CYFAR Preconference in May 2006 on Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service's - Louisiana's Katrina Experience - Teachable Moments: Rebuilding and Preparing for the Future.

1. Louisiana’s
Katrina
Experience
Dr. Rebecca White (Family Development)
Dr. Diane Sasser (Family Development)
Charles Hebert (4-H Agent)
Teachable Moments: Rebuilding
and Preparing for the Future
CYFAR Pre-Conference
May 16, 2006

2. What would
you do?

3. What would you do if a category 5
hurricane threatened your family?

4. What would you do if this is what is
left of your family home?

5. What would you do to help your
community recover?

6. What would you do to help
your organization recover?

7. What would you do to help
your child’s school recover?

8. Lauren’s Experience
Lauren Faust
St. Bernard Parish 4-H agent

9. Phase 1
Immediate
Response

10. Helping Families
in the First Weeks After Katrina
• Immediate Disaster Response
– Volunteering
– Media blitz
– Information outreach
• Expertise provided included:
–
–
–
–
–
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Child and youth development
Stress management
Financial management
Home cleaning, repair and hazard mitigation
Food safety
Community development

11. Phase 1 – Immediate Response

12. Volunteering

13. Volunteering

14. Media Blitz
• Media effort by
– FCS state specialists
– 4-H state specialists
– Communication specialists
• Media Targets
– Radio stations, newspapers and
television stations

15. Information Outreach

16. Information outreach
Trailer
Living
101

17. Information Outreach
• Disaster Recovery materials

18. Phase 2
Recovery

19. Phase 2

20. Recovery Efforts
•
•
•
•
•
Task Forces
Collaborations/partnerships
Presentations/workshops
Disaster Recovery Centers
1-800 help line

21. Web Portal

22. La House
Rebuild Stronger, Safer, Smarter

23. La House

24. Project MAT
Moving Ahead Together
• USDA – CSREES – grant
• Baton Rouge area
• Targets
– 6 trailer communities
– Summer youth day camps
• Collaboration
• Our roles– Youth and adult life skills
– Coordination of non-formal education at 6
sites

25. Collaborative 4-H
Outreach Efforts
• Community Agencies
• Media
• School Systems
• Service-Learning

27. Internal Efforts
• How were the needs of faculty and
staff addressed?
– Individual Counseling
– Group Therapy
– Service-Learning Efforts

28. THANKS
• Letters of Hope
• Care packages
• Quilts
• Monetary Donations
• Corporate Donations

29. Results
• 55+ clubs donated 5000 boxes of
hope
• Louisiana 4-H 700+ boxes of hope
• 1116 letters from 27 states
• $155,000 relief fund
– $92,000 AgCenter family
– $42,000 4-H directed
– $15,000 Grant Walker

31. The Need for Volunteers
• Recruitment
• Placement
• Maintenance

32. Continuing Needs
• Preparation for upcoming hurricane
season
– Physical
– Emotional
• On going service needs in stricken
communities and parishes
– In state support
– Other support

33. “No act of kindness,
no matter how small,
is ever wasted.”
Aesop

34. Phase 3
Planning for the next
hurricane season

35. Families & Disasters (FAD)
Research

36. Methodology
• Mixed-methods
• 50 families from the affected areas of both
hurricanes
• Research teams of twos
• Field interviews, audio recorded
• Purposive sampling
• Inclusion criteria
– Moderate to severe property damage
• Screen for mental health

37. Rita: Recruitment
• SE LA, suburban families
• SW LA, rural and farm families
• Introductory letters and phone
calls

38. –
Since the hurricane, what about your family’s
economic situation is more challenging?
What about your family’s economic situation
is less challenging?
–
How has your extended family/kin affected
your family’s recovery? Why is this important
for your family?
–
How has your community affected your
family’s recovery? Why is this important for
your family?
–
How have you (as a family) dealt with
problems?

39. Getting Ready
New information material
– a publication called
Preparation for the Storm
is being developed for
mass distribution
June 06

40. Getting Ready
• 100,000 Storm Recovery Guides
• Rebuilding Our Lives
(for low literacy audiences)
print ready
• New pub in the works – Family
Recovery Guide
• Disaster Recovery Fact Sheet
Series print ready

41. Getting Ready
• Collaborations
– Child mental health counselors
– Boys and Girls Clubs
– Big Buddies
– Red Cross
– Family Recovery Corps

42. Rebuilding and Renewal
• Opportunities are emerging for
exciting partnerships
– La House
– KaBoom
– MAT
– Out of school time activities
– School teachers