Engaging Faith-Based And Community Organizations in the Local Hazard Mitigation Planning Process
Creators: name: Sibley, Jane
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2004

description: Problem statement: Disasters occur when human activity intersects with hazardous conditions in the natural world. For instance, a flood does not become a disaster until it begins to inundate homes. Our knowledge of natural hazard mitigation contradicts the belief that disasters are inevitable. While definitions of natural hazard mitigation are as numerous as there are stakeholders in mitigation, when considered together, mitigation refers to long-term actions taken by the private and public sectors that ultimately reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters. The costs that natural disasters inflict on individuals and communities across the United States continue to be in the hundreds of million every year despite awareness of risk and risk reduction measures. Church World Services says, “[p]eople and communities have come to rely on help after a disaster rather than to learn about risks and take feasible mitigation and prevention measures.” Nationally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) spent $25.4 billion on disaster response and relief between 1990 and 1999. This figure is eight times that spent by the agency between 1980 and 1989.2 In addition, the American Red Cross, one of the nation’s leading disaster response agencies, spent over $2.5 billion on disaster response and relief between 1993 and 2001 (this figure excludes costs related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks). Planning, especially in the hazard mitigation context, serves multiple purposes. These purposes include: •Discussion of issues in an orderly manner •Rationale and fact base for public policy •Education of stakeholders including the public •Consensus building, conflict resolution and commitment building •Coordination of issues, goals and policies •Documentation of goals, policies and programs •Implementation of policy. Each of these purposes, explicitly and implicitly, relates to public participation. Public involvements is an integral part of the planning process, but as discussed later in this paper, public participation in planning can be difficult to obtain. This paper explores the role faith-based and community organizations can play in the hazard mitigation planning process, in large part as a supplement to individual public participation. Objectives: Faith-based and community-based organizations can help planners incorporate community knowledge, values, and needs into mitigation plans. In addition, these organizations can increase local governments’ ability to implement the plan by building community awareness and support for hazard mitigation. Finally, faith and community-based organizations can help deliver information and services to individuals that can help make them safer from disaster. This paper builds on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s current work in engaging faith-based and community organizations in hazard mitigation as well as President Bush’s faith-based and community organizations initiative. The paper examines and provides answers to the following questions: •What roles have faith-based and community-based organizations filled with respect to the mitigation phase of emergency management? •What lessons learned (e.g., successes and failures) can be gathered from the engagement of faith-based and community organizations in hazard mitigation planning? •If faith-based and community organizations are to be included in the planning process, how can planners and emergency managers best engage them? •Which lessons learned from faith-based and community organizations involvement in hazard mitigation planning can be applied to other planning efforts? Study methods: The paper first explores what is already known about how faith-based and community organizations are engaged in mitigation based on the literature on hazard mitigation and literature regarding the role of faith-based and community organizations in community development. This literature review is complemented with research into current community efforts related to mitigation planning. This was accomplished in four steps. First, I reviewed of the websites of members of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster group and interviewed several state-level voluntary organizations in North Carolina. Second, hazard mitigation plans submitted to the State of North Carolina by February 9, 2004 (approximately a week after the state-established deadline) were reviewed to determine the extent of involvement of faith-based and community organizations throughout the state. Particular attention was paid to the sections of the plans that addressed public participation and mitigation strategies. Third, follow-up interviews were conducted in two communities. Participants from two communities involved in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s faith-based and community organizations demonstration project were interviewed. Finally, Zebulon, North Carolina is presented as a case study on developing and implementing a plan for involvement of faith-based and community organizations in a community hazard mitigation plan. Lessons learned from this research are incorporated into a model for engagement and recommendations.