Occasionally the CARRI team finds something so exciting or so well done that we can’t wait to share it with others who are truly interested in making their communities more resilient. Last week, while visiting our Memphis/Shelby County, Tennessee partners we found something just that exciting and well done.
The Shelby County Mayors’ Collaborative Community-Wide Preparedness Initiative or “I’m Ready” Campaign is the best, most comprehensive and coordinated community campaign for individual and family readiness that we’ve seen anywhere. The initiative and campaign was a true partnership effort of the mayors of Shelby County and its local municipalities who enthusiastically came together to provide their community with a living program for disaster readiness. Funded and managed by the Assisi Foundation of Memphis, Inc., an amazing, local, non-profit organization, the campaign is a completely positive, non-threatening way to get all citizens truly involved in preparing for emergencies.
Beginning in 2007, the Assisi Foundation conducted focus group and telephonic surveys to determine what residents knew about emergency and disaster preparedness, what information they needed and how they wished to have the information communicated. (Imagine that – ask the community what they think they need and how they think the need should be met.) The results of the surveys indicated strongly that the community wanted a message that was proactive and provided a positive message; topical in that it served to prepare things like the family, home, school, automobile, and pets; had a local focus rather than a national identity; created a consistent “feel” across the entire county; was tied to seasonal opportunities; and had a highly targeted message. Listening carefully to what the community said, the mayors and Foundation then went to work to craft a program that was positive and didn’t contribute to “disaster fatigue;” was simple and took into account the varying education levels across the county; was versatile and offered a vehicle for encouraging all kinds of preparedness without favoring a particular emergency; and was a rallying cry that caused people to want to join in. Instead of saying “Get Ready” the mayors asked themselves how they could empower the community to say “I’m Ready.”
There is no way that I can adequately describe the coherence, simplicity, or power of this community program. You can see the results at www.readyshelby.org but to truly understand its potential, you should talk to those who put it together. Now here is the really great part – the mayors and Foundation are offering the program to any community that wants to use it -- for FREE. Take the program, the materials, the logos, the commercials and insert your own name. It’s a ready-made program – well thought out and ready to go now. (I think that it would be nice to credit the mayors for their idea. They worked hard on it. But they are giving it away and you can have it.)
Check it out and then contact the Assisi Foundation of Memphis at www.assisifoundation.org.
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After viewing the I’m Ready’ web site, I must state that I definitely like the simplicity and non-threatening way that the site offers its audience and certainly I applaud the theory of a ground up, community/user, need based survey to determine and identify preparedness needs across all education/social economic levels. I particularly applaud the simple distribution of specific browsing features such as Home, Family, Work, Auto and Pets, the last (pets) proving to me that they did they groundwork, as it is an often ignored (Katrina etc.) but a most significant issue when individuals/families are obliged in making disaster safety decisions (evacuations etc.)
ReplyDeleteThere are many of these Internet community based preparedness initiatives across the country and countless are different and community-specific however there are some appealing ideas that could be possibly integrated. In my mind, the main focus is to get the community to actually read it, interested, involved and thereby prepared. An example and a few thoughts are gathered from the ‘Get Prepared: Ready New York’ web site http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/html/get_prepared/ready.shtml
· A calendar of events (different ‘Ready NY’ events occurring a various parts of the community)
· A speakers Bureau (trained speakers, providing numerous of Ready New York preparedness presentations to various schools, tenant and block associations, town hall, and community board meetings, and safety fairs) I would add here that many retired police officers, firefighters and EMS individuals perform these functions as well as CERT team etc. and are an invaluable asset to assist a community in resiliency and preparedness for a quicker recovery after a disaster.
· Downloadable publications such as information for seniors and people with disabilities etc. etc. etc.
I particularly like the page where one can find your Readiness Quotient!
What's Your Readiness Quotient?
Find out how ready you are in the event of an emergency — determine your "Readiness Quotient" or RQ. The Council for Excellence in Government has created an online program to determine Americans' level of preparedness.
Take a survey to find out your RQ
Learn about the Public Readiness Index
Raise your RQ
I am not sure if Community “Certification” in resiliency is a possibility but certainly raising the public’s or community readiness awareness can be accomplished by these efforts such as the www.readyshelby.org site. It is all about partnerships and stakeholders such as non-governmental organizations (NGO), as can be seen by the American Red Cross in Greater New York also providing a preparedness presentation, "Together We Prepare New York."
I applaud Shelby County and its partners on it proactive initiative of their empowering “I’m Ready” campaign, it now needs to be enhanced and united in flexibility and common terminology with the City of Memphis and its surrounding communities.