. Feedbackfrom H-EDEN surveys identified the need for training and resources to reach underrepresentedand underserved. By utilizing the NHS and focusing on a Whole Community Approach, HEDENwill address gaps identified by Extension professionals.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
C.1. Long-term goal(s) of the project:Goal 1: H-EDEN will help individuals and communities understand their hazard risks,how to plan for them, determine ways to mitigate them, and create more resilient communities.Goal 2: Using FEMA's Whole Community approach, Extension professionals will betrained and demonstrate skills in emergency management initiatives that will help and encouragecommunities to become more resilient.Goal 3: H-EDEN will be recognized as a trusted partner within our communities foremergency preparedness actions.C.2. Define Objectives:Objective 1: Develop a training program for Extension professionals to increase their knowledge ofemergency management topics essential for participation in FEMA's Whole Community efforts.Target Audience/End Users: Extension ProfessionalsDeliverables Action Plan: The planning team for Heartland EDEN will use surveys and evaluationdata from the three previous Heartland EDEN trainings to identify additional training topics that will bedelivered to the four state teams to improve their competency in emergency management. This will assist ourExtension Professionals working more effectively with their communities, local and state emergencymanagement agencies and other community and state stakeholder groups.Objective 2: Using the FEMA Data Digest: 2022 National Household Survey on DisasterPreparedness, the four state teams will develop outreach strategies to help motivate individual and familypreparedness actions within their communities.Target Audience/End Users: The public, with emphasis on historically underserved andunderrepresented people using culturally appropriate education, communication, and resources.Deliverables Action Plan: The four state teams will develop strategies through several methodsregarding how to motivate people to become more disaster resilient. Examples include virtual meetings,email, and at the first in-person training meeting.Objective 3: Support individual and community resilience by identifying and mitigating risks andhazards. FEMA states community resilience is the ability of a community to prepare for anticipated naturalhazards, adapt to changing conditions, and withstand and recover rapidly from disruptions.Target Audience/End Users: Extension Professionals and the public, with emphasis on historicallyunder-served and under-represented people using culturally appropriate education, communication, andresources.Deliverables Action Plan: The four state teams will develop a toolkit that they can use and customizewhen working in the space of disaster preparedness, no matter the population demographics. Usingknowledge gained through the Heartland EDEN grant (2019) or this proposal, Extension will develop anassessment tool to be used when determining the motivational strategies, identified in Objective #2 that canbe used in their specific delivery. It will also include an evaluation tool to be used in their program delivery,disaster planning templates for families, including communication plans and emergency kits, and generalinformation about the hazards affecting their communities. Additional resources will be added as the toolkitis developed.
Project Methods
Activities and Techniques: EDEN at Work in the Heartland leverages existingcollaborative efforts by facilitating the sharing of programs and resources developed between thestates through H-EDEN, creating toolkits and resources Extension professionals, partners andstakeholders can tailor to local risks and hazards, community demographics and local cultures.6This may include print resources, communications and media templates, program challengeideas, tabletop exercises, and more. Extension professionals will have access to in-persontraining and webinars with experts in disaster response and communications as well as specialistsworking with underserved and underrepresented audiences. Training will also include sessions ondisaster behavioral health, critical incident stress management for Extension professionals and theself-care and wellness.Pre-planning, resource coordination, and immediately accessible, easy access recoveryresources are tools to help mitigate the negative impacts from extreme weather events especiallywhen resources are needed most. This project will facilitate strategies to address gaps andgenerate new resources.Identified and developed educational resources will be peer-reviewed and made availableto Extension professionals through H-EDEN and as appropriate, submitted/presented to NationalEDEN.