Long-Term Community Recovery Planning Process A Self-Help Guide December 2005 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FOREWORD I. INTRODUCTION Purpose What is Long-Term Community Recovery Benefits of Long-Term Community Recovery Basic Principles of Long-Term Community Recovery Users of the Self Help Guide II. BUILDING A LONG-TERM COMMUNITY RECOVERY PROGRAM STEP 1: ASSESSING THE NEED Do we need long-term community recovery planning? STEP 2: SELECTING AN OVERALL LEADER and OUTLINING A LTCR PROGRAM Where do we begin? STEP 3: SECURING OUTSIDE SUPPORT Where can we get help? STEP 4: ESTABLISHING A PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN How do we keep the community informed and involved in the process? STEP 5: REACHING A CONSENSUS How do we secure community buy-in to move forward? STEP 6: IDENTIFYING THE LTCR ISSUES What are our opportunities? STEP 7: ARTICULATING A VISION AND SETTING GOALS What will strengthen and revitalize our community? STEP 8: IDENTIFYING, EVALUATING AND PRIORITIZING THE LTCR PROJECTS What makes a good project? STEP 9: DEVELOPING A RECOVERY PLAN How do we put it all together? STEP 10: CHOOSING PROJECT CHAMPIONS Who will provide leadership for each project? STEP 11: PREPARING A LTCR FUNDING STRATEGY Where do we get the funding for these projects? STEP 12: IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN How do we make it all happen? STEP 13: UPDATING THE PLAN When are we finished? III. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? APPENDIX List of Resources LTCR Planning Process Checklist LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 - Conceptual LTCR Process Figure 2 - LTCR Steps Figure 3 - LTCR Steps and Outside Support Figure 4 - Network of stakeholders Figure 5 - Decision making framework Figure 6 - Example of Project Goal Statement Figure 7 - Recovery Value Diagram Figure 8 - Community Interest diagram Figure 9 - LTCR Generalized time line Figure 10 - Conceptual Funding Source Diagram Acknowledgements Preparation of this document involved planners and architects who have participated in local long-term community recovery initiatives over the past several years, U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters personnel, ESF 14 partners and the Florida Long Term Recovery Office (LTRO). The long-term community recovery (LTCR) process is evolving. This Self-Help Guide should be viewed as a preliminary document or interim draft for field-testing and is aimed at continuing to pilot some of the concepts and methods that have been successful in the past. Subsequent versions of the guide should incorporate lessons learned from current and future LTCR efforts with a focus on tightening the organization, the level of detail, and the depth of information in each of the steps. This guide will need to be assessed with respect to its usefulness as currently written and will be revised as necessary, based on feedback from its users. Foreword Following certain disaster events, state, tribal, and/or local governments may wish to undertake a long-term recovery program in which FEMA - using its long-term community recovery assessment tool indicates that supplemental federal support is not required. The FEMA Long-Term Community Recovery (LTCR) Self-Help Guide (guide) is intended to provide state, tribal and local governments with a framework for implementing their own long-term community recovery planning process after a significant disaster event. It is assumed that any state, tribal, or local government undertaking a LTCR Self-Help program will have qualified staff to manage the planning process. Every disaster is unique, but there are basic principles that can be applied to assist in long-term recovery from the disaster. This LTCR Self-Help Guide: • Provides step-by-step guidance for implementing a LTCR planning program based on the experience obtained and the lessons learned by teams of planners, architects, and engineers over a period of several years and multiple experiences in comprehensive long-term community recovery. • Incorporates case studies for each of the steps in a LTCR program. • Offers guidance and suggestions for involving the public in the recovery program • Provides method for developing a LTCR plan that is a flexible and usable blueprint for community recovery. The Self-Help Guide is based on the experiences gained and lessons learned by communities in developing and implementing a long-term community recovery program. The guide incorporates the knowledge gained by dozens of community planners as they undertook the LTCR program and developed LTCR plans in disasters that varied in scope from a tornado in a small town to the World Trade Center disaster. There also may be a need for communities to modify the process set forth in this guide to suit their particular needs. It is important that each community assess its own capability to undertake LTCR planning. The guidance provided in this guide is based on a process that has worked - but where outside technical assistance has been provided. If, after reviewing the guide, local officials do not feel they have the capacity to lead and manage this effort, consideration should be given to soliciting assistance from any of the resources listed in STEP 3: SECURING OUTSIDE SUPPORT. The primary function of the LTCR Self-Help Guide is to provide a planning template to communities that have been struck by a disaster and/or the community has the resources to undertake a LTCR program on its own. But this guide also may be useful for FEMA LTCR technical assistance teams as they work with communities on long-term recovery and may even be of assistance as a tool for teaching community preparedness in terms of putting infrastructure in place for a LTCR program before a disaster occurs. Chapter 1 – Introduction To Long-Term Community Recovery I. INTRODUCTION TO LONG-TERM COMMUNITY RECOVERY Stockton, Mo., a community with a population just under 2,000, was intent on recovering from a May 4, 2003 tornado that completely destroyed its downtown, but community leaders were unsure where to begin the recovery. According to Mayor Ralph Steele, some residents were ready to build "a tin shack just to get back in business," but others wanted a more thoughtful and comprehensive approach to recovery. Supported by a FEMA long-term community recovery planning team, the city initiated a three-month moratorium on building permits in the downtown area. During that time, the city undertook a LTCR planning program with FEMA assistance and technical advisors. The process involved local officials, business owners, and residents and focused on making the community an even better place than it was prior to the tornado. Downtown business owners agreed to basic design standards that focused on brick facing for the buildings, consistent setback standards, and an overall redevelopment plan for the area. Today, Stockton's downtown is alive with activity from banks, a coffee and gift shop, the county newspaper office, various real estate and law offices, and continued construction activity. Much of the credit to the cooperative spirit among the business owners, local government, and various state departments is the result of the LTCR planning process that stressed community involvement and an outreach element that solicited state and federal partners in the recovery process. THINK BIG! The LTCR Planning Process is an opportunity to "think big." Don't limit yourself to merely putting things back the way they were prior to the disaster. Keep in mind the quote attributed to Daniel Burnham, the pioneer planner and architect who supervised the construction of the Columbia Exposition in 1893 and developed the Plan for Chicago in 1909. “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die.” Purpose The purpose of this guide is to provide communities with a framework for long-term community recovery that has been used by FEMA and its technical advisors over the past several years. This LTCR process has been successful in bringing communities together to focus on their long-term recovery issues and needs and to develop projects and strategies to address those needs. The recovery effort for these communities is still underway, but the LTCR plan and the process employed to develop the plan has been a critical part of their recovery effort. The first step in long-term community recovery is the recognition by the community of the need to organize and manage the recovery process as opposed to letting repairs and rebuilding occur without a cohesive, planned approach. While FEMA is able to provide assistance to the most critically impacted communities that do not have resources to undertake a LTCR process, FEMA will not be able to provide that level of assistance to all communities. This guide is designed for communities with the resources to undertake the LTCR planning process themselves. While this guide is based on processes that have worked in other communities, each community is unique and the damages sustained in a disaster are going to be unique for each community. Communities may need to modify the LTCR planning process set forth in this guide to suit their particular needs. What is Long-Term Community Recovery? Long-term community recovery - it is necessary to focus on both the long-term aspect of the phrase and the community recovery aspect. Removing debris and restoring power are recovery activities but are considered immediate or short-term recovery actions. These actions are extremely important; however, they are not part of long-term community recovery. "Long-term" refers to the need to re-establish a healthy, functioning community that will sustain itself over time. Examples of long-term community recovery actions include: • Providing permanent disaster-resistant housing units to replace those destroyed, • Initiating a low-interest facade loan program for the portion of the downtown area that sustained damage from the disaster (and thus encouraging other improvements that revitalize downtown), • Initiating a buy-out of flood-prone properties and designating them community open space, and • Widening a bridge or roadway that improves both residents' access to employment areas and improves a hurricane evacuation route The LTCR program should focus on development of a recovery plan that incorporates the post-disaster community vision and identifies projects that are aimed at achieving that vision. A community vision may have been identified prior to the disaster, but visions often change after a disaster. Disasters may even unveil new opportunities that were not considered earlier. Long-term community recovery provides an opportunity to put a community back together in an improved way. LTCR is the process of establishing a community-based, post-disaster vision and identifying projects and project funding strategies best suited to achieve that vision, and employing a mechanism to implement those projects. Each community's LTCR program is shaped by the community itself, the damage sustained, the issues identified, and the community's post-disaster vision for the future. Based on past efforts using consultants, LTCR is typically a 6 to 12 week intensive planning process setting the blueprint for community recovery after a disaster event. The length of time for your planning process will depend on the resources you have available and the amount of damage sustained. Your process will probably take longer unless the LTCR team can devote full time to this effort. In most cases, the LTCR plan should be kept to a tight time frame with tangible results to avoid public disillusionment with recovery efforts and to take advantage of the sense of community that usually follows a disaster. Keep in mind that this is not a typical strategic or master plan. This is a plan that should focus on recovery from the disaster. Many actions taken in the weeks immediately following a disaster will have long-term community impact. The LTCR program must be developed quickly in order to provide direction and focus to community rebuilding efforts. Timing is an important factor in LTCR. DISASTER RECOVERY The ideal disaster recovery process is one where the community proactively manages: • Recovery and redevelopment decisions to balance competing interests so constituents are treated equitably and long-term community benefits are not sacrificed for short-term individual gains; • Multiple financial resources to achieve broad-based community support for holistic recovery activities; • Reconstruction and redevelopment opportunities to enhance economic and community vitality; • Environmental and natural resource opportunities to enhance natural functions and maximize community benefits; and • Exposure to risk to a level that is less than what it was before the disaster. Source: Holistic Disaster Recovery: Ideas for Building Local Sustainability after a Natural Disaster. Benefits of Long-Term Community Recovery A LTCR plan benefits the affected community but also provides benefits to state and federal agencies assisting in recovery. The LTCR program consists of both a process and a product - both are important. Key benefits of the LTCR program include the following: • Organization - the program provides a consistent approach to LTCR and promotes cooperation and coordination among federal, state, and local officials. • Holistic Community Recovery - attempts to incorporate all elements of the community as part of the recovery process, encourages consideration of the interrelationships of various sectors, such as commercial, environmental, etc., and forces community, federal and state partners to look at long-term implications of decisions. • Focus - provides a clear path for recovery. • Community Driven - involves and engages the community in the process. • Hazard Mitigation Actions - provides an opportunity to incorporate hazard mitigation concepts as part of the recovery effort to eliminate or decrease exposure to damage in future disasters. • Community Healing - provides opportunity for residents to join together and function as a community to vent their concerns, meet with one another, and be involved in defining and creating their future. • Look Beyond Tomorrow - takes the community and federal/state agencies beyond response and into the recovery process. • Partnerships - fosters cooperation and coordination among federal, state, and local agencies and organizations, both public and private. • New Participants - creates an opportunity to bring in new participants and new leaders from non-traditional sectors within the community. • Empowerment - provides an opportunity for the community to take control of its future and facilitate its recovery. A product of the process (a LTCR plan) provides a road map to community recovery, but the process employed to develop the plan can play a significant role in the community's future through local partnerships and community consensus-building. The journey is as important as the destination. The final products of the LTCR program are the completed projects and the ultimate recovery of the community. Basic Principles of Long-Term Community Recovery LTCR planning is action-oriented and should support existing planning efforts in the community. The key principles of LTCR assure a focus on community recovery. Key Principles Long-term community recovery is: • Community driven • Based on public involvement • Locally controlled • Project-oriented • Incorporates mitigation approaches and techniques • A partnership among local agencies, jurisdictions, officials, and the state and federal government • Focused on projects that most contribute to community recovery from the disaster Effectiveness LTCR can only be effective if the key principles are incorporated in the program. Critical to the effectiveness of LTCR is the community involvement and consensus building process. A LTCR plan and the projects contained in the plan will have a better chance to succeed if there is strong community support. That support also will assist in soliciting funding for key projects. Incorporating the principles and the steps outlined in subsequent sections will assist in building consensus. The partnership aspect of LTCR also is critical to its effectiveness since private sector, federal, and state agency involvement in the overall process will assist in identifying potential funding for implementation. After all, the true effectiveness of a plan is measured by what recommendations/projects are achieved and implemented. The timing of achievements of the LTCR plan also plays an important psychological role in the process and provides momentum in building consensus. Determining priorities in achievements plays an important role in the community's perception of LTCR's success. LTCR Planning and Comprehensive Planning The LTCR planning process differs from the typical comprehensive planning process because it is focused on plans and projects to address damages sustained from the disaster and to aid in the community's recovery from the disaster. Existing plans, policies, and studies must be reviewed and considered as part of the LTCR process. The LTCR plan is strategic by nature and is action oriented. All aspects of the community may not be incorporated in the LTCR plan unless they were affected by the disaster. In addition to the comprehensive plan, the LTCR planning process should take into account other plans that have been prepared for the area or are underway. • Local Mitigation Plans/Strategies - there are opportunities for collaboration of the LTCR effort and Mitigation Planning activities. Mitigation techniques are important considerations for projects in the LTCR plan. • Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) - this EDA-sponsored plan can provide support for LTCR strategies and may contain specific recommendations for project development. • Transportation Plans - prepared by the local Metropolitan Planning Organizations, Regional Planning Commission, or State. The Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is especially important to review and coordinate. Users of the Self-Help Guide The intended users of the guide are communities that have the resources and capacities to conduct long-term community recovery independently and would benefit from the ability to implement an established and proven process rather than developing its own process. Typically, damage to such a community would range from none or minimal for a limited service government (has few full-time staff and usually no full-time administrator), from none to moderate damage for a full-service government, and from none to possibly one area of severe damage for a major metropolitan area government. It is important that communities have the resources and capacities to conduct long-term community recovery. A limited service government may not have the resources within the community but may be able to bring in a consultant, a Regional Planning Agency, or volunteers to undertake a LTCR process if damages are minimal to moderate. Full service governments and major metropolitan areas will typically have the resources to carry out a LTCR process when the damages are not excessive. Summary This guide provides guidance for building a LTCR program, documents case studies, examples, and success stories, and offers guidance and suggestions for involving the community in the recovery program. LTCR consists of a process and a product (a LTCR plan), both of which are critical to the success of the program. Finally, the local, state, and federal partnerships required of the LTCR process will contribute to a more rapid and sustainable community recovery. This guide is just that - a guide. The material provides a template that has been used for LTCR in the past. You may want to modify and/or refine the steps set forth in this guide to suit your particular community and/or the resources at your disposal. The LTCR program for your community is YOUR program. Information included with Self-Help Guide In addition to this guide other materials and information that might provide assistance in carrying out the LTCR planning process in your community are available to you. This includes: • Results of the FEMA Needs Assessment that was conducted for your community, (if undertaken) • Compact Disc Containing: • Electronic version of the LTCR Planning Process Self-Help Guide • Recent LTCR plans and background materials • Recovery Value (RV) Worksheet (Step 8) OTHER RESOURCES In addition to the materials provided with this guide, other documents/manuals that may be of assistance include: • Mitigation Planning 'How To' Guides, (FEMA Pubs. 386-1; 386-2; 386-3; 386-4; 386-6; and 386-7) http://www.fema.gov/fima/resources.shtm • Technical Guidance Papers - Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction, Chapters 3, 4, and 5; http://www.fema.gov/rrr/ltcr/plan_resource.shtm • Holistic Disaster Recovery: Ideas for Building Local Sustainability after a Natural Disaster http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/holistic_recovery/ For a complete list of resources and information refer to the RESOURCES section in the APPENDIX. Chapter 2 – Building A Long-Term Community Recovery Program II. BUILDING A LONG-TERM COMMUNITYRECOVERY PROGRAM Typically, there are 13 separate steps that comprise the long-term community recovery planning process. Some steps must be completed chronologically and others can be done concurrently. The typical LTCR steps are: Step 1: ASSESSING THE NEED - Do we need long-term community recovery planning? Step 2: SELECTING AN OVERALL LEADER AND OUTLINING A LTCR PROGRAM - Where do we begin? Step 3: SECURING OUTSIDE SUPPORT - Where can we get help? Step 4: ESTABLISHING A PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN - How do we keep the community informed and involved in the process? Step 5: REACHING A CONSENSUS - How do we secure community buy-in to move forward? Step 6: IDENTIFYING THE LTCR ISSUES - What are our opportunities? Step 7: ARTICULATING A VISION AND SETTING GOALS - What will strengthen and revitalize our community? Step 8: IDENTIFYING, EVALUATING AND PRIORITIZING THE LTCR PROJECTS - What makes a good project? Step 9: DEVELOPING A RECOVERY PLAN - How do we put it all together? Step 10: CHOOSING PROJECT CHAMPIONS - Who will provide leadership for each project? Step 11: PREPARING A LTCR FUNDING STRATEGY - Where do we get the funding for these projects? Step 12: IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN - How do we make it all happen? Step 13: UPDATING THE PLAN - When are we finished? Each of these steps is important in the overall process. The following sections detail each step. STEP 1: ASSESSING THE NEED Do we need long-term community recovery planning? What are the Community Needs? FEMA has developed an " Assessment Tool" used to assess the long-term impact of damages sustained by a community and the resources and capacity of the community to recover from the disaster. This assessment focuses on damages and resources in three general areas: • Housing Sector • Infrastructure/Environment Sector • Economy Sector The level of federal involvement in the LTCR process is based on the findings of the assessment as well as input from other state and local sources that can identify specific community needs. Based on experience in other disasters, these are the three general categories of need in a community during the disaster recovery process. Focusing on the Specific Needs of Your Community The LTCR program should focus on the specific long-term disaster-related needs of your community. These disaster-related needs typically fall into the three categories identified above, but other needs may emerge that are unique to your community. You can use the LTCR process, or adapt it as necessary to address these additional issues. Use the results of the FEMA assessment to provide focus to the LTCR process. If the Housing Sector is identified as representing a significant community need and other sectors do not necessarily show a need, the LTCR process should focus primarily on the housing needs. Identification of specific issues and projects related to these needs are addressed in subsequent steps in the LTCR program. WHAT ARE YOUR COMMUNITY'S NEEDS as a result of the disaster? • What extent/type of damages did we sustain and to what areas? • What are the potential long-term impacts of these damages? • What do we need if we don't undertake LTCR? • What are the housing needs in the community? Quantity? Quality/Type? Location? Obstacles? • What are the community infrastructure needs or environmental issues that need to be addressed? Are these existing? Growth plans? • What are the community's economic needs as a result of the disaster? New economic opportunities? Bolstering current opportunities? STEP 2: SELECTING AN OVERALL LEADER AND OUTLINING A LTCR PROGRAM Where do we begin? Who initiates the LTCR Program? The appropriate local governing body, such as the County Commission, Parish Leaders, City Council, Board of Aldermen, etc., should initiate the LTCR program. It is important that local government initiates the LTCR program and supports the overall process since key public decisions and actions will emerge from the process. Residents of the community need to know that their elected officials are actively engaged in the LTCR planning process and intend to follow through on resulting recommendations. Identifying a Leader of the LTCR Program Once the local government decides to initiate the program, the local governing board should appoint an individual or a small group of individuals as leader of the LTCR program. The leader will be the spokesperson for LTCR, will "kick-off" the process, serve as the coordinator/facilitator at the community meetings, and establish partnerships with local, state, and federal organizations and agencies. The leader can come from the local government or from the community at large. In either case, the leader should be someone who has the respect of the community and whose lead the community will follow in establishing a LTCR program. This leader should work hard to unify rather than divide the community on future recovery actions. Leadership is a critical step in the LTCR program. A good leader will serve as a beacon for community and government involvement and will convey the importance of the recovery process to local, state, and federal officials. A good leader will draw others into the LTCR program and solicit individuals to serve as champions for specific projects that evolve from the process. A good leader will make sure that all community members are given an opportunity to participate in the LTCR program and will assure that the LTCR plan and projects focus on the community vision for recovery from the disaster. Communities may want to consider two leaders - one to manage the day-to-day aspects of the LTCR program (possibly a community Planning Director, County Administrator, City Manager, etc.) and one to serve as the visible, public face of the program (mayor, chief elected official, or community leader) who will work together to carry out the program. Establishing a LTCR Team There is an advantage to establishing a planning team with broad public and private sector representation that can function as a sounding board for the LTCR program leader and provide routine input into the overall recovery process. Such a team does not replace the community involvement process but can often provide realistic guidance as the process moves forward. A LTCR team should not be too large. Consideration might be given to representatives from the following organizations for membership: • Public Works Department • Public Information Office • Planning Department • Emergency Management/Local Mitigation Coordinator • Chamber of Commerce • Homebuilders Association (if housing is an issue) • Neighborhood representation • Environmental groups • Critical Industries • Citizen at Large • An elected official from the community governing body • Public health and/or medical community representative • Voluntary agency representative This LTCR team is likely to be comprised of people who already are involved in the hazard mitigation and comprehensive planning processes. It is important that this planning team be used as a sounding board for ideas. This team should not delay the process but should facilitate issue and project identification, provide assistance in the community involvement process, help author the plan, and assist in finding project champions. The team should not be asked to provide a stamp of approval to the LTCR plan but should seek community consensus on the plan and eventually submit the plan to the governing body for their approval and implementation. Components of a LTCR Program The individual components of a LTCR program are detailed and discussed in ensuing sections of the guide and illustrated in Figure 2. The LTCR program contains the following components: • Securing outside support • Establishing public information and involvement program • Achieving consensus • Identifying opportunities • Articulating a vision and setting goals • Identifying, evaluating and prioritizing projects • Developing a recovery plan • Choosing project champions • Developing a funding strategy • Implementing the plan • Updating the plan LTCR Planning Time Frame Generally, the LTCR planning activities should be initiated 4 to 8 weeks after a disaster and be completed within 6 to 12 weeks depending on the severity of the damages and the resources available. Initiating and completing the LTCR planning process in a relatively short time frame is important in order to capture the cooperative community spirit that usually exists immediately following a disaster and to take advantage of the attention (and funding opportunities) provided by federal and state agencies. Although this process has been carried out by experienced LTCR planning teams within the 6-12 week time frame, it may take longer for a community without experience in the process. Summary The LTCR leadership is critical to the overall process. The local government must initiate the LTCR program, select a leader and support the program. STEP 3: SECURING OUTSIDE SUPPORT Where can we get help? You Can't Do This Alone The LTCR program will be much more effective if the community reaches out to local, state, and federal agencies, the private sector and non-governmental organizations to establish partnerships in the recovery process. Involving various organizations and agencies in the LTCR program will eventually help to establish project "ownership" at the agency level. Establishing ownership can facilitate support during the implementation process when funds or technical assistance may be needed. Support from these organizations and agencies should not be limited to funding but should include ideas, insights, time and energy. Experts in these groups may be willing to offer free advice or assistance while others may be willing to share their insights and experiences. Who Can Help Us? There are a number of local, regional, state, and federal organizations and agencies that may be able to provide assistance in a community's long-term recovery efforts. In many cases, organizations and agencies may be eager to provide assistance following a disaster but need to be invited to become involved. The following represent some of the agencies, organizations, and institutions that a community should consider involving in the LTCR program. Figure 3 illustrates the relationship of the outside support to the LTCR process and steps. • County government agencies - Can any county government agencies provide assistance? Does the county have greater resources than your community and could it partner with you in the recovery process? • Metropolitan Planning Organization - Is there a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) in your area that coordinates transportation planning? Include them in your recovery planning efforts, especially if there are transportation infrastructure needs or issues to be addressed. • Regional Planning Commission - Does the community participate in the activities of the Regional Planning Commission (RPC)? Is it a member? RPCs may have outreach programs for their member communities or may be able to provide technical assistance with project development or grant writing and project funding identification. • State agencies - The state will have several agencies that can provide assistance and be partners in the recovery process. Each state will have different department designations and organizations, but these types of agencies should be considered: • Governor's Office • Department of Administration • Department of Economic Development • Department of Housing or Community Development • Natural resources or environmental agency • State emergency management agency / State Hazard Mitigation Officer (SHMO) • Department of Transportation • State public health organization • Department of Agriculture • State historic preservation office • Private foundations that emphasize projects within the state • Federal Agencies - Similar to the state, the federal government has a number of agencies that could be potential partners in the recovery process. Here are a few to consider involving in the LTCR program: • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) • Housing and Urban Development (HUD) • Economic Development Administration (EDA) • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) • USDA-Rural Development • National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) • Resource Conservation and Development Councils • Adjacent communities and/or counties - Are there larger communities or counties nearby that you can collaborate with on the LTCR plan? Do they have resources they would be willing to provide as part of the LTCR program? These communities/counties are often willing to donate staff time to a neighboring community's recovery efforts. • Professional Organizations - Depending on the specific needs of your community, a professional organization may be able to provide planning resources and/or possible project funding for the LTCR program. Many of these organizations have local or state chapters that could be involved in your LTCR program or provide expertise in a particular area. Some of the organizations that may be of assistance include: • International City Manager's Association (ICMA) • Urban Land Institute (ULI) • American Planning Association (APA) • American Institute of Architects (AIA) • American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) • State Municipal League • State Association of Counties • Association of State and Territorial Health Organization (ASTHO) • National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) • Educational Institutions - Is there a college, university, or community college in the area that has departments or centers that could facilitate the LTCR program? Many educational institutions have community outreach programs that may be of assistance. Some educational institutions also may be willing to expand their curriculum to accommodate a new area identified in your LTCR plan. • Private Sector - large businesses, employers, benefactors • Other Non-Profit Organizations • Extension service • State rural development council(s) • Faith-based organizations • Community development corporations Coordination of Support Any outside support will require coordination. There are several ways to coordinate outside support depending on the specific needs of the community and the scope of the LTCR program. Some of the methods for coordinating support include: • Inviting key agency staff to become members of the LTCR team. This assures that you have the opportunity to receive their input on key issues but also inserts them into the process and gives them a stake in its outcome, which may be beneficial when technical, political, or financial assistance is needed for implementation of the LTCR plan. • Establishing weekly/regular conference calls for all outside support member participation. This could constitute a support team task force that could be kept apprised of the status of the process and asked for input regarding key steps in the overall program. • Establishing weekly/regular meetings if the support is local. This can function in much the same way as the above support team task force but has the advantage of face-to-face interaction. • Inviting all appropriate organizations and agencies to the community meetings to both solicit their input and to allow them to see the community involvement process and community support for the LTCR program. This action also continues to involve the media support for the LTCR process. • Consider scheduling a "Community Recovery and Resource Day" where all local, regional, state, and federal organizations and agencies (public and private) are invited. Use this event as an opportunity to present the community needs, issues, draft plans and projects and request their input, assistance, and especially partnership in making the LTCR program successful. Items to consider when developing a Community Recovery and Resource Day workshop: 1. Local communities should identify and invite state, federal, and other resource agencies or entities (Trust for Public Land; Habitat for Humanity, Transportation entities, Congressional staff members; etc.) to participate. Use existing agency contacts to seek out other potential attendees. 2. Local project stakeholder participants should include administrative, regulatory, and technical staff. 3. The workshop forum should be informal and in a setting that will allow discussion and brainstorming among all parties. The meeting space should be arranged for all parties to interact. For example, a horseshoe shaped table arrangement will allow face-to-face contact for discussion as well as a focal point for presentations. 4. Allow at least several weeks advance notice when scheduling a workshop to ensure adequate attendance by the participating agencies. 5. Advertise the workshop as a one-day event, but provide enough time at the beginning and end of the meeting for people to commute to and from the workshop, especially when considering the location of state and federal agency offices (For example, schedule the workshop from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.). 6. The forum process and agenda should be clearly defined for participants prior to the meeting. Emphasize the informal dialogue and networking opportunity 7. Schedule the meeting date to coincide with a local event, activity or festival. This will provide an incentive for attendees to attend the workshop. 8. If possible, include meals and snacks on-site to maximize workshop effectiveness and to facilitate additional networking or discussion. 9. If possible, include a tour of proposed projects or sites to allow participants to experience the project or setting in person. 10. Don't ask for money from prospective partners! Instead, build relationships that will extend well beyond a meeting or workshop. Request ideas, suggestions and solutions to project challenges. Seek partnerships and assistance - technical, organizational, regulatory and financial. 11. Provide a meeting summary for all participants. 12. Host a Resource Day on a regular basis (semi-annual, annual, biannual, etc.) depending on scope and nature of the project(s). 13. Be patient and accept that the process takes time - even disaster recovery. Focus on Community Needs Keep the community's needs and issues in mind when securing outside support. Be selective, but thorough. Don't involve the state department of transportation if there are no transportation needs or issues. On the other hand, if housing rehabilitation in the older area of town is a need and an issue, make sure that you not only involve the state's housing agency but also the historic preservation office, the community development agency, etc. Various state programs may be needed to bring a project to fruition. Keep Your Partners in the Loop Make sure all your partners inside and outside the community are kept current and up to date on the status of the LTCR program. Use phone calls, meetings, status reports, newsletters, as a means to keep them connected to the process. When needed, be sure to solicit their input on steps in the LTCR program - don't just send them information. You have involved them because they can be of assistance to your recovery. Use them. Case Study North Central Illinois Council of Governments Securing outside support is a multi-faceted objective that should be tackled from several directions. Involving the Council of Governments (COG) in your region can be a very productive outreach effort. After a destructive tornado hit the Village of Utica, Illinois,in April 2004, the LTCR team elicited the support of the North Central Illinois Council of Governments (NCICG). NCICG is a non-profit planning organization that supports local governments by providing planning, technical assistance, and grant writing services for communities like Utica, where many local officials are part-time. NCICG had provided planning services to Utica in the past. They knew the local officials and key stakeholders, understood the state agency framework and contacts, and held the planning-related documents for Utica and the region's communities. The success of the LTCR process would depend on securing support from this group. The connection between the LTCR team and the NCICG staff was encouraging from the start. NCICG Executive Director Nora Fesco-Ballerine brought boxes of planning and environmental documents to help inform the LTCR team about regional growth strategies, environmental concerns, and existing projects. Kevin Lindeman, senior planner at the NCICG, supported the LTCR team by sharing his experiences in developing the Utica Comprehensive Plan and providing technical assistance as projects were identified. Because the NCICG had experience in grant writing, they also helped the LTCR team communicate with state and federal agency representatives in charge of grant programs. Without the pivotal support of the NCICG, the Utica United Recovery public planning process would not have been so successful. And with their hands-on involvement in the LTCR process, NCICG staffers were able to push the plan into the implementation phase by writing grants and securing dollars for identified project. Step 4: ESTABLISHING A PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN How do we keep the community informed and involved in the process? Why do we need a public information campaign? The LTCR plan's success depends on the extent of community involvement. The goal of a LTCR public information campaign is to get community members involved in the process, while the challenge is to focus attention on long-term planning for the community when many individuals' long-term circumstances may be unclear. It is easy to become caught up in the LTCR effort and neglect the community involvement aspect until it is too late. Often, community members' and community leaders' visions are similar and, because no discernable gap is apparent, a strong public information strategy may not seem important. Should we appoint an official Public Information position? It is useful to appoint one person to carry out the public information campaign. However, this decision is dependent on your budget, the scope of the LTCR effort and the size of your community. A LTCR team member or public/private volunteer can be considered for this role. The importance of this role increases as the scale of the LTCR effort increases. It is useful to appoint someone who can work efficiently and creatively with minimal oversight. This position is different from the rest of the team because with it comes the unique responsibility of conducting an informational campaign targeted to all members of the community - many of whom have never attended a public meeting. The person in this role should develop a strategy tailored to the community's LTCR effort. In addition, the role requires excellent oral and written communication skills to write press releases, answer media inquiries, and respond positively to media and community member criticism. Public Information Campaign Committing to the public information campaign early and fully ensures a successful plan by: • Giving community members a chance to develop their own vision for the future of the community and transcend individual issues - it gives them hope for the future and empowerment for the present • Establishing a high LTCR profile, which may bring issues to the forefront and increase the possibility of garnering funding • Encouraging the community to take ownership of the plan and expect results - even after the LTCR team is finished • Making it easier to find project champions and funding • Prioritizing projects in the LTCR plan • Establishing community 'buy-in' to the plan and the process • Clarifying that the plan is indeed driven by community members - and not by outside parties who may have another agenda Establishing a vision Many community members may be overwhelmed and inundated with information after a disaster - this drives the need to keep the public information campaign simple and straightforward, and to establish an early vision. Public information materials should have a consistent look and feel to help distinguish this effort in the community. These materials might consist of the following elements: • Choosing a slogan for the LTCR effort, for example "Your projects. Your future. Get involved." • Communicating a consistent message • Emphasizing this is the community's plan • Explaining the purpose of LTCR Make local media partners in the process It is critical to establish positive relationships with a variety of media sources and to consider them partners in the public information campaign. Keep the media informed throughout the process. A strong media presence will put the LTCR effort in the public spotlight and encourage strong community participation. Past LTCR efforts received such strong support from the media that average meeting attendance hovered around 600 people. LTCR efforts usually receive excellent coverage from major local newspapers with many front-page stories. Newspapers were the most useful supporters in past LTCR efforts and provided excellent coverage of the community meetings. Also be sure to establish relationships with small local newspapers that are distributed on a weekly or monthly basis. Local papers often support the LTCR planning effort by offering free advertising space and opportunities for interviews. Getting the message out The scale of your communications strategy will not only depend on the size of the community and scope of your LTCR effort, but also on your budget. This section suggests a variety of options intended to inform the community and motivate individuals to attend LTCR community meetings. The options vary in price from free to several thousand dollars - market rates can often be negotiated. People or groups that may be of assistance • LTCR Team - The LTCR team is an excellent resource and must be tapped to reach out to community leaders, organizations and associations. Since the team will be meeting with these parties, members must come equipped with communication materials and available meeting dates. An example may include an informational packet regarding LTCR. • Mass Retailers - Flyers are most easily distributed through mass means. Large chain stores (i.e., Lowe’s, Home Depot, Wal-Mart) are often willing to distribute flyers. • School System - Past efforts also found the school superintendents' offices to be very cooperative and willing to send home a flyer with each child in the public school system. • Chambers of Commerce - Local Chambers of Commerce are useful sources for e-mail blast lists and may be of assistance in recruiting the support of local business owners. They may be willing to add an update corner in their weekly/monthly newsletter. Flyers also could be attached to the mass e-mails so local business owners can put them in their windows. • Volunteers - Often, volunteer assistance may be recruited from sources such as community colleges or retirement communities. • Organizations, associations and faith-based groups - Assistance may be recruited from local organizations, civic associations and faith-based groups. Communication mediums • Newspapers - Past, large-scale LTCR efforts conducted advertising campaigns to get people to the LTCR community meetings. To further this goal, 2 newspaper inserts were placed in the major newspaper in each county: 1) a listing of all suggestions/recommendations made during the LTCR community meetings, and 2) the rough-draft LTCR plan. Both inserts included an email and physical address to mail comments. • Blast Fax / Email Lists - Each team member should ask every contact if he/she has access to a fax or email blast list - these are invaluable for getting the community leadership, activists and business owners involved in the process. • LTCR Mailing List - Use the team to assist in the development of a contact list that includes each person or group each member met with. Email this list before every meeting. • Radio - Radio often offers a variety of free opportunities to advertise workshops and may also be interested in conducting interviews with community leaders and LTCR team members. If time permits, it is useful to write copy for a 15 second, 30 second and 1 minute radio time. • Flyers - Flyers advertising the community meetings also are beneficial and may be distributed through the channels mentioned above. It is best to keep the flyer message simple and concise. • Internet - The Internet is a great tool to supplement your advertising efforts. Since the PR message must be kept simple, establishing a web site would provide an excellent additional information source to your marketing campaign. • Office open house - If you are fortunate enough to have a separate LTCR office, stage a grand opening for the press and local community members. Include informational packets for the press and display past LTCR plans. • Television - The local cable access channel and local news channels are often interested in participating in the LTCR events or conducting interviews and usually request to be kept updated with current information. • Newsletters - utility providers, organizations and governmental entities Reaching minority groups It is essential to reach minority and/or low-income groups who represent a significant part of the population, especially if their native language is not English. These groups rarely participate in public meetings but are often affected by the projects proposed in the LTCR plan. Their voices need to be heard. They are often reached via radio stations, by placing flyers at shops they frequent, or through faith-based groups and churches. How do we respond to criticism? The LTCR effort may encounter criticism from various sources. The best defenses against this are to keep the press updated on the LTCR efforts and to wage a successful PI campaign that results in high attendance at the LTCR community meetings. While past LTCR efforts faced media challenges, the effort was almost always fully supported after a high resident turnout at the community meetings - when attendees realize that the plan is truly driven by the community. You can expect some community members to speak out against components of the LTCR effort. When this occurs, it is useful for the LTCR team leader and appropriate team staff to meet with these community members individually. While this may not resolve all issues, it will clear up any misunderstandings about the LTCR mission. Case Study Public Information Campaign - Santa Rosa County, Florida Hurricane Ivan struck Santa Rosa County in September of 2004 and damaged or destroyed just over half of its 44,000 housing units. Post-disaster, residents were inundated with information and the Public Information Campaign needed to be focused and concise. The campaign consisted of two distinct phases - meeting one and meeting two. Since the first meeting had relatively low turnout (approximately 300 people), the campaign changed its strategy for the second meeting, which resulted in a tripling of attendance. The preparation for the first meeting included many initiatives: the opening of a LTCR storefront to encourage citizen walk-ins; keeping newspapers up-to-date via press releases; distribution of flyers by large chain-stores and the public school system; emailing blast lists; and conducted limited grass-roots marketing. The newspaper advertising campaign included a somewhat busy half-page advertisement that focused on informing the public, rather then getting them to the meeting. This made for lengthy copy and added to residents' information overload. The effort received excellent newspaper attention overall and was mentioned on the front page the day of the meeting. However, attendance at the first meeting was low, and the team was concerned that it would not have enough public support behind the plan. The Public Information Campaign developed a new strategy following the first meeting’s low turnout. The new strategy focused on extensive grass-roots communication and development of a simple newspaper advertising campaign with a straightforward full-page advertisement (a one line slogan and meeting information) in addition to an insert in the local paper detailing all the comments and ideas obtained from the first meeting. The effort continued to receive frequent newspaper coverage (not all of it was positive). The flyer distribution continued, but the flyers were changed to a simpler layout similar to the newspaper advertisement - therefore adding a 'branded' element to the effort. In addition, many local businesses agreed to put meeting flyers in their windows and a few of the large churches announced the LTCR meeting information. Turnout tripled from the first meeting to the second meeting. STEP 5: REACHING CONSENSUS How do we secure community buy-in to move forward? Introduction You've gathered data to make coherent and compelling presentations to community stakeholders and the general public. It is time to determine which stakeholder groups need to agree in order for the LTCR program to move forward. Spelling Things Out You have been building support for your LTCR program from the day you begin gathering the data necessary for identifying the community issues and needs. Data gathering or research is like good listening. The LTCR plan is a way of spelling out what the community is saying and what your research has identified. "Spelling things out" may be a step that recurs several times as part of an overall feedback loop. You may need to go back to spell things out more than once in an effort to build consensus among multiple stakeholder groups. Mapping Your Network of Stakeholders Every community includes a complex network of relationships, all of which affect whether your LTCR program will ultimately succeed or not. Typically, that network consists of the general public, the private sector, and government (see Step 3: Securing Outside Support). But your community may have other significant stakeholder groups. Be sure to include them in the process of building consensus. Based on the support you've identified in Step 4 and other community stakeholder groups, you should consider creating a network "map" that shows all of the constituencies that will have to be taken into account if your LTCR program is going to succeed. Keeping the Public Involved The public is one of your best resources, and without the public’s support the LTCR plan will likely fail. The advantages of that public involvement include: • Improved community relations; • Learning from and informing citizens; • Persuading citizens; • Building trust and allaying anxiety; • Building strategic alliances; and • Gaining legitimacy for decisions. There are also benefits for citizens when they are included in a participatory process. They include: education; increased feelings of control, helpfulness, and responsibility; decreased feelings of alienation and anonymity; the ability to persuade and enlighten government; and practicing active citizenship. Aligning with Private-Sector Interests The private sector brings extensive resources to bear along with an unwavering commitment to the restoration and revitalization of the communities that support and promote their livelihood. Businesses may also wield a great deal of political power in your community. It is important to access their resources and consider the realities of their influence. Working Collaboratively with Government The State and Federal governments-beyond simply those departments or agencies that may be directly involved in the long-term community recovery effort-offer resources (including information and contacts). They may be able to identify linkages, overlap, and/or gaps in proposed LTCR projects and recommend alternative solutions that would maximize the use of available state and federal recovery and rebuilding resources. Identifying Other Stakeholder Groups When identifying other key stakeholders to include while building consensus, consider their ties to the community, ability to access and leverage resources, their political influence, and their relationships to, and potential impact on different aspects of your LTCR program. Reaching Out to All Stakeholders Establish a time frame for outreach to all stakeholders that fits within the LTCR program timeframe. You will want to be engaged in conversations with stakeholders well before decisions are finalized and implementation begins. The operative phrase is: "No surprises!" When people feel blindsided, the conversation can completely shut down. The forms of outreach identified and discussed in the Public Information Step can be used to address different audiences. Your goal is to build consensus for the LTCR program and plan. Use the forms of outreach best suited to a particular audience. Working with the Media As noted in the Public Information Campaign Step, making use of the local media is critical and may include the local newspaper, TV stations, public access station, radio, community web sites and billboards. The media is a crucial element in gaining community support - especially the support of community members that are not actively involved in the community but keep abreast of current developments. Post-disaster, community members that do not normally read the paper, listen to the radio, or watch the news use these sources to stay informed of the recovery effort. Relationships with the media can often be tricky. Past efforts found the media to initially be skeptical of the effort, but later embrace it and its value to the community. This resulted in many front-page stories, a discounted advertising rate, and furthering public support and participation. At a minimum, the local newspaper/s (daily and weeklies) should be kept informed of the LTCR effort progress. Failure to do so may result in the media putting a negative spin on your efforts and community leaders tend to not want to be associated with any negative or controversial efforts. Furthermore, since some of the community leaders' positions are the result of public support, getting the media 'on your side' is a critical element to getting elected officials and/or their appointees involved in the LTCR process. This is also pivotal for recruiting project champions (discussed later in this report). Community leaders also may assist you in fostering positive relationships with the media. Media attention ensures that individual citizens will be involved in the process, or at least aware of the process, and want to see results upon completion of the LTCR plan. Most important is that media involvement gets your average citizen to attend LTCR meetings, thus ensuring the LTCR plan is truly their plan. Addressing Conflicts Conflicts can be uncomfortable. They can appear intractable. But it is important not to ignore differences, either by glossing over them or by silencing them. Unresolved differences, especially in community groups, will almost certainly interfere with the LTCR process. So it is worth the time to understand and mediate conflicting interests. One way to mediate conflict is to discover the common interests that can potentially unite disparate stakeholder groups. Fundamentally, each group is part of a community that is interdependent. People often lose sight of that interdependence. Achieving Consensus Communities of all sizes may include highly diverse stakeholder groups with widely differing and conflicting priorities. These dynamics can become even more difficult to manage the greater the community's diversity and the wider its geographic reach. Working for consensus under those circumstances may seem impossible. Everyone working together toward a common goal is a practical necessity. Some community processes are able to move forward with everyone working at cross-purposes, but a complex long-term community recovery program requires community collaboration in order for the program to achieve its potential for strengthening and revitalizing the community. Community stakeholder groups not only need to recognize that they are working toward the same overall vision; they also need to work together to get there and to achieve at least some of their own priorities. CONSENSUS-BUILDING TECHNIQUES FOR COMMUNITY MEETINGS Facilitating the Full Participation of Every Stakeholder Make sure everyone has a turn. Ask dominant talkers to stand down once they've made their points. Urge silent members to contribute. Probe for clarification when statements seem vague. Slow down the proceedings if the information is coming in too quickly for you or the group to process. Facilitating means getting all the facts on the table. Tracking Group Dynamics In the heat of an emotional community conflict, step back a moment, take a deep breath and ask: What is really going on here? What is really at stake for these community members? Is something happening here that isn't being said directly? Tracking group dynamics means paying attention to actions that speak louder than words. Mediating among Conflicting Agendas and Perspectives Find common ground. Insist that that group members behave respectfully (even if they don't feel it). Determine what each opposing side can afford to give and where each side draws the line. Don't rush for consensus before the group as a whole has had a chance to process the conflicts and disagreements. Encourage creative solutions. Mediating means holding all the conflicting pieces together until they form a workable plan that everyone can support. Moving the Process Forward Keep track of time. Keep the agenda and objective(s) in the foreground continually. Press for decisions when the group seems able to move ahead, but do not force issues that the group has not sufficiently processed. Moving the process forward means pushing steadily without derailing the process. Case Study DeSoto County Rodeo and Equestrian Complex While it is true that community opinion will affect the LTCR planning process, community consensus will help implement it. A great example of how one project in particular was instrumental in rallying the community behind recovery efforts can be found in the Rodeo and Equestrian Complex project in DeSoto County, Florida. In 2004, several back-to-back hurricanes severely damaged properties throughout the county, including the regional rodeo facility in the town of Arcadia, the DeSoto County seat. The Rodeo grounds were a very popular county attraction that embraced the region's agricultural heritage and drew thousands of people to Arcadia seasonally. DeSoto was a county divided on recovery efforts in many ways, but as the LTCR process began, rebuilding the rodeo facility was quickly identified as an issue that most of the county could get behind. The LTCR team focused on what it meant to rebuild the rodeo grounds as an economic driver rather than concentrating on disputable conflicts that would further divide the county. At the LTCR community meeting, public attendees were drawn into the discussion of recovery by questions such as: Should the rodeo be rebuilt as is? Should it be redeveloped and expanded on the existing site? What other locations could be considered? Should it include equestrian or other facilities? The public was invited to comment on sticky notes and post them on a large map of Arcadia. Residents offered many creative ideas, such as relocating the facility to an area that could accommodate a world-class, multi-functional equestrian facility that would allow for championship level competitions, a covered rodeo arena, riding lessons, and livestock stables and barns. Other ideas poured in, as well, including using the facility as community space for a farmers market, a County fair, for profit-driven concessions, a visitor center, or a museum featuring DeSoto's rodeo history. Community consensus in this example meant that the county should rebuild the damaged rodeo facility. But more than that, the LTCR team was able to unite the DeSoto County community around long-term community recovery by focusing on projects like the Rodeo and Equestrian Complex that represented the restoration of their battered community spirit and economic welfare. STEP 6: IDENTIFYING THE LTCR ISSUE What are our opportunities? From Disasters Come Many LTCR Opportunities Looking at a disaster from a different perspective can help a community realize that many great opportunities can unfold from a disaster event, such as: • Rethinking the Community Vision - Assumptions used to establish the previous community vision or plan may have dramatically changed as a result of the disaster. LTCR provides an important opportunity to open up a dialogue with the public about whether to "rethink" the existing vision. For example, safety could be a much higher priority for residents, translating into the need for updating the building code, or new policies encouraging sustainable development practices, or working towards a diversified economy to avoid dependence on one business sector. • Improving the Previous Condition - LTCR provides the community an opportunity to take a critical look at its condition prior to the disaster and improve upon it by asking: What did we like about our community then? What didn't we like? How can we build back better and safer? One example might be to move forward with plans to construct a multi-purpose community center to replace a small neighborhood center that was destroyed. Another example may be improving the accessibility to primary health care (especially to under-served populations) and expanding opportunities to build healthy communities. • New Opportunities Unveiled - When damage to critical infrastructure and private property occurs, a range of new opportunities will be exposed. These can range from new ways to redevelop properties using state of the art technologies and sustainable development concepts, to investing in workforce training programs and facilities to encourage an emerging market. • Unparalleled Public Focus - Getting the public's attention on planning initiatives is difficult yet critical. This is the community's plan, and without extensive community involvement and support, the projects will likely never come to fruition. You can be assured that after a disaster event, the public is not only paying attention, but also getting involved and expecting results. However, it may be difficult to shift the community's focus to the long-term when many community members are concerned about short-term needs and their individual well-being, which may seem severed from the long-term needs of the community. As discussed above, attendance at public meetings on LTCR efforts is typically high due to extensive marketing and communication efforts. Access to televised media and front-page newspaper coverage is a critical instrument to rally public support and attendance at the LTCR meetings, as are grass roots marketing efforts. It's up to you to keep the focus positive and progressive - or to transform it to positive and progressive! • Critical Government Support - Unlike most planning efforts, LTCR provides an opportunity to work collaboratively with every level of government. For a very brief period, the federal, state, and local government will be supporting your efforts with time and financial assistance. It's up to you to organize the support quickly, check in often, and keep the focus on your community! • Community Healing - Every community survives disaster in their own way. Mourning the loss of life and absorbing personal and financial devastation are an important part of the process. In light of that, LTCR provides the community an opportunity to gather resolve and spirit, progress forward, and heal through the active process of rebuilding together. This may indeed be the most important opportunity of them all. When do we begin to identify Issues? Issue identification begins with initiation of the LTCR process. What issues existed prior to the disaster? Review existing plans and studies for the area. Meet with community leaders, community organizations and agencies, private sector interests, and neighborhood groups to identify issues that have arisen from the disaster. Use subsequent community meetings to further expand and refine those issues and begin to identify projects that might address the issues. "Make No Little Plans" As Daniel Burnham, a renowned urban planner at the turn or the 19th Century, once said, "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood. Make big plans…." In other words, take inspiration from the resiliency of your community and, in turn, let your Recovery Plan inspire - Think Big. In past LTCR initiatives, private sector developers have been motivated to invest in the communities where the projects identified were born from the community, captivated the imagination, and had commitment from the leadership. Promoting an inspirational LTCR plan will create the "magic" needed to progress it into implementation. In short, necessary elements for successful planning are in place - you have big ideas; the public's attention and will; financial support from federal, state, and local government and agencies; and project momentum going for you. Don't miss the opportunity to act on significant projects that could quickly advance the community on the path to revitalization. Strike while the iron is hot - and before the public's attention turns to the next breaking news. Case Study Success of "Thinking Big" in Utica, Illinois The Village of North Utica, Illinois was hit by a tornado on April 20, 2004, that killed nine people and destroyed the north end of the historic village. The Village Hall, Township Hall, Ambulance Building, and 56 other homes and structures were destroyed. Under the leadership of Mayor Fred Esmond and FEMA LTCR staff, the Village thought BIG. The Village, FEMA, and other governments and citizens produced the Utica United Recovery Plan that called for the expenditure of about $20 million dollars to restore the town and to construct a number of improvements to the community. Projects contained in the plan were the result of thinking BIG at the issue identification stage. Some of the major improvements called for were the rerouting of a state highway through the downtown, the removal of the downtown from a floodplain, the enhancement of the historic Illinois and Michigan Canal, improvements to the local economy and tourism, and the reconstruction and beautification of the historic downtown. Grants have been or will be provided by FEMA, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to cover some of the key projects contained in the plan, especially the rerouting of the state highway. The community continues to move forward on plan implementation and acquiring the funding needed to implement other projects in the plan. STEP 7: ARTICULATING A VISION AND SETTING GOALS What will strengthen and revitalize our community? Establishing a Logical Framework for Decision Making Every decision reflects not just technical, engineering, or financial considerations but also community preferences and demands. Establishing a logical framework for your LTCR program can show key community stakeholders how the components of the whole program fit together and how those components contribute to the objective of strengthening and revitalizing your community. You could present the framework for decision-making as a 3-level pyramid, with each level supported by the one below it - Articulate a community vision, set goals, and develop long-term community recovery projects (See Figure 5). Articulating a Vision for Your Community LTCR planning offers an opportunity for your community to establish a renewed vision for its future. The community's vision establishes a direction that everyone can drive toward together. Without a common direction, groups in your community can end up working at cross-purposes. You may already know what kind of future your community wants to make a reality. Regardless of your starting point, as you begin having conversations with community stakeholders and organizations, listen to what people say. Ask about their hopes and dreams. Find out what your community stakeholders agree would make a good direction to work toward together. Here are some questions to consider asking: • What are the key issues facing the community related to the ability to recover from the disaster? • What kind of community do you want to be in the next five, ten, or fifteen years? • What kind of community would make a good home for your children and grandchildren? What kind of community would you be proud to share with visitors? • What would your community look like if it were more resilient and more dynamic? The vision statement, developed by the LTCR team and the community, doesn't have to be perfect! Just jot down what you know. Revise it as you get new information. And keep revising it as you go along. Having a vision is a living, dynamic process. You can use it to steer your course together, even as you correct that course along the way. Community Vision for Charlotte County, FL Charlotte County is… • A progressive community that offers urban services within the unassuming feel of an Old Florida-style community. • A community that provides an alternative to the faster-paced style of cities like Naples and Sarasota. • A community that opens its doors to new residents and visitors without affecting the values and lifestyles of its current residents. • A community that provides opportunities for its young people in the way of jobs, education, and recreation as reasons to stay in Charlotte County. • A mixed income community that treats everyone as equal and values the contributions of all its citizens. • A community that recognizes the importance of the natural environment and balances the need for growth and economic development with the maintenance and improvement of the quality of its natural features. • A community that has a diverse economic base with strong emphasis on the health industry, tourism, education, light industry and services. • A community that places significant value on education, the arts, and culture. Source: Charlotte County LTR Plan, December 2004. Setting Concrete, Over-Arching Goals to Support Your Vision Goals will mark the actual progress toward your vision. They will give you and your community stakeholders a clear picture of how your LTCR program will achieve its intended purpose. For example, you know you want a stronger and more vital community. But what exactly will that look like? What are your strategies for achieving it? Realizing Your Goals with Targeted Projects In order to achieve the goals to meet the community's vision, a number of projects related to each of the goals must be developed. Step 8 details how to evaluate and prioritize those projects. For now it's just important to recognize where they fit in the larger framework of your LTCR program. Getting the Facts and Being Open to Feedback Gathering facts and information are important parts of developing your LTCR program. Ideally, fact gathering and research will continue throughout the process of putting your LTCR program down on paper. During implementation, it will also be important to continue gathering information to stay on track. Staying on track means being open to feedback on issues, goals, and eventually projects. This feedback should come from the community at large, government officials, community groups and organizations. Here are some research areas to consider: • What community needs have already been identified (whether by community members, government officials, or recovery professionals)? • What kinds of goals have been proposed or pursued in the past? (Ask the official in charge of public works, building inspectors, the tax assessor's office, other city and county government officials, disaster recovery professionals, etc.) • Which goals/outcomes worked and which ones didn't? Why? • What can you learn from past mistakes/successes? • What individuals or groups will have to be included in setting goals and prioritizing specific projects? Developing a LTCR program is largely a technical process. You need facts and objective information to develop a framework for responsible decision-making and implementation. But developing a LTCR program is also very much a people process. And that interpersonal/political dimension can sometimes be at odds with what appear to be the logical, technical aspects. Drafting the Goals Building a LTCR program is a complex process and is affected by unpredictable factors, such as community dynamics, political pressures, even changes in the natural environment. If your LTCR program had to wait until everything was known and everything was stable, you'd never get anywhere. This can be a frustrating reality. An important principle of LTCR is to draw your best conclusions given the data on hand at the moment, leaving your conclusions open to further input down the line. Planning certainly requires some structure; but if the structure is too rigid, the plan has a high likelihood of never being achieved. You may need to adjust those goals as new facts surface. In terms of defining goals, here are some questions to ask and consider: • What kind of mitigation actions are needed to make your community more disaster-resistant in the future? • What capacities are needed to make your community more economically, socially, and culturally vibrant? • What must be built or created to support your community's vision and values? Here are some additional factors you may want to consider when drafting your goals: • Define the goals in clearly measurable terms. • Make sure the goals represent endpoints. • Each goal is essentially a means to achieving the ultimate end, the community's vision for growth. However, each goal also needs to be clearly defined as an end in itself. Goals should be framed in terms of end products that will be delivered within a specific time frame. For example, you may know you want to improve the quality of your community's housing, but in what specific ways and within what time frame? You may need to upgrade aspects of your infrastructure, but what will that look like and when can it be achieved? It isn't necessary at this stage to spell out how the work will be done. First you just need to define your outcome as specifically as possible. Evaluating the Goals Once you've drafted a set of goals for your LTCR program, it will be important to establish a process for evaluating them. Following are some of the criteria you may want to consider: • Do the goals clearly support the community's vision? • Whatever goals you specify, it will be important to show how they contribute to achieving your community's long-term vision. • Are the goals defined in terms that are measurable and concrete? • The clearer you can be, the more likely you can anticipate and address disagreements among community stakeholders who, in the absence of measurable outcomes, each have a different endpoint in mind. • Are they framed in a way that is sufficiently inclusive of the variety of projects that might be included under each goal or outcome area? • As you move to the step of selecting projects to include in your LTCR program, you might find that some of the projects don't fit well under the goals as they've been defined. That could be an indication that the project doesn't support the overall Program objective or vision. But it might also mean that the goal should be re-defined in a more inclusive or comprehensive way. • Are they likely to inspire community, private sector, and government buy-in? • Goals are ways of concisely communicating how you will achieve your community's vision for itself. So just as it is important to make those goals clear and measurable, it is equally important that they are meaningful and inspiring to your key stakeholders. You can think of the evaluation process as another kind of feedback loop that helps you refine your overall LTCR program as you move forward. A Case Study VISION and GOAL SETTING - Stockton, Mo. The town of Stockton, Mo., population 1,960, was struck by an F-4 tornado on May 4, 2003. The city experienced devastation to its business community (the entire downtown was destroyed) and its housing stock. Shortly after the tornado, the Stockton Recovery Focus Group (Focus Group) was formed, comprised primarily of property owners in the downtown area, with the goal of rebuilding the downtown. The questions facing the group centered on how, what, and where to rebuild. Downtown Stockton impacted the entire community, and the Focus Group identified downtown with the following characteristics: • Heart of the community • Created the community's sense of place • Adjacent to city park and annual Black Walnut Festival • Adjacent to county courthouse • Informal community gathering place • Intersection of two state highways The Focus Group worked with volunteers from the Ozark Mountain Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) to initiate a visioning and goal-setting process for the downtown area. It was immediately apparent to the members of the Focus Group that a visioning and goal setting effort should not be limited to the downtown area but should address the entire community and should involve the residents and property owners in Stockton. The Focus Group brought in a few other stakeholders in the community for an initial meeting with the APA volunteers that lasted for approximately 5 hours and brainstormed the following: • Community Strengths • Immediate Needs and Issues • A Vision for Stockton's Future • Opportunities • Recommendations and Projects to Achieve the Vision The APA volunteers recorded this information. The local newspaper and radio station were contacted and agreed to get information out to the entire community. A community meeting was scheduled a week later. Approximately 350 people attended the community meeting and viewed presentation boards that were situated around the high school gym. These boards identified the results of the brainstorming session with the Focus Group. Each person was provided colored dots to identify their priorities/opinions regarding community strengths, immediate needs and issues, etc. The APA volunteers engaged individuals in conversation, and wrote down items that were not covered or identified in the brainstorming session. The APA volunteers studied the information from the public meeting, prepared a report that identified a Community Vision, key Community Issues, overall Goals for Community Recovery, and potential Projects to address the Goals and lead toward achieving the Community Vision. Another community meeting was held to present this information and obtain feedback. Again, over 300 people attended. A final report, Stockton, Mo.- A Plan for Action, was prepared and presented to the Recovery Focus Group and the City of Stockton based on the community involvement process. This report was also provided to the FEMA long-term community recovery team that came to Stockton to prepare a LTCR plan and was used to refine the recovery strategies that were ultimately set forth in the Recovery plan. The initial Visioning and Goal Setting community effort set the stage for the LTCR plan while both involving and energizing the community about its future. STEP 8: IDENTIFYING, EVALUATING, AND PRIORITIZING THE LTCR PROJECTS What makes a good project? Introduction You've brought the community together to identify issues and establish a community vision. You've reached out to local, state, and federal organizations and agencies to partner in this recovery effort. Now it is time for the LTCR team to begin identifying the projects that will address the community issues and vision. As projects are identified and developed, priorities will need to be established and a recovery value can be identified for each project. The LTCR team will need to evaluate and prioritize each project. Material in this section can assist in determining the value of each project with regard to the community's long-term recovery. Identifying LTCR Projects Projects will be identified as part of the community involvement process, including community meetings, discussions with community leaders, organizations, and agencies, and from existing plans for the community. Collectively, the projects identified should accomplish the vision and goals identified during the LTCR process. In addition, your LTCR team may be formulating and assessing projects that were overlooked during the community involvement but that could address important post-disaster community needs. Public Assistance Projects In addition to the projects identified through the community involvement process, it is important to work with the FEMA Public Assistance (PA) staff to understand what community projects might be eligible for Public Assistance. Public Assistance funding is available for rebuilding, restoring, or repairing public facilities that were damaged in a disaster. Specific eligibility requirements are spelled out in the FEMA Public Assistance Guide, although there should be an Infrastructure Branch Director managing PA activities throughout the state and a Public Assistance Coordinator (PAC) working directly with your community. Contact the PAC in your community to find out what facilities are deemed eligible for Public Assistance. You should be aware of the following: • Project Worksheet: used to develop projects for Public Assistance funding. Contains description of the facility, scope of eligible work, estimated cost, etc. • Improved Project: a Public Assistance project that incorporates improvements that go beyond restoring the facility to pre-disaster conditions • Alternate Project: occurs when the applicant chooses not to restore a damaged facility and requests the use of the PA funds for other public facilities, capital equipment, or hazard mitigation measures. • 406 Mitigation: Public Assistance projects can incorporate cost-effective mitigation measures that would reduce or eliminate the threat of future damage to a facility damaged during the disaster. Other federal agencies may also have projects that were underway or were in the planning phase prior to the disaster. Look at these projects in the same manner as you review the Public Assistance projects. • Are there federally funded projects that can contribute to community recovery? • Is there a need to modify these projects as a result of the disaster? • Are there new projects that might be undertaken in support of these projects? HUD, EDA, and DOT projects can be especially supportive of community recovery efforts. Was HUD planning to fund a number of housing units prior to the disaster? Is there an application pending at EDA for infrastructure improvements for an industrial park? Does the area or state Transportation Improvement Program identify projects that may support recovery or is it necessary to propose amendments to the TIP to include or substitute projects that are now needed as a result of the disaster? Projects should be related to the key recovery issues, goals, and overall community recovery vision. You may want to consider the value of grouping projects that are related and/or that create greater community benefit and value combined than when viewed separately. Grouping projects in this manner may open up opportunities for funding that you might not have if each project is assessed on its own. Alternate Projects Occasionally an Applicant may determine that the public welfare would not be best served by restoring a damaged facility or its function to the pre-disaster design. This usually occurs when the service is no longer needed, although the facility was still in use at the time of the disaster. Under these circumstances, the Applicant may apply to FEMA to use the eligible funds for an Alternate Project. Possible alternate projects include: • Repair or expansion of other public facilities • Construction of new public facilities • Purchase of capital equipment • Funding of hazard mitigation measures in the area affected by the disaster All requests for alternate projects must be made within 12 months of the Kickoff Meeting and approved by FEMA prior to construction. Alternate projects are eligible for 75% of the approved Federal share of the estimated eligible costs associated with repairing the damaged facility to its pre-disaster design, or the actual costs of completing the alternate project, whichever is less. See: Public Assistance Policy Digest, FEMA-321 Improved Projects Applicants performing restoration work on a damaged facility may use the opportunity to make additional improvements while still restoring the facility to its pre-disaster design. For example, an Applicant might propose laying asphalt on a gravel road or replacing a firehouse that originally had two bays with one that has three. Projects that incorporate such improvements are Improved Projects. Federal funding for improved projects is limited to the Federal share of the damaged facility to its pre-disaster design. The balance of the funds must come from other sources. Funds to construct the improved project can be combined with a grant from another Federal agency. See: Public Assistance Policy Digest, FEMA-321 Evaluating and Prioritizing Projects The project identification process will result in the discovery of many valid projects. Yet some of these projects may have competing priorities and/or implementation time limits. How do you choose between such warranted projects as a hospital, a fire station, or a public school? Decisions such as this could result in the fracturing of a community or a delay in the recovery process. Instead, every project - large or small - must be evaluated and prioritized for implementation. It is the responsibility of the LTCR team to evaluate and prioritize the projects and eventually present these to the general public and policy makers as part of the draft LTCR plan. Assigning a project recovery value is an important element to be undertaken by the planning team as part of the evaluation and prioritization process. In the end, each identified project must satisfy two guiding principles: • Does the project address the Vision and Goals of the Community as identified through the community visioning process? • Does the project focus on the overall Community Recovery? If you identify projects based on community identified goals, use an overall community perspective, and consider projects with overlapping benefits, you will create greater opportunities for success during the recovery process. Project Recovery Value Experience in past FEMA LTCR initiatives has shown that projects identified during the planning process have varying levels of impact on the recovery of a community. Projects in these plans were assigned a "recovery value" based on their importance to the community's recovery. Recovery Value is the designation assigned to a project that indicates its ability to help jump-start a community's recovery from a natural disaster or incident of national significance. Projects that positively contribute to recovery typically address a broad range of issues that promote a functioning and healthy economy, support infrastructure optimization, and encourage provision of a full range of housing opportunities. In past LTCR efforts, each project in a LTCR plan was assigned one of three Recovery Values: High, Moderate, and Low. A fourth category, "Community Interest" is used to designate projects that have significant local support, but either cannot be implemented in a time frame that will substantively affect recovery or do not clearly promote any key disaster recovery goals. The value attached to each project is based on the degree to which it assists the community in its recovery from a disaster, and is predicated on a series of general criteria. A worksheet related to the following general criteria is included at the end of this section to provide assistance as you assess the recovery value of your LTCR projects. Post-Disaster Community Need: Post-Disaster Community Need varies depending upon the magnitude of the event and the impact of damages affecting your community. Community Need projects are those that satisfy a previously identified need, leverage other projects or funding sources, or have broad community support. Project Feasibility: Can the project actually be achieved with available resources, within regulatory and logistical constraints, and within a realistic time frame? Does it have sufficient community support to get off the ground? Project Sustainability: Sustainable development projects are those that can help prevent acts of nature from becoming disasters. Sustainable development implies not only disaster-resistance, such as relocating a structure or restricting new construction in particularly vulnerable areas, but also resource efficiency, or the prudent use of energy, water, and natural resources to ensure healthy communities for future generations to come. Crosscutting Benefits: A project's Overall Cross-cutting Benefit is measured based on its: • Economic Impact: Projects with significant economic impact can be defined as those that create jobs, reestablish critical infrastructure that allow the economy to function, and provide new economic opportunities for future generations. • High Visibility and Builds Community Capacity: Ensuring a visible and measured process of long-term community recovery can have a significant impact on personal courage and community spirit during a time of extreme stress and uncertainty. • Linkages Throughout the Community and Leverages Other Projects & Funding: If you develop a series of supportive projects, linked to other segments within the community you will have a greater impact on recovery than individual or stand-alone projects. • Enhances the Quality of Life in the Community: Projects that improve the quality of life can have a direct impact on the decisions that businesses and people make regarding relocation. High Recovery Value Project Those projects assigned a high recovery value are catalyst projects that serve as important building blocks for recovery. Typically, a High Recovery Value project will: • Fill a post-disaster community need • Provide leveraging and create linkages for other projects and funding • Be related to the physical damage from the disaster • Encourage private investment • Have strong community support • Have access to the resources needed to carry out the project • Be realistic in its outcome - is achievable • Avert future losses • Use resources efficiently • Have community-wide impact LINKAGES In addition to the linkages discussed in the text, two types of linkages should also be considered: • Linking with other Communities • Linking Sectors Other Communities Working across community boundaries can often lead to a win-win situation where two or more communities are better off through collaboration. For example, a new facility (school, hospital, library) or a service (hotline, tutoring) might be designed to serve several communities rather just one. This collaborative approach might make possible progress that would otherwise be unaffordable and/or result in a high level of quality. Sectors As the guide makes clear, the LTCR planning process should include multiple sectors. It is important that synergies among sectors be sought out and included in the program. For instance, a single new structure in a small town might house both the library and a health clinic. This linkage or "wedding" of sectors might often be a more effective use of limited resources. For example, developing a single strategy to address both job creation and workforce training is likely to be more effective than two separate strategies. Moderate Recovery Value Project Those projects assigned a moderate recovery value are projects that can be expected to have clear and positive impact on recovery, but by their nature are limited in scope, span, impact or benefits to less than community-wide significance and/or support. A moderate recovery value project also will typically be related to the physical damage from the disaster. Low Recovery Value Project Low Recovery Value projects either do not have a direct link to the disaster and its damages, lack public support, and/or provide few, if any, identifiable benefits to the community related to disaster recovery. In many cases, a low recovery value project will fall far short of the resources needed to carry out the project, may generate questions regarding its achievability, and may only impact a small portion of the community. Community support for a project that has a low recovery value may have support from a portion of the community but lack general community support. Community Interest Project A Community Interest project may be extremely important to a community even though it does not have a significant recovery value. These projects would normally be classified as low recovery value except that they have significant public support. Such projects may grow out of long-standing plans that have never been implemented and the implementation of which will not necessarily move the community on the road to recovery from a disaster. As mentioned earlier, a community interest project may have significant local support, but either cannot be implemented in a time frame that will substantively affect recovery, has no relationship to the disaster, or does not produce identifiable benefits that promote recovery. An example of a Community Interest Project might be a new community library structure even though the existing, inadequate structure was not damaged in the disaster. Plans for a new library may have been in place for some time, but the initiative and/or the resources did not come together. The disaster may create an opportunity to move the project forward. The project has significant support in the community and will replace an outmoded facility, but it contributes little to the community's recovery from the disaster. Scoring the Recovery Value of the Projects The Project Recovery Value Checklist included in this section suggests questions you might consider in determining the recovery value of your LTCR projects. The actual "scoring" of the projects can be accomplished in several ways. • You could assign a "1" for all "Yes" responses and a "0" for all "No" responses and then determine what cumulative scores designate a High, Moderate, or Low Recovery Value designation. For example, Projects that score a "1" on 2/3 of the questions could be considered for High Recovery Value; Projects scoring a "1" on between ½ and 1/3 of the questions could be considered for Moderate; Projects scoring a "1" on 1/3 or less could be considered for Low. • Responses to the questions could be scored with a 3, 2, or 1 representing High, Moderate, or Low. The average score for the project could indicate a possible recovery value; e.g., an average score of 2.5 or higher for High, 1.5 to 2.5 for Moderate, and less than 1.5 for Low. (These ranges can vary. That is up to you and your LTCR team.) Regardless of how you might assign values to the scoring, the process should not be limited to the checklist and should not be completely formulaic. The LTCR team also should incorporate their professional experience and community knowledge in arriving at a project's recovery value. For example, a housing development project proposed for a neighborhood adjacent to downtown may not score enough points to be designated a High Recovery Value Project, but the LTCR team knows that the impact of the project on a neighborhood and downtown that received extensive damage will be significant and could generate other future projects. The LTCR team should identify such a project as High Recovery Value. Project Funding Priorities The criteria for a high recovery value project are consistent with most funding priority criteria. It is important to convey to the potential funding sources and the local community the recovery value concept and the reasons for a project's designation. A clear explanation of the recovery value concept and a brief summary of the key criteria addressed by a particular project will assist both the funding agencies and the local community as funds are sought to implement the projects. Timing of Projects Priority should be given to those projects that have the highest recovery value for a community. At the same time, it is important to have an immediate success with a project. In some instances, a high recovery value project may not be the first project undertaken, or at least completed, due to funding availability, complexity, etc. A community may want to complete a project that has high visibility and strong community support but a moderate or community interest recovery value in order to have an immediate success and sustain the community interest and support for LTCR. Summary Projects that contribute to community recovery typically address a broad range of issues that create a functioning and healthy economy, address infrastructure improvements, expand housing development, address environmental considerations, and revitalize downtowns. Each project must be assessed and prioritized based on the criteria described above and then assigned a Recovery Value based on how well it meets this criteria. Priority should be given to those projects that have the highest recovery value for a community or can be accomplished quickly to demonstrate success. It is important to convey to the potential funding partners and the local community the recovery value concept and the reasons for a project's designation. A clear explanation of the recovery value concept and a brief summary of the key criteria addressed by a particular project will assist both the funding agencies and the local community as funds are sought to implement the projects. Case Study Historic Waterfront Development and Revitalization - Pensacola, FL Hurricane Ivan caused significant damage to the Pensacola waterfront and downtown area in the fall of 2004. Several weeks after the hurricane, a proposal was presented to the city to develop a tract of land that was owned by the city and located on the waterfront, immediately adjacent to downtown. This proposal, on property known as the Trillium property and eventually titled Maritime Park, had been underway for some time prior to the hurricane but wasn't completed and made public until after the disaster. Key components of the proposal included a Maritime Museum and research center in partnership with the University of West Florida, a multi-use sports stadium, waterfront access, parking garage, linear park, a conference center, and office development. Funding for the project required a public/private partnership with a little less than half coming from the private sector, including donations and the University of West Florida, and a little more than half coming from the public sector. The FEMA LTCR team identified this as a potential LTCR project and received positive responses from citizens and local governments. In an attempt to create a more significant impact and foster projects that were linked in an overall recovery strategy, the LTCR team analyzed Public Assistance Projects in the area and undertook field surveys of the entire waterfront and downtown area. Several Public Assistance projects were identified along the waterfront and in fairly close proximity to the proposed Maritime Park project. These included: • Sanders Beach Community Center and Park • Port of Pensacola • Palafox Pier/Bayfront Park • Main Street Wastewater Treatment Plant These were all public facilities that had been damaged in the hurricane and/or specific redevelopment plans were underway. Linking the Maritime Park development with projects that were either planned and funded or would be receiving Public Assistance funds for restoration created an overall recovery strategy for the waterfront area. In addition, several other potential projects were identified through field work and the community involvement process. • Revitalization of the Seafood District - located within a Ό mile of the Maritime Park proposal, this area received significant damage from the hurricane. Potential to increase access to local market to sell local seafood produce and other related goods directly to local consumers and tourists. • Develop Housing Downtown - development of residential lofts, high-rise dwellings, apartments, etc., had been a goal of the city for several years. • Streetscape Improvements to better link downtown elements to the waterfront • Civic Center/Convention Center Expansion - located on the edge of downtown, plans were in place for expansion of this facility • Expansion of Saenger Theater - located in downtown Pensacola, this historic facility attracted people to the downtown for performances, providing consumers not only for the arts groups but for the downtown restaurants and retail All of these projects were individually discussed and supported by community groups and/or citizenry within the community. All projects also received support from the attendees as individual projects at the first community meeting. These individual projects were linked together as the Historic Waterfront Development and Revitalization Strategy for the Draft LTCR plan and presented and discussed at the second community meeting. There was significant public support expressed for this strategy and the concept of linking these projects as an overall recovery initiative. STEP 9: DEVELOPING A RECOVERY PLAN How do we put it all together? Who Authors the Plan? The LTCR plan should be authored by the team of professionals conducting the LTCR process in your community - your Team. What is the LTCR Planning Process? LTCR is an intensive planning process that establishes a blueprint for community recovery after a disaster event. The length of time for your planning process will depend on your resources and the amount of damage sustained. The LTCR planning process must be kept to a tight time frame with perceptible results to avoid public disillusionment with recovery efforts and to take advantage of the sense of community that usually follows a disaster. Although the process for completion of a LTCR plan is undertaken within a relatively short time frame, it is important to recognize that planning is an ongoing process and implementation of the projects contained in the plan may take years. The following provides a general framework for the LTCR team assigned to carry out the process. Keep in mind that the LTCR process should be adapted to meet the needs of your community: • Issue Identification / Visioning - begins immediately and is on going throughout LTCR. Team members meet with residents, community groups, local government officials, and stakeholders. Members of the public are encouraged to visit the LTCR office to discuss their ideas, receive information, and provide comments. • 1st Community Meeting - to be conducted approximately 10 days to 2 weeks into the process to solicit ideas and input on the community vision and define the issues for recovery. It is recommended that this meeting use an open house format to encourage maximum participation by attendees. Community meetings are best scheduled at the beginning of the LTCR process to ensure availability of space, sufficient public notification, and public confidence in planning schedule. Meeting facilitators should ask questions such as: What are your community's strengths? Weaknesses? What are the issues? How should we rebuild? What do you want your community to look like in the next 20 years? What kind of community do you want for your children? (See step 4 for techniques to generate community interest and attendance.) • Draft LTCR Plan - to be completed approximately 4 weeks into the process. The LTCR team will devise a plan based on the community's input and ideas. While the team should use its professional judgment when devising projects, it should also make certain that each project identified in the plan is based on a public concern or idea. • Distribution of Draft LTCR Plan - due to the compressed time frame of the LTCR planning process, the draft plan may not be completed until the 2nd community meeting, but it should be available for distribution at that meeting. If it is completed prior to the meeting, it should be distributed to the public and agencies prior to second community meeting for review. • 2nd Community Meeting - to be conducted approximately 6 weeks into the process to solicit community feedback on the draft plan. The plan will be updated to capture relevant community feedback from this meeting. • Final Draft LTCR Plan - to be completed approximately 7 to 8 weeks into the process. Projects will be fine-tuned, changed, or cut, based on feedback from the 2nd community meeting. The plan remains a Final Draft because it is intended to be constantly evolving. • Public Commemoration - Unveiling of the final draft LTCR plan occurs at this final public meeting. While the public is invited to attend this meeting, it is typically a smaller gathering held at a local government building where the LTCR plan is formally handed over to the local officials who will oversee implementation. • Distribution of Final Draft LTCR Plan / Other Materials - the final draft plan can be posted on websites for mass review after the final community meeting. Other materials, such as posters, calendars, or other creative materials that keep the projects in front of the community should be distributed at this time as well. • Implementation - the final draft plan will be the guiding document for implementation. Refer to Step 12 on Implementation. Example of First Community Meeting (from recent LTCR efforts) A typical First Community Meeting is usually held within a couple of weeks of the start of the LTCR process and is set up in an open house format. The LTCR team has compiled a list of issues and concerns generated by the various individuals and community groups that have been interviewed and from existing plan documents and studies. These issues and concerns are grouped in appropriate categories; e.g., Economic Development, Transportation, Housing, etc. A series of presentation boards are prepared for each grouping and set up on easels around the meeting room. These boards indicate the issues and concerns that the LTCR team has been able to identify from discussions with individuals, groups, and elected officials within the first two weeks. Typically, these are phrased to represent the way it was presented; e.g., "We should tear down the old courthouse and use the land for parking in the downtown." OR "Housing is needed for the low and moderate-income families that lost their homes in the tornado, but it should be distributed throughout the community rather than located in one area." Post-It Notes and pencils are provided at each station, and the citizens are encouraged to post their comments regarding any or all of the issues/concerns on the boards. LTCR team members are available at each station to answer questions and, in some cases, transcribe the citizen's comments on a post-it note and place it on the board. This process allows for interaction and communication among the citizens, between the citizens and the LTCR team, and provides an opportunity for the citizens to state their opinion on the issues/concerns identified or to point out issues/concerns that have not been identified. Typical Second Community Meeting (from recent LTCR efforts) The Second Community Meeting is conducted in an open house format and is held after a rough draft of the plan has been completed - usually within 6 weeks of initiating the LTCR process. Boards are again used to group by subject area the project recommendations contained in the draft plan. Specific projects are recommended and are aimed at addressing the key issues and concerns, the community vision, and the goals developed within each of the subject areas. A series of presentation boards are prepared for each grouping and set up on easels around the meeting room as was done in the First Community Meeting. These boards contain the project options along with any sketches, background information, etc., related to that project. Post-It Notes and pencils are again provided at each station, and the citizens are encouraged to post their comments regarding any or all of the projects. LTCR team members are available at each station to answer questions. This process provides input on the various projects and allows the LTCR team to hear the community's perspective on the recommended projects, which assists in refining and revising the projects. In some cases, new projects come forward that had not been discussed previously. LTCR Plan Design A LTCR plan is not your typical planning document. While the intention of the plan is to outline a path to recovery, it also will be used to market your community projects to government agencies, non-profit groups, or private-sector investors with funding capabilities. Therefore, the format of the plan should be designed to assist communities to prioritize projects for future implementation. Grant applications vary from agency to agency, but typically require proof of community support, identification of project need, a description of the project, and cost estimates of the project. Therefore, these elements should be succinctly folded into the LTCR plan in a user-friendly format. A compact disc containing examples of past LTCR plans is included with this guide. These are intended as examples only and are not meant to indicate the specific content or format of your plan. To respect agency review burdens, the LTCR plan should be brief, with succinct discussion of project needs but not an in-depth discussion of existing conditions. Where there is a need for additional project information, reference rather than summarize or attach it. The following provides an overview of the general plan design: 1. Professional Cover - Keep graphic quality high and compel reviewers to check out the community's vision for itself with an exciting cover; however, make sure the cover adequately conveys the contents of the plan. 2. Table of Contents 3. Introduction - Provide a brief introduction to the LTCR plan (approximately one page). Keep the opening page focused on the positive aspects of rebuilding the community and include a prominent spot for the community's Vision. 4. Supporting Parties (Final Draft only) - This section of the plan should clearly identify the political and community support for projects identified in the LTCR plan. The more public support demonstrated in your plan, the more weight it will receive with funding agencies and organizations. Document your collaborative process with letters of support from the appropriate decision makers in the upfront section of the plan. 5. Review of Community Feedback (Final Draft only) - The LTCR community meetings and public outreach efforts should be documented in this section, along with the feedback from the Draft LTCR plan. The reviewers of the plan should understand which projects received the strongest and weakest public support relative to the project's recovery value (refer to Step 8 for further information on recovery value.) This will provide decision makers with critical public input necessary to implement projects in the future. 6. Projects - As a rule of thumb, approximately one page should be devoted to the description of each project in order to keep the plan brief. Each project sheet should be set-up to function like a grant application by addressing the following elements: • Recovery Value - Identifies the value of a project to the recovery of the community. • Goal - Identifies the recovery goal of the project. Reference existing plans or policies that also state this goal where appropriate. • General Project Description - Brief description of the general project or planning strategies necessary to fulfill recovery goal. • Project Options - Several project options should be devised for each project in order to ensure that good projects are not derailed simply because the approach to it lacks consensus. For example, the community may agree that the downtown needs rebuilding. Providing several strategies for its reconstruction will help guide the community to think about how to do it rather than disagreeing over one given method. • Graphic representation of project / project options • Estimated Cost of Project Options - In order for agencies to make funding decisions on grants, they must understand the estimated project cost. Costs can be roughly calculated based on documented industry assumptions. Creative Materials - Keeping the LTCR Plan Alive In past LTCR planning processes, vivid and creative summaries of the LTCR planning projects have been provided to interested members of the public to keep the plan "in the public eye." For example, after hurricanes Charlie, Francis, Jeanne, and Ivan hit Florida in 2004, the LTCR teams developed large colorful posters of key projects that were posted in local officials' offices, restaurants, public displays, and residents' homes to ensure that the plan remained active and evolving. An abbreviated version of the LTCR vision and projects can be captured on such mediums as calendars, placemats, or other creative formats and given to public officials for office display to help keep the LTCR plan and project implementation alive. Case Study Experiences of a LTCR Team Leader A strong and credible LTCR team leader is an important ingredient in ensuring a successful recovery process and well developed plan. The following question and answer series with Fred May, 2004-2005 LTCR team leader for Port Charlotte and Escambia Counties, Florida after Hurricanes Charlie and Ivan, highlight challenges of the process. What do you feel is a challenging component of LTCR? "Making sure that you touch base with all the key actors in the community and that you've identified all the key issues. The very first week, you need to identify all the government officials and private sector individuals that are the movers and shakers in town and start meeting with them. The team needs to branch out, target these stakeholders, and listen to them to find out what the issues are - LISTEN, not talk. Explain what you are doing, but let them tell you what the issues are. This is really important to developing the right projects later on." What did you find helpful when managing a LTCR team? "It's important to understand the strengths of the team members and let them focus in those areas. For example, if someone has a background in historic preservation, let them get in touch with the appropriate locals for that information. At the same time, make sure that all team members understand the big picture of recovery planning and how it all comes together. Maybe the historic preservation issues for that community do not lend themselves to the recovery of that community. The team members need to keep that in mind also." How do you interact with the community? "The most interesting and rewarding aspect of LTCR was the interaction with the general community, primarily at the open house but also at community gatherings. When you are focused on putting together a plan in a short period of time, you need to connect with the community as quickly as possible. I found that if I wanted the public to come to our meetings, our team needed to get involved in theirs. We were invited to planning commission meetings, Rotary Club, church gatherings, and barbeques. While we were at these functions, we continued to listen and try and empathize with their situations and capture their perspective on the community's needs and issues following the disaster." Did your plan achieve community consensus? "For the most part, I felt like the plans developed in Port Charlotte and Escambia Counties achieved community consensus. The projects that were contained in the plan had a general consensus in the community. Certainly there were some people that had other projects that they were interested in, but they did not create a big stir. The key here is to work closely with the community in development of the plan." What was the key for keeping the planning process brief? "The need to undertake the planning process and produce a LTCR plan in a relatively short time frame is extremely important. You need to take advantage of the cooperative attitudes within communities immediately following a disaster and you need to get projects and proposals to potential funding agencies while their attention is focused on your area. We were forced to keep to an 8 to 10 week timeline because we scheduled the community meetings up front and had to be prepared for them. The meetings were already advertised publicly so the team understood that those deadlines were critical. That's probably the best way to avoid 'analysis paralysis.' We made a commitment to the community to finish the recovery planning in this time frame and we scheduled ourselves into it." STEP 10: CHOOSING PROJECT CHAMPIONS Who will provide leadership for each project? Choosing a champion is an important step in the process of LTCR planning. A project champion is someone who will take the project and move it forward to realize the plan's goals and community vision. A good choice for a champion is someone who has shown past interest in the project and may have even started working on the project prior to the disaster. A project champion can be an individual or an agency, although one person should be the designated contact if it is an agency or organization. What Constitutes a Good Champion? A good champion will understand the needs of the project and will not pursue inefficient courses of action. They will have a clear understanding of the politics that it could take to get the project started and to keep it going. They will be familiar with and able to work with the appropriate entities to accomplish the project. A good champion will also have support within the community - from politicians and general public alike. Where Do You Find Project Champions? Project champions can be found in a variety of places and it is up to the LTCR team and local government to help identify them. They may be an elected official (such as the town Mayor), or a local volunteer (such as the head of the local historical society). An active or influential member of a local community organization also can make a good champion, especially on projects that the organization was trying to accomplish prior to the disaster. Other champions can be municipal employees, community activists, or members of local professional organizations. Be open to the opportunity to identify champions from non-traditional sectors within the community depending on the types of projects and the overall damage. Non-traditional champions might come from the rural portion of the community, neighborhood associations or the arts community, etc. A champion for a particular project should not be selected without consideration for the other projects identified during the LTCR planning process. A good champion for one project may be a good choice for several other projects; however choosing one person or organization to champion too many projects may dilute time and energy, reducing their ability to implement each project. There are other, less obvious types of potential champions who may be identified during the course of the long-term community recovery planning effort. During the numerous public meetings held as part of the process, champions may identify themselves by speaking passionately about a particular project or subject matter, or by bringing a new project to the attention of the team. This person may be a good candidate for a champion or he/she may help identify a potential champion. Champions also can be identified through more focused public meetings with local organizations, public officials, and other interest groups. Connecting with local entrepreneurs or prominent members of the community is a good way to identify potential candidates. Entrepreneurs and prominent citizens are generally business people who have many connections with both residents and local politicians. They may make good champions themselves, especially if the project may lead to increased business opportunities. Project champions may not be identified immediately. Some projects might not have a champion until the implementation process begins; however, you should strive to identify a project champion as early as possible in the development of the LTCR projects. An Obvious Choice for a Housing Champion Rebuild NW Florida was formed shortly after Hurricane Ivan devastated Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. The focus of this not-for-profit group was to solicit donations, volunteers, and manage the rehabilitation of owner-occupied housing units that were damaged in the hurricane. Rebuild NW Florida had already amassed a significant number of cash and material donations by the time the LTCR team began their work. The group was focused on both Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties and was headed by a former Speaker of the House of the Florida Legislature. This organization was an obvious choice as a champion for a significant portion of the housing projects that came out of the LTCR process in both Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. The Role of a Champion A crucial step in selecting a project champion is defining their role. A good champion will: 1. Continue to flesh out the details of the project after it has gone into the LTCR plan 2. Find ways to attract funding to the project 3. Convince others to join in and help bring the project to fruition 4. Serve as project coordinator/leader 5. Work with the the person(s) responsible for LTCR implementation to help achieve all of the goals of the project. Once a good candidate is identified, it is important to engage him or her in the project. They must buy-in to the project or they will not carry it forward. There are several ways to achieve this, and these methods are best if used in tandem. 1. Get the champion involved in shaping the project. A good champion will already have an interest in the project, but they will maintain that interest if allowed to help outline the details. 2. Involve the champion in the public meetings. Focused meetings, held to discuss only the project in question, will provide input to shape the project and assist the planning team and the champion to identify others who may share an interest in the project. Allowing the champion to be identified as such during these meetings will add a sense of permanency to their role and further encourage their commitment. 3. Connect the champion with potential funding sources for the project. Making these connections will strengthen the project and help the champion realize that the project is feasible. It will also provide the funding source with an opportunity to watch the project take shape and observe the public support for the project. Case Study THE ZOO Northwest Florida, Gulf Breeze, FL As part of the LTCR planning process in the Panhandle area of Florida, the LTCR team in Santa Rosa County held several public meetings in multiple towns to obtain public input on key issues within the communities. At one of the smaller meetings, LTCR team members stood by individual boards that addressed different issue areas. One particular attendee went from board to board, discussing with each team member the issues that she felt were key. The issue that was most important to her was damage that occurred to the local zoo where she worked. The zoo had sustained damage to several enclosures and faced the challenge of lost revenue, loss of infrastructure, and increased animal care cost due to injuries and other special needs brought on by the storm. Damages and lost revenue were estimated at $1.1 million. By the time the woman, Natalie Akin, Director of Visitor Services and Business Operations at the Gulf Breeze Zoo, had talked to every team member in the room, it was clear that she was a great choice to champion a project addressing the recovery of the zoo. The zoo brought tourism revenue to the area (with an annual attendance of 150,000) and provided 100 jobs for local residents. Overall, the zoo had an economic impact of $6.5 million on the Northwest Florida economy. The zoo had completed a Comprehensive Master Plan that included $3-5 million in capital improvements, but there was no funding to implement the plan. Akin gave tours of the facility to the LTCR team and worked with them to help develop the scope of the project. She arranged meetings with the zoo staff who created the master plan and worked with FEMA's Public Assistance to try to determine whether the zoo was eligible for funding as a qualified non-profit. Together, Akin and FEMA identified several potential projects, one of which was to construct two emergency shelters-one with generators that could be used by zoo workers to manage animals during a storm and one that could be divided and used to shelter zoo animals and domestic animals. During all of the public outreach that the team did as part of the long-term community recovery process, no one mentioned the issues that the zoo faced. If it were not for the determination of this person to raise awareness for the situation, and the public meeting process that the long-term community recovery team organized, the project might not have been identified. STEP 11: PREPARING A LTCR FUNDING STRATEGY Where do we get the funding for these projects? Introduction Communities must seek support and interest from agencies and organizations willing to invest in a project, a community, and a process. Since most available funding through agencies and organizations is competitive, it is imperative that communities distinguish themselves and their respective projects from among other projects competing for the same funding resources. Partnerships Establishing partnerships with the various state, federal, and not-for-profit agencies is the most important aspect of preparing a funding strategy. Typically, the initial focus of a community is to "find the money" to fund recovery projects. While this is a natural first reaction, it is also limited in the long-term effectiveness of recovery and project implementation. Communities will be more effective and garner greater support over a longer duration if they first develop relationships with potential partnership (and funding) agencies. This relationship allows the community to fully understand the policies, timelines, limitations, and parameters of the partnering agency. It also allows the community to communicate and "sell" the project and the scope of redevelopment to the partnering agency. This 'partnership' approach encourages an agency to become a vested partner in the development of projects. While it may seem slow and tedious at first, especially with the sense of urgency in the recovery process, this relationship building will create a long-term partnership between communities and agencies that can endure long after community recovery has been accomplished. In developing a successful partnership, the community recognizes its true needs as well as limitations; and the partnering agency recognizes that project assistance is a request for a "hand-up" not a "hand-out." Funding Sources As you identify and develop recovery projects, you should also consider the resources available to support these projects. A good starting point in identifying possible funding sources for projects is Disaster Assistance - A Guide to Federal Recovery Programs, (FEMA Pub. 229). You should first look at what local resources or funding opportunities are available to assist in implementing recovery projects. Are there funding opportunities from the community's General Fund? From potential Bond Issues? From a Capital Improvement Fund, etc.? To encourage stakeholders, a community must demonstrate its commitment and active participation in the project. Once this review has occurred you can investigate funding, technical assistance, or other resources from various sources, including: 1. Public Agencies (Local, State, Federal) 2. Not-For-Profit Organizations 3. Private Foundations 4. Other organizations or entities One path for communities to access state and federal resources is through established programs at the state and federal level, such as HUD Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), EPA, EDA, USDA Rural Development, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), related state departments and agencies, etc. Other state and federal programs that aren't as popular or as well funded may require additional research to find resources applicable for a particular project. Remember to incorporate eligible Public Assistance funds as part of your funding package. PA funds may be available for both Improved and Alternate projects if those types of projects are recommended in the LTCR plan. Hazard Mitigation can be a key component of your LTCR strategy, and there are several funding sources for implementing hazard mitigation techniques and projects. These include the Section 404 Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, Section 406 Hazard Mitigation Program associated with the FEMA public assistance program, Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program, Flood Mitigation Assistance and the National Flood Insurance Program all described in detail on pages 74 and 75. Besides established agencies and organizations, communities should work with their state and federal congressional delegations for support of recovery projects. Establishing a project partnership with the state and federal legislative representatives and their staffs will allow stakeholder support - in the form of written support for grants or through the identification of state or federal resources and programs available to a community. Some communities may receive direct earmarks or appropriations for specific recovery projects. Usually, direct project appropriations are a result of preparing detailed project background information, distinguishing gaps in funding or resources, and identifying a specific need based on exhaustion of other means to develop a project. In addition, direct appropriations require extensive documentation and usually require extended time frame based on the state or federal legislative and budgeting process. It should be noted that in some instances, agencies might allow waivers of certain program criteria or allow creative financing solutions depending on the type or scope of a disaster. Since these waivers or exceptions occur on case-by-case or event basis, communities should be prepared to seek out these waivers or exceptions. Regardless of the type or quantity of resources considered for a project, it is important to identify all of the potential resources, programs and stakeholders that may be applicable for use in the recovery process. You may want to compile a list or matrix of agencies or organizations and their respective programs and resources. In some instances regional, state or federal agencies have compiled and published guides or financial assistance manuals. For example, the Florida League of Cities publishes a guide entitled Financial and Technical Assistance for Florida Municipalities and FEMA publishes Disaster Assistance: A Guide to Recovery Programs. These types of documents provide basic information about the respective programs of assistance available. Check with your respective state planning agency, Regional Planning Commission, state Municipal League, or state Association of Counties. Not-For-Profit Agencies and Private Foundations are also good resources for project collaboration and partnerships. The Trust For Public Land, Habitat for Humanity, and a local/regional Community Foundation are examples of resources for project partnerships. In addition, public or private Colleges or Universities can be a valuable resource for a project. Depending on the project, timing, and location, these organizations can provide technical assistance, project management, funding, and in some cases assume the role of developer or project lead. Funding Strategies When considering the funding aspect of a project, there are two important strategies to consider. 1. A community must be able to locate the available resources and 2. Apply those resources in a logical manner to a project. Make sure the funding program or resource matches the recovery project. Be prepared to make adjustments to the project scope, scale, timing or phasing in order to ensure access to available resources. Leveraging Ideally communities should seek several levels or sources of funding to leverage project development. Using several layers of resources insulates projects from potential pitfalls and encourages more stakeholder participation. On the other hand you must recognize that the leveraging of multiple resources requires additional project oversight and coordination to ensure success. A Funding Package In the end, each project consists of various elements that create a complete package. Preparing a funding package consists of three important steps. 1. The community must look at the project and its scale and scope to determine how the project could be logically divided into phases. While it should not be the intent to develop a project that requires phasing, it is important for a community to look at a project from this perspective. This approach will allow the flexibility to develop portions of projects where total funding or resources may not yet exist or be available. 2. You must look internally to determine if any funds are available through existing revenue streams or through new or potential sources of local revenue. This second step is crucial - as it ensures the community is committed to invest in its own project. This step also demonstrates to outside agencies that the community is willing to become a primary stakeholder in the redevelopment and recovery process. 3. Finally, a community should evaluate the funding programs and resources available at the regional, state, and federal levels that will allow the leveraging of local funds to complete a given project. Focus on existing or standard state and federal programs as your first choice. Don't rely on special appropriations from state or federal agencies that may or may not come to fruition. These resources may not always consist of actual cash investment. In reality there are numerous opportunities where in-kind services or technical assistance may provide a comparable level of support. Summary The success of a project is in large part based on the funding and resources available for the project. It should be emphasized that the best funding to pursue is from standard programs rather than hoping for special appropriations from the state or federal government. Ensuring that the community is vested and committed to the recovery projects is the first step in developing a solid funding strategy. Developing partnerships at the local, state and federal levels encourages stakeholder participation in community recovery. These partners become supporters for the recovery process and create opportunities for leveraging resources. By matching the project with the proper resources and programs, you will be successful in the recovery process. Section 404 Hazard Mitigation (HMGP) Authorized under Section 404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides grants to States and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures after a major disaster declaration. The purpose of the program is to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters and to enable mitigation measures to be implemented during immediate recovery from a disaster. Applicants who have questions regarding the HMGP should contact the State Hazard Mitigation Officer. Section 406 Hazard Mitigation Implemented through the Public Assistance (PA) Program, Hazard Mitigation Section 406, is a funding source for cost-effective measures that would reduce or eliminate the threat of future damage to a public facility/structures damaged during the disaster. The measures must apply only to the damaged elements of a facility/structures rather than to other, undamaged parts of the facility/structures or to the entire system. Section 406 mitigation measures are considered part of the total eligible cost of repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replacement. They are limited to measures of permanent work. It is important to note that Section 406 hazard mitigation measures consist of work that is above and beyond the work required to return a damaged facility/structure to its pre-disaster design. Upgrades that would be required to meet current codes and standards, however, are not considered hazard mitigation measures for purposes of the PA Program and have different eligibility criteria. The projects should be considered eligible, technically feasible, environmentally and historically compliant and cost effective. PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION The Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program was authorized by §203 of the Stafford Act. Funding for the program is provided through the National Pre-Disaster Mitigation Fund to assist States and local governments (to include Indian Tribal governments) in implementing cost-effective hazard mitigation activities that complement a comprehensive mitigation program. The PDM program will provide funds to states, territories, Indian tribal governments, and communities for hazard mitigation planning and the implementation of mitigation projects prior to a disaster event. PDM grants are to be awarded on a competitive basis and without reference to state allocations, quotas, or other formula-based allocation of funds. (www.fema.gov/fima/pdm.shtm) FLOOD MITIGATION ASSISTANCE (FMA) FMA was created as part of the National Flood Insurance Reform Act (NFIRA) of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 4101) with the goal of reducing or eliminating claims under NFIP. Funding for the program is provided through the National Flood Insurance Fund, and FMA is funded at $20 million nationally. FMA provides funding to assist States and communities in implementing measures to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of flood damage to buildings, manufactured homes, and other structures insurable under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). (www.fema.gov/fima/fma.shtm) National FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM The Mitigation Division of FEMA manages the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The three components of the Program are: Flood Insurance, Floodplain Management, and Flood Hazard Mapping. Buildings constructed in compliance with NFIP building standards suffer approximately 80 percent less damage annually than those not built in compliance. And, every $3 paid in flood insurance claims saves $1 in disaster assistance payments. (www.fema.gov/nfip/whonfip.shtm) The National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements. (www.fema.gov/nfip/crs.shtm) If your home or business is damaged by a flood, you may be required to meet certain building requirements in your community to reduce future flood damage before you repair or rebuild. To help you cover the costs of meeting those requirements, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) includes Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage for all new and renewed Standard Flood Insurance Policies. (www.fema.gov/nfip/icc.shtm) Case Study Southwest Florida Disaster Recovery Workshops (Resource Day) As part of the recovery process in Florida, the state's Department of Community Affairs hosted a series of Disaster Recovery Workshops throughout the state. These workshops were designed to allow communities throughout Florida to meet, network, and seek outside input and support on their respective recovery projects. In Southwest Florida, the Disaster Recovery Workshop was scheduled 10 months after Hurricane Charley. While this time frame may appear lengthy, it allowed the local communities to fully grasp project priorities, establish timelines, and determine which projects needed additional resources to allow completion or implementation. The Disaster Recovery Workshop was organized as a one-day meeting among project stakeholders and partnering agencies to identify and discuss the various community recovery projects in detail. The intent of the workshops was two-fold: • Provide project stakeholders with a better understanding of the regulatory processes and organizational make-up of various state, federal and other agencies; and • Provide state, federal and other resource agencies further information on specific community recovery projects, which would encourage them to become partners in the recovery process by providing organizational, regulatory, technical, financial assistance for these community recovery projects. This "Resource Day" concept provided an informal forum for communities and resource agencies to discuss opportunities, programs, and resources while gathered together. Throughout the event, communities and project stakeholders presented their projects and then received feedback or input from various agencies. In some instances, several agencies suggested opportunities to leverage projects among several partners or adjustments to streamline the regulatory process. At the end of the workshop, local project stakeholders left with additional details and insight on available technical and financial resources. While the workshop did not result in any completed projects, additional contacts were made and new partnerships were formed with various agencies. STEP 12: IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN How do we make it all happen? The LTCR plan is a product of the LTCR program, but the end products of the program are the completed projects that are set forth in the plan. Implementation of the LTCR plan is the key to long-term community recovery. Without the follow-through by public and private sectors, the LTCR plan is merely a report with interesting ideas and pretty pictures. Who is in Charge of Implementation? The governing body of the area for which a LTCR program has been initiated should coordinate the LTCR plan implementation. The local governing body has the responsibility to both initiate and implement the plan. Some of the projects may require public dollars and action, some projects may require private dollars and actions, and some may require a public/private partnership to implement; however, the key to implementation is the support and commitment of the local elected officials. LTCR Implementation Manager Just as the overall LTCR program requires a leader, the implementation process needs someone to manage and lead the implementation. That may be the LTCR program leader or it may be someone else who has the skills to manage multiple activities and inspire the project champions to see their projects to completion. A good choice for an implementation manager might be a paid staff person within the local government organization or a paid staff person within a community organization/agency, such as the Chamber of Commerce, local Development Corporation, etc. The implementation manager should be given an appropriate time frame to jump-start the implementation process - at least until the project champions and the projects have enough momentum to move forward to project completion. The amount of time will depend on the overall damage to the community and the complexity of the LTCR plan. That may be 3 months in some cases or 18 months or longer in others. Keys to continued success include 1) regular project completions, 2) maintaining a fluid plan, 3) including portions of the plan in capital improvement projects of the community or in community comprehensive/master plans. Priorities for Implementation Project implementation priorities should be based on two general principles: • Focus on projects that will have the most impact on the community's recovery when completed. Obviously the High Recovery Value projects should have priority. These should get the major focus of the implementation manager and the local governing body. • Move forward on projects that can be completed rather quickly, have significant public support, and available funding. These would be the "low hanging fruit" of the LTCR plan. Completion of these types of projects creates significant visibility for the LTCR program and helps solidify community and political support for continued emphasis on plan implementation. In many cases, these may not have a high recovery value, but their completion will help hold the community's interest in the LTCR program. Be Flexible The LTCR plan should be viewed as a guide, not a set of specific instructions. Specifics of the projects in the plan may change and evolve as designs are undertaken or as more details become known. It is important that the community is flexible and assesses changes based on the community's recovery vision and the overall goals of the plan. Evaluation and feedback are key components of the LTCR planning process. In addition to helping to improve the overall effort, progress that is evaluated and tracked can be used to communicate success to stakeholders and the general public. Case Study Hardee County Recovery Efforts As part of the response to the damage sustained from the 2004 Hurricanes, a few communities in Southwest Florida appointed staff specifically dedicated to manage and coordinate the recovery efforts for the local government. Hardee County, FL was one example where community officials wanted to ensure that implementation of the long-term community recovery plan was properly managed. Immediately after the disaster, the County Administrator recognized the need for a dedicated staff member to coordinate the long-term and economic recovery efforts of the County and its three municipalities. What makes this situation distinctive is that the County did not seek outside assistance to fill the local recovery manager position. Instead, the Hardee County Board of County Commissioners, with the full urging and support of the County Administrator authorized the creation of a new "project manager" position within the Planning Department. This project manager position was intended to support community economic recovery and provide a coordinated local effort with local, state, and federal officials. New office space was created, and a Planning Department employee was assigned to the position of project manager. After FEMA placed an interim recovery team in Southwest Florida, this staff member became the point person for long-term community recovery, public assistance, and project implementation between Hardee County, its three municipalities, FEMA and the other state and federal agencies involved in the recovery process. The County also made an effort to reach beyond its own jurisdictional boundaries. The County project manager provided staffing and recovery support for all three municipalities within the County, seamlessly integrating community recovery into the local government organizational framework. The efforts by the County to create a primary contact for state and federal coordination from within it's own organization was extremely important. With the knowledge, awareness and ownership of community issues, this person provided a consistent and knowledgeable contact for agency coordination during a chaotic period of activity. This organizational structure streamlined the coordination process at the local level and afforded the County a project manager with the ability to make decisions or ensure that information was directed to the appropriate County or City entity so that decisions were made in a timely and efficient manner. The community had the leadership and foresight to control the recovery process at the local level and create a position to ensure an opportunity for success in community recovery. While the County faced challenges and opportunities along this road to recovery, they were in control of their destiny and ensured the recovery efforts would benefit the community. STEP 13: UPDATING THE PLAN: When are we finished? Introduction Your LTCR plan should be viewed as a 'living' document that adjusts and changes to specific needs as the community works through the recovery process. The LTCR plan is an action-oriented planning tool to guide the implementation of recovery projects identified by the community. The plan is not an ordinance, law, or comprehensive/master plan, but more like a strategic blueprint for community recovery and should be used as a decision-making tool for community resources, funding, and priorities. Stages of the Plan The development of a long-term community recovery plan occurs through a collaboration of the local community - its citizens and leaders - partnering with state and federal agencies to develop and assemble a 'tool' to assist the community in the recovery process. Through this effort projects are identified and prioritized for implementation. Once complete, the plan is presented to and adopted by the local community as a guide for recovery. Upon adoption of the plan, the implementation of projects begins. This 'beginning' cannot be overstated. While the plan has identified projects for implementation, they are still in a conceptual framework, far from a complete project ready for construction or legislative approval. At this point, each project must still go through further planning, design, or analysis before it may proceed. In addition, each project must assemble the resources and secure the necessary funding as well as legislative approval before action. It is at this stage that the projects and the plan evolve. Some high priority projects come to fruition and yet other equally important projects stall due to gaps in funding or resources or both. Some projects become too complex or cumbersome to implement as originally envisioned and evolve into alternative projects. In other cases new sources of funding materialize and jumpstart projects that have been idle. This ebb and flow of project status is typical in the life cycle of the recovery plan and continues throughout the implementation and recovery process. Continued Community Involvement Once a community's citizens participate in the development of a LTCR plan, they become a vested partner. This partnership must be continually nurtured throughout the implementation process. A community’s citizens must regularly observe progress. Progress may manifest itself in a variety of forms, but it should be visible to the overall community, such as public meetings, project presentations, press releases, legislative actions, groundbreaking, etc. As projects evolve and change due to resources or regulations, it is even more important that the community is kept informed of the project changes and the implementation progress. Regardless of the issue or the stage of the project, keeping the community involved and informed will earn the respect of the community and allow continual support during recovery. Changes and Modifications One key aspect of a LTCR plan is that it must accommodate and allow flexibility for changes in priorities or circumstances that generally occur during the recovery process. Local governments and its leaders must be aware of and prepared for changes in plan or project priorities. Communities should not fear modifications, alterations or deviations from the plan. Instead they should be prepared to make adjustments as needed throughout the process. Instead, accept it as a normal course of the redevelopment and recovery process. Communities should allow for flexibility and prepare for changes and modifications to the recovery process - all the while keeping the community citizens involved and informed. Plan Updates You will need to evaluate your LTCR plan on a regular basis to ensure that the community is following the appropriate path toward recovery. In the first year following the disaster, an evaluation of the plan and the implementation process might occur on a monthly basis. This evaluation may consist of regular status reports or presentations to community leaders and policy makers. After the first year and through year five (depending on the severity of the disaster), the progress of the LTCR plan implementation should be summarized in a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual report and presented to the community. This report should identify the status of the implementation process, noted plan modifications, project challenges, and new implementation priorities for the coming year. Summary Routine evaluations of the LTCR plan and the implementation process will allow communities to accommodate necessary changes and modifications while striving to fully achieve and implement the plan. View the LTCR plan as a guide, not a static document, that will be modified and revised as situations change and/or resources are identified. Case Study Charlotte County Event Center (Memorial Auditorium) The Charlotte County Event Center project is an example of how projects continually evolve during the recovery implementation process. The Memorial Auditorium was located near the Charlotte Harbor waterfront, a focal point as you enter the City of Punta Gorda, FL. The Auditorium met its ultimate demise, sustaining severe damage from the wrath of Hurricane Charley. Before the disaster, the 19,000 square feet Memorial Auditorium played host to a wide variety of community events. The facility was nearing the end of its effectiveness as community center, due to facility inefficiencies and the need for larger more efficient community multi-purpose space. Hurricane Charley ensured the community would receive a new multi-purpose events facility, but the disaster also raised many questions - What would the new facility look like? How big will it be? Who will it serve? When will it reopen? How much will it cost? As a result of community visioning, the long-term community recovery (LTCR) plan identified several options to redevelop the Auditorium - now known as the "Events Center." While Charlotte County proceeded to develop a strategy to fund and rebuild a new multipurpose facility, it also recognized a need to provide a temporary facility to host community events and functions until a new facility was completed. As an interim measure, the County worked with FEMA to develop a project worksheet for a temporary structure. This interim measure would allow construction of a temporary 20,000 square feet hard-sided tent. This was a key step in the community's economic recovery and provided desperately needed meeting space for the near term. Concurrently, the County considered the various options for the redevelopment of a permanent multipurpose facility. These options included relocating the facility directly on the waterfront; relocating the facility in conjunction with another community facility elsewhere in the community; increasing the size and scope of the facility to create additional convention and meeting space; and creating a public-private partnership to develop a hotel in conjunction with a redeveloped convention center. Almost immediately the public-private partnership concept, which included development of an adjoining hotel, was removed from consideration. Subsequently, a private developer proposed and received City approval to redevelop a $72 million, 5-story, 204-unit condo-hotel complex on the property adjoining the proposed Event Center. Even as the project design evolved differently from one of the original concepts, new opportunities were presented to the City and County. These adjustments helped continue the vision for economic recovery and redevelopment. Other challenges arose as well. Since the property was originally deeded by the City of Punta Gorda to Charlotte County with use restrictions, both entities had to collaborate on the project to include design options, funding allocation, and permitting issues. Collaboration as well as tension between both jurisdictions was common during the early stages of the project. Still, both entities continued to seek the best solution for the community. Ultimately, Charlotte County approved funding for a $12.7 million "Event Center." The design-build project was funded as follows: • $2.1 million - FEMA Public Assistance (PA) • $2.6 million - County Insurance • $3.0 million - County Sales Tax (2002) • $5.0 million - County Capital Projects Fund (2005) A stakeholders group was eventually formed to provide support for the project and to provide guidance and feedback on the design details as the project proceeds toward implementation. The County faced many challenges on this project - site design issues; community expectations; development timetable; financing and funding resources; interagency collaboration. Despite these challenges, the community will be successful in its recovery process because it has maintained the overall project vision, while responding to modifications, adjustments, and the evolution to both the process and the project. Chapter 3 – Where Do We Go From Here? III. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? LTCR requires consistent commitment to an evolving process of focus, leadership, and development. Taking a plan from concept to completion demands partnerships on all fronts: local, state, federal, and private. Involving household partnerships improves the sustainability of the process because LTCR becomes a household conversation and a community-building venture. When LTCR becomes successful it retains the top-down, bottom-up energy of a community. The top-down includes the government involvement in the growth of a recovery process. The bottom-up includes learning that recovery means self-reliance and survival that achieves more than the disaster removed. You have the resources and capacity to carry out a LTCR program, and while this guide identifies steps, techniques, and strategies that have been used successfully in past LTCR efforts, you will want to use the guide as it might pertain to your community, your damage from the disaster, and your local resources. No community wants the damage associated with a major disaster, but you have the ability to take advantage of opportunities available to your community as a result of the disaster. The LTCR process can be of significant benefit in making aspects of your community better than they were prior to the disaster. Implementing a LTCR planning process provides an opportunity for the entire community to participate in setting forth a future vision. The end result can be a vibrant, post-disaster community that is more resistant to future disasters. APPENDIX RESOURCES The following information includes various resources, publications and web links that may be of assistance to communities during the long-term community recovery (LTCR) planning process. FEDERAL AGENCY WEB SITES FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA). FEMA is organized to lead the effort to prepare the nation for all hazards and effectively manage federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. Within FEMA, there are several Divisions, Sections, and Programs that provide assistance during the LTCR process. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov) INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE (IA) - Individual Assistance programs assist people and businesses following a disaster and help them get back on their feet. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/rrr/inassist.shtm) LONG-TERM COMMUNITY RECOVERY (LTCR) - Long-term community recovery is the process of establishing a community based, post-disaster vision, identifying projects and project funding strategies best suited to achieve that vision, while employing a mechanism to implement those projects. The community, the damages sustained, the issues identified, and the community's post-disaster vision for the future shape the focus of each community long-term recovery program. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/rrr/ltcr) MITIGATION - The Mitigation Division manages the National Flood Insurance Program and oversees FEMA's mitigation programs. It has of a number of programs and activities of which provide citizens Protection, with flood insurance; Prevention, with mitigation measures and Partnerships, with communities throughout the country. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/fima) PUBLIC ASSISTANCE (PA) - The Public Assistance Program provides supplemental federal disaster grant assistance to help state and local governments and certain private non-profit organizations rebuild. FEMA's Public Assistance Grant Program is one way federal assistance gets to the state and local governments and to certain private nonprofit organizations. These grants allow them to respond to disasters, to recover from their impact and to mitigate impact from future disasters. While these grants are aimed at governments and organizations -- their final goal is to help a community and all its citizens recover from devastating natural disasters. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/rrr/pa) REGIONS - FEMA has ten regional offices. Each region serves several states, and regional staff work directly with the states to help plan for disasters, develop mitigation programs, and meet needs when major disasters occur. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/regions) PROGRAMS - FEMA offers many programs to assist individuals and communities in preparation for and following a disaster, including the following programs: • Flood Insurance Program. The Mitigation Division of FEMA manages the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The three components of the program are: Flood Insurance, Floodplain Management, and Flood Hazard Mapping. Buildings constructed in compliance with NFIP building standards suffer approximately 80 percent less damage annually than those not built in compliance. And, every $3 paid in flood insurance claims saves $1 in disaster assistance payments. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/nfip/whonfip.shtm) The National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/nfip/crs.shtm) If your home or business is damaged by a flood, you may be required to meet certain building requirements in your community to reduce future flood damage before you repair or rebuild. To help you cover the costs of meeting those requirements, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) includes Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) coverage for all new and renewed Standard Flood Insurance Policies. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/nfip/icc.shtm) • Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA). FMA was created as part of the National Flood Insurance Reform Act (NFIRA) of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 4101) with the goal of reducing or eliminating claims under NFIP. Funding for the program is provided through the National Flood Insurance Fund, and FMA is funded at $20 million nationally. FMA provides funding to assist States and communities in implementing measures to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of flood damage to buildings, manufactured homes, and other structures insurable under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/fima/fma.shtm) • Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). Authorized under Section 404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides grants to States and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures after a major disaster declaration. The purpose of the program is to reduce the loss of life and property due to natural disasters and to enable mitigation measures to be implemented during the immediate recovery from a disaster. (For more information, see Http://www.fema.gov/fima/mitgrant.shtm) • Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Grant Program. The Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program was authorized by §203 of the Stafford Act. Funding for the program is provided through the National Pre-Disaster Mitigation Fund to assist States and local governments (to include Indian Tribal governments) in implementing cost-effective hazard mitigation activities that complement a comprehensive mitigation program. The PDM program will provide funds to states, territories, Indian tribal governments, and communities for hazard mitigation planning and the implementation of mitigation projects prior to a disaster event. PDM grants are to be awarded on a competitive basis and without reference to state allocations, quotas, or other formula-based allocation of funds. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/fima/pdm.shtm) ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION (EDA). The Economic Development Administration (EDA) helps distressed communities address problems associated with long-term economic distress, as well as sudden and severe economic dislocations including recovering from the economic impacts of natural disasters, the closure of military installations and other Federal facilities, changing trade patterns, and the depletion of natural resources. (For more information, see http://www.fema.gov/fima/pdm.shtm) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established to protect human health and the environment. EPA leads the nation's environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts. (For more information, see http://www.epa.gov) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (USDA). The U.S. Department of Agriculture houses two agencies that may assist some disaster-stricken communities. The National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides planning assistance for watershed protection projects, water quality improvement projects, wetland preservation, and management for agricultural and rural communities. (For further information, see http://www.nrcs.usda.gov). The Rural Development (RD) agency of USDA helps rural areas to develop and grow by offering Federal assistance that improves quality of life. Rural Development provides financial programs to support essential public facilities and services as water and sewer systems, housing, health clinics, emergency service facilities and electric and telephone service. Rural Development also promotes economic development by providing loans to businesses through banks and community-managed lending pools, while also assisting communities to participate in community empowerment programs. (For further information, see http://www.rurdev.usda.gov) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Technical Assistance Program provides services to communities for the revitalization of single-family, multi-family, and commercial buildings. For further information, see http://www.energy.gov/engine/content.do Another DOE program, the Department's Center for Excellence for Sustainable Development, works with communities to help them define and implement sustainable development strategies as part of their comprehensive community planning efforts. (For more information, see http://www.sustainable.doe.gov). DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (DOT). The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) oversees a special fund, known as Transportation Enhancement Funding, used to encourage States to dedicate transportation money to projects that enhance local communities. (For more information, see http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/safetealu/index.htm. Other web links include, http://www.transact.org, and http://www.enhancements.org) HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD). Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) are administered by State community development agencies and local governments on the behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide decent housing and a suitable living environment, principally for low-to-moderate-income individuals. CDBG activities may include the acquisition, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of disaster-damaged properties and the redevelopment of disaster-affected neighborhoods. (For additional information, see the following websites - http://www.hud.gov, http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/communitydevelopment/programs/index.cfm?state=nm, or http://www.huduser.org/periodicals/rrr/cdbg.html). NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) - Within NOAA, the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) is responsible for administering the Coastal Zone Management Act and a leader on the Nation's coastal, estuarine and ocean management issues. (For more information, see http://www.noaa.gov or http://www.ocrm.nos.noaa.gov) SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (SBA) - The Small Business Administration (SBA) provides low-interest disaster assistance loans for the repair or replacement of a primary residence; household and personal property; and for business owners and non-profit organizations for the repair, rehabilitation, or replacement of property. (For further information, see http://www.sba.gov/index.html or http://www.sba.gov/disaster_recov/index.html) OTHER WEB SITES American Planning Association (APA) - http://www.planning.org American Institute of Architects (AIA) - http://www.aia.org American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) - http://www.asla.org International City Managers Association (ICMA) - http://www.icma.org Urban Land Institute (ULI) - http://www.uli.org PUBLICATIONS FEMA PUBLICATIONS FEMA maintains a Virtual Library and Electronic Reading Room on its website (www.fema.gov/library). Some of the files are provided in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). Printed copies of many of the resources listed in the FEMA Library are available in the FEMA Publication Distribution Center. Call 1-800-480-2520 for ordering information. Disaster Assistance - A Guide to Federal Recovery Programs, (FEMA Pub. 229) Public Assistance Policy Digest, (FEMA Pub. 321) Public Assistance Guide, (FEMA Pub. 322) Public Assistance Applicant Handbook, (FEMA Pub. 323) Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction, Chapters 3, 4, and 5, (http://www.fema.gov/rrr/ltcr/plan_resource.shtm) State and Local Mitigation Planning How-To Guides (www.fema.gov/fima/resources.shtm) Getting Started (FEMA Pub. 386-1) Understanding Your Risks (FEMA Pub. 386-2) Developing the Mitigation Plan, (FEMA Pub. 386-3) Bringing the Plan to Life, (FEMA Pub. 386-4) Integrating Historic Property and Cultural Resource Considerations Into Hazard Mitigation Planning, (FEMA Pub. 386-6) Integrating Manmade Hazards Into Mitigation Planning, (FEMA Pub. 386-7) OTHER PUBLICATIONS Holistic Disaster Recovery: Ideas for Building Local Sustainability after a Natural Disaster. Natural Hazards Research and Application Information Denver, University of Colorado. (http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/holistic_recovery) Local Community Foundations (http://www.cof.org/Locator/index.cfm?menuContainerID=34&crumb=2) Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction. Planning Advisory Service Report Number 483/484, American Planning Association, December 1998. (http://www.planning.org) Profiles of America, Economic Research Service (ERS) provides county-level data, including maps and tables, on population, education, employment, income, and the business sector. (http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/ProfilesOfAmerica) State Fact Sheets, Economic Research Service (ERS) provides information on population, employment, income, farm characteristics, and farm financial indicators for each state in the United States. (http://www.ers.usda.gov/StateFacts/WV.HTM) FUNDING AND GRANT RESOURCES The Catalog of Domestic Federal Assistance: Developing and Writing Grant Proposals. (For additional information, see http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.GRANT_PROPOSAL_DYN.show) The Foundation Center: Proposal Writing Short Course. (For additional information, see http://www.fdncenter.org/learn/shortcourse/prop1.html) The Grant Seeker's Guide to the Galaxy. This guide is a compendium of funding resources from the Community Development Program in USDA. (For additional information, see http://www.ezec.gov/Fundseekers%20Guide%20to%20the%20Galaxy/TheGrantSeeker.htm) A Guide to Proposal Planning and Writing - (For additional information, see http://www.wm.edu/grants/PROP/miner.pdf or http:// www.wm.edu/grants/PROP/propasst.html) Guide to Funding Resources. The Rural Information Center at the National Agricultural Library provides an overview of the process for applying for federal funding and funding from private sources. (For additional information, see http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/ricpubs/funding/fundguide.html) Information for Seeking Foundation & Corporate Grants: Although geared towards Michigan, this complimentary publication provides information, useful tips and techniques for searching, applying and obtaining grants. (For additional information, see http://www.cmif.org/documents/infoforseeking2005.pdf)