8.20.2020 Needs Assessment with Gaps and Proposed Solutions

Champion

                                        Action Item

Monica Socarras (QLatinX)

There is a shelter at UCF, and Monica will look into the rules and regulations.

Jan Booher & Shakhea Hinton

Jan Booher has multi-lingual materials and the translation feature in the Resilience System will Coordinate w Shakhea Hinton

Susanna Restrepo

Susanna Restrepo will try to find out the best source of  LYNX information in a declared disaster.

Jan Booher

Provide the flyer to Susanna for the Sept 5th event: Church distribution of supplies. Brochure w important hurricane information will be dropped into the boxes people pick up. Hurricane kit w hand sanitizer. Phone nos. Orange County approx 700 people. Spanish and English.

Ricardo Soto-Lopez & Jan Booher

Find out how the dollars flow to the communities from Tallahassee because they are blocked. Investigation is needed. 

Lawanna Gelzer

Lawanna Gelzer will call and facilitate the introduction between Cheryl Rogers and Anne Marie Cavassas at the FAMU Law School for the purpose of developing support for people with title and claims issues after hurricanes.

Shakhea Hinton

Develop the South Apopka area.

Haley Furman or Laura Betts

CLEO Institute has some storage space. 

Information for people who have come here recently and need information about hurricanes in their languages. 

Venezuelan, Mexican, Puerto Rican and other groups are in Kissimmee, St. Cloud,  Poinciana, and Buena Ventura

Pine Hills has Creole-speaking residents

A Couple blocks of Parramore have Creole-speaking residents

Make Spanish and Creole hurricane information available to the communities that need them.

Champions: Jan Booher has multi-lingual Materials and will Coordinate w Shakhea Hinton

Communications Coordination

We will have training on how to coordinate activities with:

WhatsApp Group

Coordinating Zoom Calls

Resilience System

Facebook feeds on Dashboards

Improve communications with LYNX to assure correct information is obtained. It was not updating quickly enough during Hurricane Dorian’s approach, leaving people stranded without transportation..

Champion: Susanna Restrepo will try to find out the best source of  LYNX information in a declared disaster.

COVID supplies 

Knowledge about how to help COVID positive people who are isolating at home when a hurricane comes

Pick up sites will have people with PPE who will put items in cars. We will have social distancing and PPE for people putting items in cars. 

Plan B: drop offs at homes of people who are isolating with no face to face contact. Drop at first floor of multi-story buildings (build relationships early).

Jan Booher provide the flyer to Susanna for the Sept 5th event: Church distribution of supplies. Brochure w important hurricane information will be dropped into the boxes people pick up. Hurricane kit w hand sanitizer. Phone nos. Orange County approx 700 people. Spanish and English.

Avoiding large groups due to COVID

Appointments at 15 minute increments to pick up supplies or otherwise we will do a drive-by pick up.

Due to COVID most people want to shelter in place

If there is a need, we should consider  no contact drop offs if we have willing volunteers with PPE.

“People come and go. I don’t know who we are any more.”

Regular CFL DRI check-ins even outside of hurricane season. Suggested frequency: Bi-weekly meetings outside of hurricane season for strategic long term thinking and additional training.

Establish a liaison between the county Emergency Operation Centers (EOCs) and the communities, and closer ties to the EOCs.

• Learn from the work East Altamonte Springs has done with Seminole Co Emergency Services. Seminole Heart works to fulfill unmet needs in Seminole County. Churches and other entities meet under the umbrella of Seminole Heart. They gave Apostolic Church of Jesus a letter of support for development of their Resilience Hub. If there is an Emergency Manager uninterested in the disparities in low income communities, periodic contact and follow up is important.

• We need to find out how the dollars flow to the communities from Tallahassee because they are blocked. Investigation is needed. Ricardo Soto-Lopez & Jan Booher

• Investigate FEMA credit requirements for advanced FEMA benefits.

• FAMU Legal Students-Law Clinic helping with title and claims issues: Anne Marie Cavassas. Lawanna Gelzer will call and facilitate the introduction between Cheryl Rogers and Anne Marie Cavassas.

Schedule meeting between leaders and key leaders

We need to continue to expand to other communities.

Shakhea Hinton is working on contact with the Bridges Center in South Apopka to develop that area.

Flooding

Establish emergency procedures for flooding in Mercy Drive, Sanford, Orlo Vista, Washington Shores and Kissimmee.

Parramore & Holden Heights have septic tank concerns when it floods in a few places. What to do if septic tanks overflow? 

The new developments have 60ft depth ponds. They are using commercial retention ponds in residential areas, but there is still flooding. 

East Altamonte Springs has 9 retention ponds in one sq mile. During the last heavy rain it filled completely but did not overflow. East Altamonte is in a flood zone, but there have not been floods there for 70 yrs.

More intense hurricanes

An education program is needed for communities to understand the impact of higher category hurricanes.

Heat

100 homes in Parramore don’t have central air and heat, but have window units. Can we find solar or battery back up cooling?

LGBTQ+ and LatinX access to resources

Continue to invite representatives to our meetings and trainings

Budget ahead of time for hurricane season

Secure funding for evacuation, transportation and housing for communities

Fund more training

Fund a community directed budgeting process for 2020 and future years

Cheryl is the Co-captain of CFL DRI. She facilitates and help to train newcomers. She is a liaison between the community and Organize FL.

Jan: Trainings, Dashboard management, help to understand DRI tools

Shakhea: Management function to build out and develop CFL DRI in Central Florida.

Need more Shelters (Especially non-county shelters)

This year COVID has created fear, and we are unlikely to be able to have shelters staffed by CFL DRI volunteers.

Resource list

CLEO Institute has posted hurricane kits in the WE HAVE/WE NEED Forum in the CFL Resilience System. Each kit contains a light box, bottle of hand sanitizer, crank radio and flashlight

Develop a low cost hurricane preparedness kit model and help people use the dollar store and hurricane fairs at the beginning of the hurricane season to get low cost or free items.

Address the need for shared resources and co-storage of inventoried resources, and link it to the goal of establishing Resilience Hubs in Community Centers where there will be storage so we know how much space is needed

CLEO Institute has some storage space. The contacts are Haley Furman or Laura Betts.