Recipient Organization
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
1680 MADISON AVENUE
WOOSTER,OH 44691
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The project expands the knowledge, skills and capacity of OSUExtension (OSUE) and other partners to respond to train derailments following the devastation affecting the citizens and economic vitality of East Palestine, Ohio. Our project engages all four extension program areas of agriculture, community development, family consumer sciences, and youth development with designed curricula, community leadership presentations and tabletop exercises in the event an emergency of this nature occurs in other regions of the state. Through print, electronic and video resources the curricula will increase Extension's ability to respond to community emergencies. A capacity assessment and customizable communication plan will take into the account the professional development needs of educators; train-the-trainer curriculum will be developed for extension educators to lead local community efforts on topics of emergency readiness. The goal is to maximize efficiency and response to public needs during disastrous railroad incidents or similar events.Guided by four objectives, the project will deliver extension education to people and communities affected by the 2023 Ohio train derailment:1. Determine organizational capacity and identify needs of professionals to better serve Ohio for emergency readiness, knowledge of management plans, and response coordination.2. Develop emergency management curricula for train derailment and other community-wide disasters, including customizable "community action guides" and video vignettes.3. Deliver train-the-trainer materials and educate use of electronic formats to other Extension educators and partners to multiply programming efforts for a variety of audiences.4. Share emergency preparedness educational resources for train derailment response with other Extension and professional organizations.At the completion of this project, OSUE will have higher organizational capacity to understand roles and response protocols to emergencies; improve technical capacity of our crisis response team; and provide leadership to local government and community organizations by teaching emergency train-the-trainer programs.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The project will address five NIFA Special Needs program target areas of Education and technical assistance; Inter-disciplinary education, training, and technical assistance programs; Long-range family, farm, and community planning projects; Food security and health equity projects; and Communication delivery of key information. The focus is on NIFA Strategy 4 to Deliver extension education to people and communities affected by the Norfolk Southern Railway derailment in East Palestine Ohio. At the completion of this project, the goal is to have higher organizational capacity to understand roles and response protocols to emergencies; improve technical capacity of the OSU Extension crisis response team; and provide leadership to local government and community organizations by teaching emergency train-the-trainer programs by OSU Extension professionals.The following objectives will guide our project.Objective 1: Determine organizational capacity and needs of extension professionals to serve Ohio for emergency readiness, knowledge of management plans, and response coordination.Target audience: OSUE professionals at county, district and state levels regardless of title.Action plan: A. Capacity Assessment - All professionals will complete a survey indicating their personal knowledge of emergency response plans and level of engagement in Ohio-based emergency incidents (these may be different based on job description and program area); B. Build Teams for Future Response - A team of individuals will be identified to participate in specific training to enhance their skills and abilities to bring resources and training to OSUE peers; C. Build Network of Existing Resources - review and identify existing technical training programs to support OSUE, including: National Incident Management System (NIMS) or Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trainings, Bovine Emergency Response Plan (BERP) trainings, or EDEN specific courses.Objective 2: Develop emergency management curricula for train derailment and other community disasters, including customizable "community action guides" and video vignettes.Target audience: OSUE professionals, state and local governing authorities.Action plan: Create lesson plans, plug & play emergency community action guides containing local, state and federal action-based contact lists, evaluations for a tabletop exercises and train- the-trainer presentations. Tabletop training programs for will bring OSUE and community organizations together to work through disaster scenarios that will use embedded video vignettes scenarios.Objective 3: Deliver train-the-trainer materials to community stakeholders and other Extension educators and state agency partners to multiply programming efforts for a variety of audiences.Target audience: OSUE professionals, community organizations and businesses, and local governing authorities (e.g. township trustees, county commissioners, fair board managers, etc.Action plan: Using the incident response from the East Palestine train derailment as a model, engage OSUE professionals in tabletop exercises to understand the size and scope of involvement local state and federal agencies, and implications for how they may need to respond if an emergency of this nature occurred in their community. Empower OSUE professionals to understand emergency response procedures and teach sessions to their community clientele.Objective 4: Share emergency preparedness educational resources for train derailment response with other Extension and professional organizations.Target audience: OSUE response team members and their state / national peers.Action plan: Present and share findings, curriculum, and processes of the East Palestine emergency response with state/national colleagues and community leaders to increase awareness and have a foundational plan that can be modeled in other communities.
Project Methods
The following protocols will be used in during our 2-yr project.Objective 1: Determine organizational capacity and identify needs of extension professionals.Methods for Organizational Capacity assessment: An initial statewide survey will be conducted with persons at all levels and ranks of OSU Extension. Understanding organizational capacity is an important measurement to inform Administration of additional needs and professional development to support county functions. After delivery of five regional tabletop exercises, OSUE participants will take a post-test to measure knowledge gain and intent to work with community planning committees. Surveys will be anonymous, but comparable to pre-test results based on geographic location and extension rank. The OSU Director of Extension will stress importance of this assessment and assist project team with recruitment efforts. The OSUE administrative office will provide a link to the online questionnaire to all extension professionals in county/district/state locations, with a goal of an 85% completion rate.Methods for Professional Development for Crisis Response Team. Upon participation in technical training programs, sponsored team members will self-assess their growth and ability to bring technical resources back to Ohio. Efforts will be evaluated based on the value of resources gained and the technical skill set contributed to objectives.Methods to inform broader community, including EDEN, Cooperative Extension, USDA NIFA and other stakeholders: State level assessment tools to evaluate Extension's preparedness may be shared with EDEN and peer Extension professionals in other states as a template for replication. Results will be included in annual progress reports, conferences, and publications.Objective 2: Develop emergency management curricula for train derailment.Methods. Printed and web-based curriculum resources will be created for tabletop exercise workshops, using information learned from East Palestine incident and other vetted training resources. Video scripts and scenarios will complement the training program with actual incident examples for participants to respond to and engage with other emergency organizational players. An external review will be conducted with peers from EDEN, Cooperative Extension, and other stakeholders prior to implementation; final product shared at EDEN conferences and in project reports.Objective 3: Deliver train-the-trainer materials and educate use of electronic formats.Methods. The curriculum used for tabletop exercise will be converted to a train-the-trainer format, which includes directions for OSUE educators to use in their local community programs; this includes incident overview scripts, player books for different roles, and curriculum packets for participants. Many of the non-effected counties in the state do not fully understand the scope and intensity of train derailment incidents. The training will be of interest to other communities and will provide opportunities for OSUE to connect local groups for leadership and community development. Train- the-trainer resources will be shared with appropriate EDEN executive committees with final product shared at EDEN conferences; and included in NIFA reports.Objective 4: Share emergency educational resources with other Extension and professionals.Methods: OSUE professionals will submit conference abstracts for consideration at professional conferences for multiple program areas: EDEN, National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA), Community Development, Risk Management and others. In- person and shorter online webinar formats will be developed. Articles will be written for popular press and peer reviewed journal articles, and included in NIFA reports. There may be opportunities to submit conference sessions to international associations, i.e. the International Society for Agricultural Safety and Health, Association for International Agriculture and Extension Education Conference.