From NYC this Business Guide; 8 pages. It should be useful for non-profits and small organizations as well.
Disaster Preparedness Guide for Businesses
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Webinar on Immigrants and Refugees in Disaster Recovery
From the Center for Disaster Philanthropy:
During disasters, immigrant individuals and families are among the most vulnerable populations. They face unique challenges, including immigration status and limited English proficiency, that impede their ability to access assistance and recover after a disaster. Together with Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees and Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative, we are hosting a webinar to discuss the role that philanthropy can play in supporting immigrants and their communities in recovery from disasters.
During the webinar, we will explore:
- How private philanthropy can ensure funded organizations are truly addressing the identified needs of immigrants and their communities.
- Building equity in the disaster recovery phase for immigrants, communities of color, low-income communities and other vulnerable populations.
- Learning to be an agent of change for immigrants in building more resilient communities.
- The role of affinity groups in funding for these communities.
- How to talk to donors and potential donors about funding for the needs of immigrants, including those with sensitive document status.
I hope you will join me Thursday, July 11 at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT for this important discussion.
Please register today.
Observations re Flooding from H. Florence
This article is sponsored by Zurich Insurance and appeared in Bloomberg News. Hurricane Florence’s Hard Rains Offer Hard Lessons in Resilience. It contains some interesting observations, such as:
But not every harsh lesson led to positive change. Hurricanes Floyd, Matthew and Florence all saw documented environmental catastrophes due to waste from coal ash dumps and factory-scale hog farms across North Carolina, but political response and regulatory change and enforcement have been limited. The cost of inaction was laid bare by Florence.
“Business leaders need to underline that avoided losses are benefits,” the Florence PERC report concludes. “Not investing in protection is not free but carries the cost of future losses and missed opportunities.”
IG Report on Former FEMA Administrator
From Politico, this account of the DHS Inspector General’s report on spending by former FEMA Administrator Brock Long: Former Trump FEMA chief repaid taxpayers only 2 percent of $151k spent on personal travel. Excerpts:
In addition to the government vehicles probe, Long’s tenure at FEMA drew sharp criticism for his response to the devastation in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The agency was faulted for vastly under-counting the number of deaths and for responding much less forcefully than it did to Hurricane Harvey, a milder storm that flooded parts of coastal Texas — a state that delivered 38 electoral votes to President Donald Trump in 2016.
“Between Puerto Rico, Texas, and the California wildfires, you don’t have to look very far to find better ways FEMA could have spent $150,000,” Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement to POLITICO. “As we saw with Scott Pruitt and Tom Price before, too many Trump appointees seem to view public service as a source of luxury perks, and once again the taxpayers have been left holding the bag.”
Two New GAO Reports
This is a comprehensive and important report – it summarizes several prior reports and should be essential reading. Emergency Management: FEMA Has Made Progress, but Challenges and Future Risks Highlight Imperative for Further Improvements. GAO-19-617T; released: Jun 25, 2019. For those researching recent disasters in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, there is quite a bit of coverage in this report.
Update on June 28: 2017 Disaster Relief Oversight: Strategy Needed to Ensure Agencies’ Internal Control Plans Provide Sufficient Information. GAO-19-479: Published: Jun 28, 2019. Publicly Released: Jun 28, 2019.
This report deals with DHS and OMB primarily.
How Climate Change Impacts the Economy
From Columbia University: How Climate Change Impacts the Economy
Saving Cities from Sea Level Rise
From the NYTimes: With More Storms and Rising Seas, Which U.S. Cities Should Be Saved First?
As disaster costs keep rising nationwide, a troubling new debate has become urgent: If there’s not enough money to protect every coastal community from the effects of human-caused global warming, how should we decide which ones to save first?
Please Help Support This Service
A reminder that the Diva has provided this free service for 9 years! She does it all on her own time and at her own expense. She would appreciate it if those of you who value this service would donate to help defray the costs of maintaining the site on WordPress; their services keep increasing in cost.
Please use the Donate Now button in the right column of this page.
CRS To Be Reviewed by Congress
Public to get rare look inside the Congressional Research Service, with attrition, morale points of contention. Former employees knock management as stifling quality work, innovation
Characteristics of Effective Emergency Managers (Part 2)
Note that the Diva posted Part 1 of this piece on June 5; here is the link to that posting.
From GovTech.com: Characteristics of Effective Emergency Managers (Part 2). How many characteristics does it take to define an effective emergency manager? A recent research paper suggests the addition of seven more. But are we just compensating for the lack of a true competency framework?
Recovery Diva 