# Presentation: 218802

## American Red CrossPublic Education Efforts

- Presented by:  Rocky Lopes
- Disaster Services Department
- American Red Cross National HQ

## Red Cross Educational Efforts

- Conducted by our *local* Red Cross chapters nationwide.
- During 1999, we estimate that we reached *more than 20,000,000 people* in the U.S. with life-saving information.
- We have *more than 10,000* people who serve as *educators and communicators*.

## Approach to Public Education

- It is a ***local*** effort, related to hazards that may occur in the particular area.  *People will not prepare for something they do not believe can happen to them where they are.*
- It is ***research-based***.  Research from academic studies, marketing and advertising surveys, and ongoing evaluation is used to develop materials and chapter guidance.

## What we know from research

- People need to know what to DO and why.
- Telling people what not to do is not the same thing as telling them what to do.
- Visual and verbal messages need to match.  Telling someone “don’t drive through a flooded road” using a photo of a vehicle driving through a flood doesn’t work!

## Research knowledge

- 70% of people are *visual learners*.  They remember what they see far better than what they hear.
- 85% of males are visual learners.
- Negative images (showing people in trouble/hurt/injured) *intensifies disaster denial.  *

## What we don’t know

- How to keep those at highest risk from dying in flood waters out of the water.
- Precisely what *does* motivate and what *does not* motivate the target audience.

## Red Cross approach...

- Disaster Education is frequently a *collaborative effort*.  Most materials are jointly developed for consistency and accuracy, and information dissemination is encouraged to be coordinated to ensure that *all target audiences received consistent, accurate, and appropriate information*.

## Operating Principles

- People *shop around* for information, and do what’s easiest, cheapest, and least time consuming to prepare or respond to an event *even if it is not the right thing to do.*
*No one agency or organization can reach everyone*.  Some agencies have greater credibility with some groups than others.

## Examples of Current Efforts

- Joint development of *brochures and public information on the web**.*
- The Weather Channel and American Red Cross:  *Project Safeside**.*
- Allstate Foundation funded *Masters of Disaster** *Children’s Disaster Safety Curriculum.

## Main Educational Methods

*Face-to-face* presentations, exhibits, etc.
*Empowering others to deliver* (sort of “train-the-trainer” but much less formal)
- Press releases, radio, TV *interviews*
*Web-based information*
*Continuous, repetitive, consistent*

## Acquiring materials

- Work with and through any *local Red Cross chapter.*
- Materials are made available *at cost*, but are not free in bulk quantities.
*Many* disaster education materials are in the *public domain*, but some are not.  If in doubt, ask.

## More questions?

- Rocky Lopes:  LopesR@usa.redcross.org or phone (703) 206-8805
- Web site:  redcross.org/disaster/safety
- Chapter locator:  Go to redcross.org then click on “Your Local Red Cross.”
- Or, look under “A” for “American Red Cross” in the telephone directory.