Communicating About Flood Hazards in Coastal CommunitiesA Challenging and Risk-y Business

Henrietta Williams, Lynne Keating, and Dick WildPresentation at ASFPM National Conference, May 24, 2012

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Communication ChallengesStakeholder communication in nearly 600 communities over a period of 10 Years Done Consistently

Engagement of multitude of stakeholder audiences with varying interests, cultural backgrounds, and educational backgrounds

Increased awareness of flood hazards and risks

Increased flood risk reduction activity

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A Magnificent Undertaking Indeed!

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Coordinate with Partners on Outreach Activities Current version – April 2012 Next update – October 2012

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Coordinate with Partners on Outreach Activities ADECA FDEM NWFWMD GA DNR CRC SC DNR NCFMP

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Use Variety of Delivery Vehicles Articles/items for stakeholder newsletters and magazines

Booths at state/county fairsBrochuresFact sheets/FAQs Informational lettersLocal TV/Radio PSAs

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Delivery Vehicles (Cont’d)Local TV/Radio appearances NewslettersNewspaper op eds and Letters to the Editor

Presentations to civic associationsPresentations to stakeholder NGOs• Conferences• Meetings

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Delivery Vehicles (Cont’d)Press releases Risk MAP meetings and open houses

Other community meetings

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Delivery Vehicles (Cont’d)Web-based vehicles

• Project website• RSS feeds, widgets, Tweets• Project content on partner websites

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Coastal Outreach Web Portal Serve as The FEMA Source of current and accurate information regarding coastal analysis and mapping effort

Guide public’s understanding of coastal analysis and mapping schedule and methodology

Communicate partnership and shared ownership of coastal analysis and mapping project www.southeastcoastalmaps.com

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Web Portal Quick Facts Most recent changes

• Translated pages• Translated fact sheets• Video segments• Calendar

Over 500 Resources Stats:

• 100,000+ Hits• 10,000+ Visitors

www.southeastcoastalmaps.com

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Communicate with as Many Stakeholders as Possible Public-sector stakeholdersPrivate-sector stakeholders

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Public-Sector Stakeholders

State/district offices of Federal agencies

State agenciesRegional entities

Community officials

U.S. CongressElected State officials

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Private-Sector Stakeholders Developers Engineers Architects Floodplain managers Builders Civic associations in affected

counties/ communities NGOs

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Private-Sector Stakeholders (Cont’d)

Citizens Property owners and renters Insurance agents and

companies Real estate agents and

companies Lending institutions Flood zone determination firms Print and broadcast media

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Public Outreach Meetings – FEMA Region IV’s Commitment Participate in and coordinate planning for public

outreach meetings Assign staff to attend meetings in person or

remotely Order publications and have them shipped to

the meeting site Prepare subject matter experts and event day

assignments Support publicity for meetings Participate in and coordinate congressional

briefings Participate in briefings with local elected

officials

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Analyze Your Target Audience(Before conducting Outreach)

Are the areas with most changes affluent or economically challenged?

Are literacy levels high or low? What is the average age of property owners?

Are there significant numbers of non-English speaking property owners, business owners, renters?

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Public Outreach Coordination Call -

A Few Discussion Points Region IV initiates and coordinates call with county, local community officials, State, and FEMA specialist at least two to three months before open house.

Team selects dates and venue Team discusses and agrees upon publicity strategy

Team discusses and agrees upon staffing needs

Team discusses and analyzes preliminary data and how that impacts outreach strategy

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Open House Layout - Visual Glance

1 1 1

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2 2

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Welcome

Media

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1 – Property Lookup Stations2 – Insurance Information Stations3 – Appeals and Comment Station4 – Engineering Study Station5 – Community Assistance Station

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Property Lookup Station

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Insurance Information Station

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Completed and Future Translations Selected web pages translated (see next slide)

Selected fact sheets translated• Project fact sheet• Eight general information fact

sheets

Future translations planned; feedback needed• Which ones are needed?• Send ideas to

rwild@mbakercorp.com

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Translations (Cont’d)

http://www.southeastcoastalmaps.com/ projects/coastal/haitiancreole.php

http://www.southeastcoastalmaps.com/ projects/coastal/spanish.php

http://www.southeastcoastalmaps.com/ projects/coastal/vietnamese.php

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Coastal Outreach Contacts Henrietta Williams, CFM, FEMA Region IV

Coastal Outreach Lead

henrietta.williams@dhs.gov Lynne Keating, FEMA State Outreach Lead,

Alabama and Georgia lynne.keating@dhs.gov

Dick Wild, BakerAECOM Coastal Outreach Lead

rwild@mbakercorp.com Ben Accurti, BakerAECOM Coastal Web

Development Lead

baccurti@mbakercorp.com

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Thanks for Participating