Building Resilient Communities with Veterans Approaches to Community Engagement

Transcription

1 Building Resilient Communities with Veterans Approaches to Community Engagement Claudia Der-Martirosian, PhD Associate Director of Research Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC) Mangwi Atia, MEd Senior Program Manager for Strategy and Planning Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC) December 1, 2015 Lunch Workgroup Session/12pm-1pm ARC 2015 San Diego, CA 0

2 Presentation Outline Community Disaster Resilience Community Disaster Resilience among Veterans William Bill York, San Diego Veterans Coalition Table-Facilitated Discussion: Getting Veterans engaged in their local communities as advocates of disaster resiliency 1

3 What is Community Disaster Resiliency? The ability to absorb & recover from an adverse event The capacity of individuals & communities to bounce back from disasters 2

4 Beyond Individual & Household Preparedness Resiliency begins in the individual as it should; however, obligation, beyond self, allows one to appreciate resiliency as essential to community recovery. * *Burkle, FM. The limits to our capacity: reflections on resiliency, community engagement, and recovery in 21st-Century crises (Editorial). Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2011;5(Suppl. 2):S176-S

5 Community Disaster Resilience is both an outcome and a process difficult to develop standard metrics to evaluate disaster resilience 4

6 U.S. Military Veterans As of 2015, there ~ 22 million U.S. Military Veterans in the U.S. Every Community is a Veteran Community 5

7 6 Who Do We Serve?

8 7 Who Do We Serve?

9 8 Der-Martirosian C, et al. General Household Emergency Preparedness. Prehospital Disaster Med. Apr 29 (2); 2014:134-40

10 Community Disaster Resiliency among Veterans: a VEMEC Survey The main goal of the study is to survey a nationally representative sample of U.S. military Veterans to assess the extent to which Veterans are: - prepared for disasters - vulnerable to disasters - connected to their local community - willingness to be advocates of disaster- resilience in their local community 9

11 Community Disaster Resiliency among Veterans: Study Questionnaire To develop the study questionnaire: Focus groups will be conducted with Veterans To gather feedback on best ways to measure disaster resilience among Veterans The draft of the questionnaire will be evaluated by Veterans to assess the instrument's understandability & functionality 10

12 Bill York Board Member San Diego Veterans Coalition 11

13 an Diego County Veteran and Military Linkages One VA 12 Veterans Benefits Administratio n Veterans Administratio n San Diego Health National Cemetery Administratio n San Diego United Veterans Council Navy Region Southwest Veterans Treatment Court San Diego Military Family Collaborative 60 Program Managers Courage to Call 2-1-1, MHS, VVSD Marine Corp Installations West County of San Diego VSO San Diego Veterans Coalition 200 member organizations Vets Community Connections San Diego Chamber of Commerce Vet/Fam Forum San Diego Military Advisory Council Spirit of cooperation for the greater good of all veterans. Motto ~ If you don t care who gets the credit, you can accomplish a lot. Good collaboration, cooperation and real coordination.

14 Who We Are The San Diego Veterans Coalition was organized in We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit. All volunteer supported; no paid staff. We have over 130 members, including: Federal, state, and local governmental agencies; Non-profits serving veterans and their families; For-profit entities working with the veteran population. 13

15 Our Purpose The purpose of the SDVC is to serve the needs of the San Diego Region s veterans, their families, and significant others through improving collaboration and coordination among community service providers in all sectors (non-profit, for-profit, county state, federal, informal council and veterans groups) so that delivery of services is more comprehensive and veteran family-centric. 14

16 Our Affinity Groups The work of the SDVC is carried out by our five affinity groups: Physical & Emotional Health Employment & Financial Family Life Personal & Self Health Spiritual Health 15

17 Community Convenings We convene our general membership monthly. Affinity groups meet more regularly. Topical speakers including: Elected officials; Governmental leaders; Important community information presentations; Membership highlights. 16

18 Table-Facilitated Discussions Format of the discussion: Introductions (around the table) VEMEC Staff will initiate the discussion and take notes End of the day the results from today s discussions will be presented Enjoy your discussion! 17

19 Community Disaster Resiliency & Veterans \\ How can Veterans get involved in your organization as advocates of disaster resiliency? What roles can they play? 18

20 Community Disaster Resiliency & Veterans \\ What might be some barriers in getting involved in your organization or other organizations as advocates of disaster resilience? What can be done to overcome these barriers? 19

21 Community Disaster Resiliency & Veterans \\ What other organizations might be interested in engaging Veterans as advocates of disaster resilience? What other ways can Veterans contribute to disaster resiliency? 20

22 Thank you! Thank you for your time and participation!

23 Acknowledgement All photographs in this presentation were downloaded from 22