Description

1) Insights From the Community: Partnership and Trust Through Equity-Focused Community Engagement
Alyx Colgan, Guidehouse, acolgan@guidehousefederal.com
Co-presenters: None

Abstract: Community engagement is critical to ensuring all communities are considered, included, and consulted when developing emergency mitigation and preparedness plans. Historically underserved communities have typically been denied the opportunity to engage with the government and provide inputs on the solutions and strategies that will best meet their needs. Therefore, community engagement is critical in building trust, establishing equitable solutions, and ensuring solutions meet the unique needs of communities. FEMA and Guidehouse have been working together to develop town hall conversations with local communities. Through intentional outreach, these conversations have drawn support and attendance from groups all across various communities – representing a diverse group of thought and experience to inform FEMA’s understanding of how communities prepare for, cope with, and recover from disasters. This presentation will provide inclusive and equitable approaches for engaging community members and maximizing collaboration to achieve effective disaster resilience and response outcomes. The presentation will share stories from town halls to highlight the unique learnings that come from listening to communities. Throughout, individuals will learn principles and strategies for effective community engagement.

2) Building Equitable Resiliency and Risk Communication Tools in Georgia with Online-Mapping Technology
Nick Jones, EADA, GISP, CFM, Dewberry, njones@dewberry.com
Co-presenters: Jarrett Mattli, GISP, CFM, Dewberry, jmattli@dewberry.com

Abstract: Effective flood risk data for rural Georgia areas can be sparse in coverage, outdated, or simply difficult to interact with for many communities. Recent online mapping innovations can provide more equitable access to comprehensive flood information. Georgia has taken advantage of these new technologies to improve data access via a variety of dashboards and web mapping applications. Georgia’s BLE homepage provides a significant portion of its population with an opportunity to access extensive flood hazard data in areas where supporting information may not have been previously available. With Georgia’s BLE Dashboard, community stakeholders have a more complete picture of flood risks. This website provides users with the ability to navigate a wide swath of recently completed BLE analysis in Georgia, with more areas on the way. Users can access building footprint level flood hazard results; get at-a-glance reports on depths and water surfaces; see how flooding differs from effective maps; generate printable Lidar-based LOMA reports; and download supporting BLE datasets on the fly. Georgia's Resilience Blueprint website provides an equitable way to access flood risk assessment information through use of public online dashboards and story maps. These resources provide community officials and citizens with an opportunity to learn more about flood risks in their jurisdictions. This collection of dashboards and story maps are custom curated to support community mitigation and planning activities, as well as education and awareness. The Resilience Blueprint provides on-demand access to the following data: flood loss estimates, CRS statistics, soils data, future conditions analysis, freeboard boundaries, approximate dam inundation areas, inundated structures, CSLF statistics, and flood probability. This presentation will demonstrate GADNR’s BLE Homepage and Resilience Blueprint sites, demonstrate their use and functionality, provide scenarios for their application, and explain how these sites are important for building equitable access to flood hazard information in Georgia.

3) Real World Experience Bringing Equity into a Flood Management Plan Update Process
Chrys Bertolotto, King County Washington, cbertolotto@kingcounty.gov
Co-presenters: None

Abstract: This presentation will review real-world experiences and key insights gathered as King County Washington applies equity-focused community-engagement approaches in an update of its Flood Management Plan. After completing academic and community-based research and planning phases, the agency is now working to open conversations with those communities facing the greatest challenges in preparing for, adapting to and recovering from flooding.
Planned engagement strategies include funding community “ambassador” partnerships, attending local meeting and events, increasing access to King County-sponsored open houses, utilizing online surveys and addressing equity barriers in advisory boards. The implementation of this outreach is still underway. Despite that, community and institutional obstacles, cultural norms and blind spots are emerging. This presentation will review the main strategies in its community engagement plan, the obstacles encountered, how approaches were modified to continue moving a pro-equity agenda forward and the resulting outcomes.