Community Engagement Prioritization Tool (CEPT) Instructional Webinar
Channel: Spatial Data Science
Date: 16/12/2020

The Community Engagement Prioritization Tool (CEP-Tool or CEPT) – now in its second year – was designed to serve as a data-driven, decision-support tool for States and Regions in prioritizing engagements across three strategic attributes: Risk, Opportunity, and Interest/Need. Since the release of the Excel-based, beta version of the CEP-Tool in August 2019, the FEMA Floodplain Management Program has received a ton of feedback from our stakeholders and want to thank each of you who has helped evolve that version into the upcoming online, geospatial tool.
 
Version 2.0 is a massive upgrade from the Excel-based version released in 2019.
  
New features and upgrades include map visualizations, additional indicators, pre-configured engagement types, updated datasets, and more. The tool leverages location intelligence through the power of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to help users make smarter decisions. This added spatial analysis capability lets users evaluate suitability and capability, interpret and understand, and much more, lending new perspectives to your insight and decision-making. Users may also appreciate the Tool's expansion of indicators which nearly doubles from Version 1 of the Tool.
 
The latest version of the CEPT helps to answer these questions: 
• Is this a post-disaster community? 
• What is the community’s history of mitigating high-risk properties? 
• Is there an opportunity to turnover building stock in this community? 
• Has the community demonstrated or expressed that they are interested in better managing flood risk? 
• What is the professional capability/capacity of the local government? 
• Does the community need assistance after receiving a new Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)? 
• Are there significant gap areas within a state or FEMA Region which need greater attention?