Toolkit helps emergency managers meet the needs of Latino communities
The National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) Institute for Hispanic Health developed the Emergency Managers Tool Kit: Meeting the Needs of Latino Communities to address the specific needs of Latino communities during an emergency. The goal of the project is to provide new knowledge about Latinos’ beliefs and behaviors regarding disaster situations and to offer emergency managers a central location for culturally competent and effective resources, strategies, and materials.
Latinos are the largest and fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States. According to the 2010 US Census, nearly 50 million Hispanics live in the US, accounting for almost 1 of every 6 residents.
It is openly acknowledged that ethnic minorities are affected disproportionately during a disaster (eg, Hurricane Katrina) and not always adequately included in planning and response efforts. When collaborating with racial/ethnic groups during emergency preparedness efforts, health planners can learn about the needs, strengths, and resources of each population to ensure that their efforts complement community priorities.
- Systemic disconnect. There is a systemic disconnect between emergency management systems and some of the most distressed Latino populations. Latinos face a number of barriers to full inclusion in emergency planning and response, such as lack of awareness among emergency managers of the importance of planning and building community relationships with Latinos, fear of deportation by Latinos who are undocumented or who have an immigrant family member, and limited English skills, especially among recent immigrants.
- No single resource available. Unable to find a single comprehensive reference guide for Latinos, NCLR collected what it considers to be the most useful, culturally competent, and linguistically appropriate materials and aggregated them into a single, easy-to-find format.
A toolkit was developed to help emergency managers improve responsiveness to Latinos, especially immigrants, in disaster planning, relief, and recovery, so that the Latino community has full access and inclusion.
Numerous resources are included in the kit, including background data, strategies, examples, tools, sample practices, resources, contacts and Web links, among other things.
Targeting emergency management offices, first responders, federal, state, and local government agencies, and private relief agencies, the kit addresses three key areas: Latino community engagement, Latino-focused communications and outreach, and Latino access and inclusion. More detailed section descriptions are listed below:
- Section 1: 'Introduction: Need for and Use of the Tool Kit': The Introduction summarizes the need for, contents of, and suggested use of the toolkit allowing the reader to easily find information.
- Section 2: 'Latino Community Engagement in Emergency Planning': Section 2 provides steps and lists factors to consider in developing relationships with Latino groups, leaders and media. This section recommends ways for individuals and organizations to better understand their Latino community, develop ongoing collaborative relationships with Hispanic organizations, identify Latino media sources, involve the Latino community in preparedness activities, educate emergency responders, and include Latinos in emergency simulations and exercises.
- Section 3: 'Reaching Latinos: Communications and Outreach': Section 3 addresses message and materials development, plus effective communication channels and messengers. The content helps readers understand factors affecting emergency communications with Latinos; decide what they need to communicate during different phases of an emergency; develop clear and appropriate messages and materials; use appropriate communications channels and messengers; and review, debrief, and evaluate communications.
- Section 4: 'Access and Inclusion: Serving Latinos during and after Emergencies': Section 4 provides information about eligibility for emergency relief and various recovery programs, details on civil rights protections related to national origin (eg, language), and steps to help ensure that Latinos have full access to all emergency relief and recovery services for which they are eligible.
- Appendices: The four appendices provide hard and soft copies of English and Spanish-language materials and their sources, access to background and supplementary information in the form of written material, PowerPoint presentations and webcasts via a compact disc, a description of lessons learned and recommendations from past emergencies, and results from community-based research.
- Federal funding. The US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health provided the majority of the funding to develop the resource.
- Partnerships. Contributions from an advisory group composed of experts from a cross-section of public and private organizations; the National Immigration Law Center; the American Red Cross; and others, as well as community-based research conducted in New Orleans and Orlando, created a collaborative process and provided rich, diverse information for the kit.
The toolkit addresses the systemic disconnect between emergency managers and the Latino community and attempts to break down barriers to full access and inclusion in disaster planning, relief and recovery.
While much of the advice in the resource is relevant to other immigrant and language-minority communities, each community has its own unique cultural and historical issues that should be considered.
