Steps for integrating the communities (group of people in a geographical space, values, context) with the Red Cross

Joseph O. Prewitt Diaz, PhD

Latino Engagement Advisor

Mid Atlantic Division

July 10, 2019

Strep 1: Identifying, locating, and maintaining a profile of diverse racial/ethnic, immigrant, and limited English proficiency (LEP) populations within the community. 

·     Identify communities based on American Community Survey, RC view, LEP maps, and visits.

·     Identify beliefs and customs, attitudes and behaviors, community knowledge and desire to protect itself.

·     Identify community assets and strengths

·     Make an RC view map with these characteristics. Update the map every quarter to update community needs and assets

Step 2: Establishing sustainable partnerships between community representatives and the Red Cross disaster preparedness process to assess, build, and sustain trust with diverse racial/ethnic, immigrant and LEP populations. 

·     Identify and invite community partners (individuals that are trusted, knowledgeable and representative of all sectors of the community). 

·     Explore opportunities for collaboration (involve Red Cross and the people in a co-learning process about prerpae3dness, increase awareness of challenges through training responders and planers.

·     Conduct training (DAT) in preparedness and response that considers SES, cultural, educational, and linguistic barriers. 

·     Ensure that community engagement and membership in the Red Cross is an ongoing process. 

Step  3: Engaging community representatives to design, implement, and evaluate emergency risk communication strategies, ensuring that they are culturally and linguistically appropriate. 

·     Design and develop emergency risk communication that utilizes trusted sources (translate materials from Red Cross as needed—no need to reinvent the wheel 

·     Identify and use trusted community channels, both formal and informal to ensure that messages are received, understood and followed.

·     Identify effective modes of communication by age group, times in the United States and sophistication with phones, or You Tube..

·     Assess the cultural, linguistic and contextual appropriateness of messages. 

Step 4: Developing and testing drills and exercises that reflect the community and incorporate scenarios that explicitly involve culturally and linguistically diverse populations. 

·     Conduct Disaster Institute for trusted community agents, and encourage a local DAT to respond to local disasters.

·     Engage the community to test and evaluate drills and exercises. 

Step 5: Building capacity within the public health preparedness system to respond to unique needs of diverse communities. 

·     Utilize the Red Cross translated Red Cross to build the communities disaster preparedness and response capacity that initially respond to the unique needs of the community, but that prepares the population to serve as Red Cross volunteers in a major disaster. 

·     Identify Red Cross instructors and planners that will consider the linguistic, cultural and contextual characteristics of the community and adapt the training based on those characteristics. 

·     Develop a DAT reflective of the demographic and cultural characteristic of the community.

Step 6: Measuring and evaluating emergency plans and actions from preparedness to recovery, ensuring the active involvement of participants from the Red Cross and the community in a continual process of review. 

·      Keep the number of activities in planning, training, and response (how many times does the local DAT respond to other localities in the larger community).

·      Make note of how the community uses its human, social, and cultural capital to respond to local emergencies.

·      Make note on overall preparedness using RC view as the evaluation tool. Tajke note ass3etsw, challenges and opportunities in meeting the linguistic, cultural and contextual needs during preparedness and response activities. 

Step 7: Coordinating information, resources, and actions across organizations and diverse communities to maximize compliance and adherence to preparedness practices. 

·     Catalog success, challenges and lessons learned and share widely in the community.

·     Share experiences, information and lessons learned with other communities and Red Cross Disaster Services.

Step  8: The Red Cross ensures the capitals ( funds, people, and tools) to develop and sustain activities that strengthen the community’s ability to prepare, respond to, and recover from emergency events in tandem with the Red Cross. 

·     Utilize funding from Red Cross for preparedness and response to engage the Red Cross with community-based representatives (community DAT), and local organizations 

·     Assist the community to fund raise funds for local preparedness and response drills, and community education and preparedness.

·     Sound the Alarm campaign, Pillow Case project in schools, and developing individual and communal disaster preparedness plans and kits.