Summary Report- Racial Equity in Emergency Management_FINAL

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Literature Review and White Paper | Julia Eagles
CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS,
OFFICE OF EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT
RACIAL EQUITY IN
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

RACIAL EQUITY IN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Literature Review and White Paper
June 2014
Primary Author:
Julia Eagles
Prepared for:
City of Minneapolis Office of Emergency Management
Barret W. S. Lane, Director
This research was part of a month-long contract position with the City of Minneapolis Office of
Emergency Management. Thanks to Barret Lane and Karen Francois, Karimah Edwards, Daire
Elliot, Lillian McDonald, Phil Hansen and Megan Mrozek for their contributions to this report.
Their willingness to give their time for interviews and share information, background and
resources was invaluable in compiling this report. Kelly Muellman, Melissa Kealey and Michelle
Kellogg also provided valuable insight and suggestions to inform the content of this project.
Cover image: One Mpls by Adam Turman

Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................1
Background ...............................................................................................................................................1
Minneapolis Racial Equity Framework:.....................................................................................................2
Minneapolis Office of Emergency Management:.....................................................................................3
Examining emergency management through a racial equity lens: ..............................................................4
Racial Disparities in Response and Recovery............................................................................................4
Assessing Vulnerabilities...........................................................................................................................6
Engaging Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities in Emergency Management ..............................7
Review of best practices and lessons learned: .............................................................................................8
City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management....................................................................................8
City of Portland Bureau of Emergency Management.............................................................................11
Emergency and Community Health Communications (ECHO) Minnesota.............................................12
American Red Cross, Twin Cities Chapter...............................................................................................15
Conclusions and Recommendations...........................................................................................................18
Appendix .....................................................................................................................................................19

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“Minneapolis is a growing and vibrant
world-class city with a flourishing
economy and a pristine environment,
where all people are safe, healthy and
have equitable opportunities for
success and happiness.”
- City of Minneapolis Vision
Introduction
This research, conducted on behalf of the Emergency Management Director, examines racial equity in all
phases of emergency management, informed by a literature review and interviews with practitioners in
the field to document how the issue is defined and exemplified, and identify best practices for
addressing and incorporating racial equity in emergency management.
In order to better understand this issue, the research addresses the following questions:
 What is the problem of racial inequality in Minneapolis?
 What is at the root of this problem?
 What is the City’s strategy to address racial inequalities?
 What are the racial equity issues at play in emergency management?
 What is the scope of influence of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to intervene in
this area?
 What precedent (if any) exists in national standards for emergency preparedness to address
racial equity?
 What are the models from other communities for work on racial equity in emergency
management?
 How are impacts measured through the OEM? What metrics could evaluate success in this area?
 What are the key recommendations for the OEM for advancing racial equity in the area of
emergency management?
Background
Minneapolis has some of the largest disparities in the nation
between white people and people of color in the areas of
education, employment, housing, economic vitality and other
critical areas.1
This is a concern as Minneapolis strives to
become “a growing and vibrant world-class city”, which
depends on all residents having the opportunity to participate
in the workforce and benefit from a shared quality of life.2
In order to address these disparities, the City of Minneapolis has developed an initiative called Equitable
Solutions for One Minneapolis, a Racial Equity Framework. Minneapolis is focusing on racial equity
initially and explicitly because the disparities between white people and people of color are the most
severe of the indicators that may predict socioeconomic outcomes. By tackling the worst disparities first,
the city will be able to create a permanent shift towards fairness and justice for all groups.3
The goal of
the Equitable Solutions framework is to provide tools, data, proposed targets and strategies for viewing
the City’s work through a racial equity lens that can influence community engagement, policy-making,
planning and service delivery to improve the socio-economic condition for residents of Minneapolis.4
1
Laura Kelly and Andi Egbert. OneMinneapolis: Community Indicators Report. (The Minneapolis Foundation, Amherst H. Wilder
Foundation, October 2011). http://www.minneapolisfoundation.org/Libraries/2011CommunityIndicatorsReport.sflb.ashx
2
“City Vision, Values Goals & Strategic Directions.” City of Minneapolis, March 2014.
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/citygoals/index.htm
3
Francois, Karen. “Equitable Solutions for One Minneapolis." Personal interview. June 10, 2014.
4
“Equitable Solutions for One Minneapolis: A Racial Equity Framework.” City of Minneapolis, April 2014.
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@clerk/documents/webcontent/wcms1p-123811.pdf

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One Minneapolis: Disparities are
eliminated so all Minneapolis residents
can participate and prosper
 Racial inequities (including in housing,
education, income and health) are
addressed and eliminated.
 All people, regardless of circumstance,
have opportunities for success at
every stage of life.
 Equitable systems and policies lead to
a high quality of life for all.
 All people have access to quality
essentials, such as housing, education,
food, child care and transportation.
 Residents are informed, see
themselves represented in City
government and have the opportunity
to influence decision-making.
-Minneapolis Goals & Strategic Directions
7
The framework focuses on three policy areas - employment, engagement and purchasing. However, the
intention is for departments to apply this racial equity lens to all aspects of their work.
Minneapolis Racial Equity Framework:
According to the Equitable Solutions framework, “racial equity is achieved when everyone has access to
the opportunities necessary to satisfy their essential needs, advance their well-being, and achieve their
full potential.” Institutional structures often create disparities, barring some from accessing those
opportunities. In order to understand these disparities in the context of city operations, it is important
to have a clear definition of institutional versus individual racism, and the adverse effects of each.
 Individual racism refers to the pre-judgment, bias or stereotypes about an individual or group
based on race that can lead to discrimination.5
 Institutional racism refers to organizational programs, policies or procedures that work to the
benefit of white people and to the detriment of people of color, usually unintentionally or
inadvertently.6
 Structural racism refers to a history and current reality of institutional racism across systems
and structures. This combines to create a system that negatively impacts communities of color.7
Another important distinction to make is between equity
and equality: equality means treating everyone the same,
whereas equity means treating everyone fairly. In order to
achieve equity, some individuals or groups may need to
receive more resources or services than others.12
In order to
address the structures of institutional racism that are the
root cause for the widespread disparity in the City of
Minneapolis, there must be a concerted effort to examine
and dismantle those policies and practices that perpetuate
disparities. This involves understanding the historical
context that may influence decision-making related to
public structures and investments.
In addition to the Equitable Solutions framework, the City
has a number of other policies and resources aimed at
addressing racial and social equity. In 2014, as part of the
update to the vision, values, goals and strategic directions
that will guide the City’s work for the next four years, staff
and Councilmembers incorporated equity issues as a
priority. Equity is named as a key value of the City – where disparities are nonexistent and all people
have opportunities for success – and also as a strategic direction (see sidebar).8
5
“Racial Equity Strategy Guide.” Portland’s Partnership for Racial Equity, Urban League of Portland, August 2012.
http://ulpdx.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/RACIAL-EQUITY-STRATEGY-GUIDE-FINAL.pdf
6
“Equitable Solutions for One Minneapolis: A Racial Equity Framework.” City of Minneapolis, April 2014.
7
“Racial Equity in Seattle.” Race and Social Justice Initiative Three-Year Plan 2012-2014, City of Seattle Office for Civil Rights,
June 2014. http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/RSJI/RacialEquityinSeattleReport2012-14.pdf
8
“City Vision, Values Goals & Strategic Directions.” City of Minneapolis, March 2014.

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“The Office of Emergency Management
protects the people who live, work and
play in the City of Minneapolis, our State
and our Nation by building, sustaining
and improving our capability to mitigate
against, prepare for, respond to and
recover from threatened or actual
disasters, whether natural or man-made
and acts of terrorism.”
-Minneapolis OEM Mission Statement
There are also federal laws which require the City to plan for and provide meaningful access to services
for all residents. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that no person shall on the ground of
national origin “be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”9
Minneapolis is
committed to making City services and information about those services available to everyone,
regardless of language barriers.
As part of the Equitable Solutions framework the City of Minneapolis is in the process of developing a
Racial Equity Toolkit, which will include: Racial Equity Assessment, Recruitment and Hiring Guide, Guide
to Engaging Boards and Commissions, Guide to Equitable Purchasing and Racial Equity Training for staff
and department heads.10
Minneapolis Office of Emergency Management:
The City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) works
to build, sustain and improve the community’s capability to
mitigate against, prepare for, respond to and recover from
threatened or actual natural or human-made disasters.11
To accomplish this work OEM works in six key program
areas to build capacity: program management, planning,
implementation, training and education, testing and
exercises, and program maintenance and improvement.
The programs of OEM are mandated under City
ordinances, national standards and state and federal
guidance. This research examines existing strategies to
address racial equity in Minneapolis OEM’s work as well as
looking for guidance from state and federal standards.
Within the Minneapolis OEM’s strategic plan, the Department Director has laid out five principles of
intent. These principles state that “persons to whom an activity is delegated shall, at all times be safe,
legal, ethical, accountable, coordinated and equitable.” Within the equity principle the plan states:
“We will implement our program so as to further the city’s’ value of eliminating disparities and
providing all people opportunities for success.”
This lays out the department’s overall intention, but there is a need to define the specific points of
intervention and decision-making considerations of OEM that will impact racial equity. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides guidance and standards for emergency management
across the country focused primarily on the core functions of prevention, protection, mitigation,
response and recovery.12
Over time there has been a shift from the technocratic, top-down, command
and control approach that has long characterized emergency management departments to a social
vulnerability approach, which is more decentralized and involves community members in identifying and
9
“Minneapolis in Any Language Policy Summary.” City of Minneapolis, 2004.
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/policies/policies_lep_policy
10
Francois, Karen. “Equitable Solutions for One Minneapolis." Personal interview. June 10, 2014.
11
“Office of Emergency Management: Department Business Plan.” City of Minneapolis, 2014-2017.
12
“IS-1.a Emergency Manager: An Orientation to the Position.” FEMA Emergency Management Institute, February 2013.
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/courseOverview.aspx?code=IS-1.a

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understanding risks and problems.13
With this shift has come more guidance from FEMA on engaging
community members directly in emergency planning and response. The clearest example of this is
FEMA’s Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management, which outlines the concept:
“Whole Community is a means by which residents, emergency management practitioners,
organizational and community leaders, and government officials can collectively understand and
assess the needs of their respective communities and determine the best ways to organize and
strengthen their assets, capacities and interests.”14
FEMA’s guide also lays out principles for the Whole Community approach: understanding and meeting
the needs of the whole community, engaging and empowering all parts of the community, and
strengthening what works in communities on a daily basis. While these provide helpful guidance for
better engaging community in emergency planning, they don’t explicitly address the issue of racial
disparities and vulnerabilities that may exist in communities.
Examining emergency management through a racial equity lens:
Studies have shown that vulnerability in disaster events may be increased due to factors such as a
person’s age, gender, social class, disability status, race and ethnicity.15
In several recent disaster events,
it was exemplified how people of color and poor people in the United States and around the world are
disproportionately and differentially vulnerable because of preexisting systems of stratification.16
Those
segments of the population who have historical socioeconomic disadvantages experience exaggerated
disparities in their response and recovery to disaster events. Environmental disasters do not
discriminately distribute risk and vulnerability or eliminate preexisting systems of racial and social
stratification, but they do tend to reveal and highlight those inequities that currently exist.17
Racial Disparities in Response and Recovery
Hurricane Katrina was a particularly glaring example of racial and class disparities in who had the ability
to evacuate the area, when and where services were delivered, and how the media portrayed behaviors
of those victims of the event. According to Lakshmi Fjord in her report on the hurricane, delays in
humanitarian relief caused preventable harm to primarily African American, disabled, elderly, and
impoverished residents, as did evacuation plans designed for able-bodied people with resources.18
It
was partly a matter of circumstance - in a city with a poverty rate over two times the national average
(28% of residents in New Orleans live in poverty) and where 84% of the poor in the city are African
American - that a disaster event would have such broad and devastating impacts particularly on
communities of color.19
There were also troubling and misrepresentative media portrayals during and
13
“Approaches to Emergency Management.” Theory, Practice and Fundamental of Hazards, Disasters and U.S. Emergency
Management. Session No. 12, FEMA Emergency Management Institute.
14
“A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes and Pathways for Action.” FEMA, December
2011. http://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/whole_community_dec2011__2_.pdf
15
Susan Gooden, Dale Jones, Kasey J. Martin and Marcus Boyd. Social Equity in Local Emergency Management Planning. State &
Local Government Review, Vol. 41, No. 1 (2009), pp. 1-12. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25469798
16
Nix-Stevenson, Dara. Human Response to Natural Disasters. Sage Publications SAGE Open 2013 3, July-September 2013.
http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/3/3/2158244013489684
17
Fothergill, A., & Peek, L. A. Poverty and disasters in the United States: A review of recent sociological findings. Natural
Hazards, Vol. 32, pp. 89-110. http://www.cdra.colostate.edu/data/sites/1/cdra-research/fothergill-peek2004poverty.pdf
18
Fjord, Lakshmi. Disasters, race, and disability: [Un]Seen through the political lens on Katrina. The Journal of Race and Policy,
vol. 3 No. 1 , pp. 46-66. http://cardcanhelp.org/images/Disasters-Race-Disability-Lakshmi-Fjord.pdf
19
Hardisty, Jean. Hurricane Katrina and Structural Racism: An Open Letter to White People.” October 2005,
http://www.jeanhardisty.com/errant-thoughts/hurricane-katrina-and-structural-racism-a-letter-to-white-people/

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after the event, which described African American residents as “looting” while their white counterparts
were said to be “gathering food” when they were photographed engaged in identical activities. Those
stories serve to perpetuate the individual racism and biases people may feel towards a particular group;
when they influence the decision-making of agencies and organizations involved in response, it becomes
an issue of institutional racism.
In the summer of 1995, Chicago experienced a multi-day heat wave that caused over 500 heat-related
deaths across the City. Following the event there were studies and publications that named the weather
and meteorological conditions as the principle cause of the event. Author Eric Klinenberg wrote a book
in which he examined the heat wave through a social autopsy looking at the social, spatial and economic
conditions that influenced the heat wave’s disproportionate effects on particular parts of the city. The
victims of the heat were primarily elderly; 73% of the heat-related casualties were 65 years and above.
African Americans had the highest proportional death rates of any race, with a 1.5:1 for African
American to white deaths in the total, age-adjusted population.20
A study looking at heat-related
mortality in four U.S. cities found that substantially higher effects of heat on mortality were observed
among African Americans compared with Whites and that a large proportion of that disparity in heat-
related mortality may be due to differences in central air conditioning prevalence.21
A whole variety of
demographic and systemic factors impacted vulnerability in the Chicago heat wave, but the incident
highlights the importance of including socioeconomic factors when measuring vulnerability, including
age, race, poverty, and social connectivity.
Locally, the tornado that hit the Northside of Minneapolis in May of 2011 is an example of how an
already vulnerable community is more at risk of potentially devastating impacts of environmental shocks
with social and economic consequences. The storm caused an estimated $80 million worth of damage,
and resulted in one death and over 30 injuries. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the neighborhoods
most severely affected had over 50% of residents living below the federal poverty level, and 65%
residents of color (Black, Asian, Hispanic and American Indian). Despite the coordinated response efforts
of the City, the event demonstrated how existing disparities are a significant factor in determining levels
of emergency preparedness and recovery. Issues that existed in North Minneapolis before the tornado –
abandoned properties, crime, and poverty – were exacerbated by the storm. Rebuilding efforts have
lagged in areas with a high percentage of rental properties, as it can be a challenge for landlords to
afford or be motivated to invest in the properties.22
Given the increased vulnerabilities among
historically marginalized communities, there is a need in emergency management planning to give
special attention and accommodations to meet the needs of those communities.
In a review of Emergency Operations Plans in various communities across the country, researchers
found that most plans included some mention of social equity in reference to four specific vulnerable
groups – low-income individuals, those with disabilities, the elderly and those with limited English
language proficiency – while less than 1 percent of the plans directly addressed racial/ethnic issues.23
The vulnerabilities of those populations mentioned in the plan are somewhat easier to identify, quantify
20
Klineberg, Eric. Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. University of Chicago Press, 2003.
21
Marie S. O’Neill, Antonella Zanobetti, and Joel Schwartz. Disparities by Race in Heat-Related Mortality in Four US Cities: The
Role of Air Conditioning Prevalence. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, Vol. 82, No. 2.
22
Keen, Judy. “North Minneapolis still struggling to recover from 2011 tornado.” MinnPost, October 18, 2013.
http://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2013/10/north-minneapolis-still-struggling-recover-2011-tornado
23
“IS-1.a Emergency Manager: An Orientation to the Position.” FEMA Emergency Management Institute, February 2013.
http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/courseOverview.aspx?code=IS-1.a

6
and respond to, and are important to recognize explicitly in any planning process. The barriers posed by
institutional racism - while sometimes harder to explicitly name and identify - should also be identified
and addressed in emergency management.
Assessing Vulnerabilities
A variety of tools and assessments exist to measure vulnerability, including socioeconomic and
demographic data, hazard proximity and risk, health exposure, and environmental factors. Vulnerability,
in the disaster context, is a person’s or group’s capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist, and recover from
the impact of a natural hazard.
24
Traditionally this research has focused on biophysical vulnerability and
the vulnerability of the built environment so less is known about the social aspects of vulnerability.25
Because of the difficulty in quantifying social vulnerabilities, they are often ignored, or when they are
included it’s often in terms of individuals’ demographics (age, race, health, income, etc.). The factors
influencing social vulnerability can go beyond demographics to include issues related to environment,
land use, infrastructure, geography, etc. The table below includes a sampling of the characteristics most
often considered in vulnerability assessments:
Concept Description
Socioeconomic status
(income, political
power, prestige)
The ability to absorb losses and enhance resilience to hazard impacts. Wealth enables
communities to absorb and recover from losses more quickly due to insurance, social
safety nets, and entitlement programs.
Gender
Women can have a more difficult time during recovery than men, often due to sector-
specific employment, lower wages, and family care responsibilities.
Race and Ethnicity
Imposes language and cultural barriers that affect access to post-disaster funding and
residential locations in high hazard areas.
Age
Extremes of the age spectrum affect the movement out of harm’s way. Young children
are dependent and therefore more at risk; elderly may have mobility constraints or
mobility concerns increasing the burden of care and lack of resilience
Commercial &
industrial
development
The value, quality, and density of commercial and industrial buildings provide an
indicator of the state of economic health of a community, and potential losses in the
business community, and longer-term issues with recovery after an event.
Infrastructure and
lifelines
Loss of water, communications, and transportation infrastructure compounds potential
disaster losses. The loss of infrastructure may place an insurmountable financial burden
on smaller communities that lack the financial resources to rebuild.
Renters
People that rent do so because they are either transient or do not have the financial
resources for home ownership. They often lack access to information about financial aid
during recovery. In the most extreme cases, renters lack sufficient shelter options when
lodging becomes uninhabitable or too costly to afford.
Social dependence
Those people who are dependent on social services for survival are already economically
and socially marginalized and require additional support in the post-disaster period.
Social Isolation
Those people who rarely leave their residential units, have little contact with family and
friends, and, because of cutbacks in public health and transportation programs (essential
for bringing them to health providers), and are unable to receive many of the basic
services they need to stay healthy.
SOURCE: Cutter, Boruff, and Shirley (2001); Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment (2002).
24
Susan Gooden et al. Social Equity in Local Emergency Management Planning. State & Local Government Review,
25
Susan Cutter, Bryan Boruff, W. Lynn Shirley. Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards. Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 84,
No. 2, June 2003.

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In their research on social vulnerability to environmental hazards, Susan Cutter et al compared a
number of dimensions of social vulnerability using Census data for counties across the country. Their
results found eleven factors that differentiated counties according to their relative level of social
vulnerability.26
When those factors were ranked as indicators of vulnerability, personal wealth had the
highest significance. Race, specifically African American, ranked sixth, followed by Hispanic, Native
American and Asian race or ethnicity. Cutter’s explanation of the significance of this factor is:
“Race contributes to social vulnerability through the lack of access to resources, cultural
differences, and the social, economic, and political marginalization that is often associated with
racial disparities. Our sixth factor identifies race…as an indicator of social vulnerability. This
factor also correlates highly with percentage female headed households, noting that counties
with high percentages of African-American female-headed households are among the most
vulnerable. This factor explains 6.9 percent of the variation among U.S. counties.” 27
While the specific factors may be adjusted to be more locally relevant, using vulnerability assessments
to understand risk can help emergency management offices to target programs and resources to those
communities with the greatest needs and vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities, if ignored or neglected in
emergency preparedness, response and recovery, may exacerbate racial and other socioeconomic
disparities when a disaster or emergency situation occurs.
Engaging Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities in Emergency Management
In order to avoid continuing disparities in emergency response and preparedness, there is a need to
engage all racial and ethnic populations in planning and compliance.28
FEMA’s Whole Community
Planning approach also emphasizes the importance of community engagement, and provides some
strategies including: understand cultural complexity, recognize community capability and needs, foster
relationships with community leaders, build and maintain partnerships, empower local action, and
leverage and strengthen social infrastructure, networks and assets.29
Drexel University’s School of Public Health identified a series both individual and institutional level
barriers to developing disaster resilience in diverse communities.30
These include socioeconomic factors,
culture and language barriers, distrust of messengers and service providers and resistance to non-
mainstream sources of information. These social, cultural and class issues all make it difficult to deliver
effective services based on the position of the individuals served. There are also institutional barriers to
this work, including limited knowledge, minimal community input and limited infrastructure to provide
culturally and linguistically appropriate services. A guidebook from the Institute for Regional Studies at
North Dakota State University also provides suggestions for communicating risk to various cultural
communities.31
Authentic and early engagement in emergency planning processes can help reduce
disparities by encouraging all communities, especially those that are most vulnerable, to be prepared.
26
Cutter et al. Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards. Social Science Quarterly, June 2003.
27
Ibid, pg. 12.
28
Dennis Andrulis, Nadia Siddiqui, and Jenna Gantner. Preparing Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities for Public Health
Emergencies. Health Affairs, Vol. 26, No. 5, 2007.
29
“A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management.” FEMA, December 2011.
30
Dennis Andrulis, Nadia Siddiqui and Jonathan Purtle. Enhancing Disaster Resilience in Racially & Ethnically Diverse
Communities. Third National Conference on Health Systems Readiness, December 2009, Washington, DC.
31
Robert Littlefield, Kimberly Cowden and Will Hueston. Crisis and Risk Communication- 10 Tips for Public Health Professionals
Communicating with Native and New Americans. Institute for Regional Studies, North Dakota State University, 2007.

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Review of best practices and lessons learned:
Below are a series of examples and best practices gleaned from interviews with emergency
management practitioners and local governments for emergency management planning,
communications and community engagement.
City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management
The City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has a staff of 13 and is housed within the
Seattle Police Department; the Director of that office reports to Chief of Police.32
Seattle’s OEM has a
Vulnerable Populations Planner on staff, Karimah Edwards, whose primary role is to address specific
vulnerable populations - people with disabilities or Limited English Proficiency and a broad range of
individuals who may experience barriers to accessing services before, during or after an emergency
event. This often involves planning projects to help communities be better prepared by looking at
internal capabilities - learning the ways communities can leverage their existing assets for preparedness
and developing relationships with communities across the city. The key threats faced by Seattle are
somewhat rare in nature (e.g., earthquakes, landslides, severe weather) and require a different type of
risk communication to help residents understand the threat posed and appropriate response.33
The City
is part of a regional Urban Area Securities Initiative, with 3 other local governments in the area, to work
on preparedness and security initiatives among vulnerable populations.
Seattle is incorporating racial equity into all of its departments’ work through its Race and Social Justice
Initiative (RSJI), which began in 2005 and is committed to: ending institutionalized racism in City
government, promoting inclusion and full participation of all residents in civic life and partnering with
the community to achieve racial equity across Seattle.34
The RSJI provides a toolkit and resources to
incorporate these themes into the work of all city departments, by analyzing whether a policy or
program is equitable or has unintended consequences. All city staff can go through training on
institutional racism (this training is required for all new staff in some departments) to prepare them to
look at their work and decisions through an equity lens. Each department has an RSJI Change Team - a
voluntary forum for staff to examine issues of institutional racism within their department and develop
new ideas or programs aimed at integrating racial equity. The teams also tend to serve as collaborative
opportunities to leverage one another’s work and community relationships. In Seattle this has been an
especially helpful way to gain rapport with the community, taking advantage of existing connections and
learning from previous staff experience about what works and what doesn’t in engaging community.35
In the Seattle Office Emergency Management specifically, there is an RSJI Change Team and a variety of
approaches to integrating racial equity into the work. This includes an inclusive outreach and
engagement program that works towards making sure that the department is doing inclusive
community outreach. There is also an objective, especially through Karimah’s work, to look at areas of
the city that have a high percentage of vulnerable populations and identify what support and resources
are needed to serve those communities.
32
Edwards, Karimah. "Racial Equity in Seattle's Emergency Management." Telephone interview. June 10, 2014.
33
“Seattle Hazard Identification & Vulnerability Analysis.” City of Seattle, Office of Emergency Management, April 2014.
http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/publications/documents/SHIVA.pdf
34
Racial Equity in Seattle.” RSJI Three-Year Plan 2012-2014, City of Seattle Office for Civil Rights, June 2014.
35

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Lessons Learned: There are several key lessons and best practices Karimah Edwards shared that inform
the Seattle OEM’s approach to community engagement work using a racial equity lens.36
 Emergency Management tends to be a predominantly white male dominated field, so it is
important to prioritize racial equity throughout the work. This involves questioning assumptions
and biases that may inform the dominant approach of the department. The assessment tools
from the RSJI help to identify and evaluate some of those issues.
 Emergency management sometimes takes the perspective of “How can I help this community
and get them what they need?” vs. “What are the capabilities of this community? How do I get
to know them and the resources they already have?” The Seattle OEM has been trying to take a
different approach to how they connect with those communities, building rapport and
developing mutual understanding between the city and residents.
 It has also been important to recognize that the City as a government entity may encounter
mixed reactions and attitude from the community in response efforts. If City staff go to certain
parts of the City, they’re welcome, in other parts of the City, there’s a more suspicious and
skeptical response. Some of the immigrant communities don’t have a positive outlook on
government; the African American community also tends to be somewhat skeptical and
suspicious based on historical relations with the City. While this isn’t an easily resolved
challenge, the OEM is considering how these community perceptions impacts the City’s ability to
provide resources, support and communications to underserved populations.
 If a community is already experiencing poverty and has limited resources, it may be more
difficult to encourage people to start building emergency supplies. There’s also a challenge in
appropriately and effectively communicating risk to those communities.
 A survey conducted by Seattle OEM revealed what community groups perceived as their biggest
concern in terms of natural or manmade disasters. The overwhelming response was an active
shooter incident, and the desired incentive to address that concern was disaster kits and
events/information on how to respond. In response, the office has organized a disaster
educational event that was designed to be accessible to all (very visual, with interpreters,
multiple languages, closed captioning, etc.). Staff made sure to include community members in
the planning to ensure a more successful event.
Best Practices:37
 Outreach and Inclusivity: When engaging community groups in planning processes, take an
inclusive approach from the start. That’s the best way to gather information about community
concerns and learn how to most effectively do the work. It can be patronizing and unproductive
to include the community only at the end when the plan is already written.
 Cultural Awareness/Community-Building Events: Hold events that focus on a specific
community (Filipino, Somali, African American, etc.) with the goal of building relationships,
cultural competency and partnerships which will support resiliency for vulnerable populations
when a disaster event occurs. The events provide an opportunity for communities to speak to
emergency management staff about what they want service providers to know about them, the
36
37
Ibid.

10
dos and don’ts of approaching and interacting with that community. This will of course only
include a representation of the community that doesn’t speak for everyone, but it provides
valuable perspective and helps providers to make their services even more accessible.
 Appreciate Participation- Provide Food: Communities bond around food- it’s a great social
icebreaker and helps not just to pull people in but also creates an informal and comfortable
atmosphere for people for discussing a serious topic like emergency preparedness. Try to
provide culturally appropriate food at events.
 Tailor Programming: In order to make programs accessible, they can’t all be done the
mainstream way. Service delivery has to be different for each community, tailored to the
population being served. For example, the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
program may look different in each community where the training is being offered.
 Public Education: Part of emergency management’s outreach strategy focuses on personal
preparedness, by holding trainings and supporting hub programs. There are information hubs
throughout the City, which may be faith-based organizations, community groups or
neighborhood organizations. The Seattle OEM recognized a disparity- there were more hubs in
predominantly white communities and fewer in immigrant/low-income communities. They
worked to leverage the networks and trusted role of faith-based communities to help
disseminate information to underrepresented groups. A program called P-PATCH was developed
to create hubs at community garden sites throughout the city, locations where communities
were already gathering and sharing information.
 Universal Design: A concept that says if planning is done for those with the most severe
disparities, it will be accessible to everyone. The term was coined in the architectural industry as
a way to design all products and the built environment to be aesthetic and usable to the
greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life.38
This
philosophy considers accessibility as the default and when applied to Emergency Management
may mean providing different sheltering accommodations (cots that can be used by someone
with a disability) or communications strategies (multilingual, closed captioning, etc.) to be
accessible to all.
Measuring impacts:
Seattle has used a variety of measures to quantify the impacts of racial equity on the Emergency
Management department’s work including tracking the number of participants in programs like CERT
and the hub networks, identifying where those participants are from and collecting some of their
demographic data.39
The office also tracks the ways in which the RSJI initiative is impacting
programming, which can be somewhat intangible, but it’s important to recognize as shifts and
modifications that make the work more equitable. Staff also encouraged supplementing city data on
inequities with qualitative input from communities, doing surveys with residents to hear specific
examples and key concerns related to these issues.
38
Wikipedia“Universal design.” (2014, July 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 27, 2014,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Universal_design&oldid=615508021
39

11
City of Portland Bureau of Emergency Management
The City of Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (BEM) has a staff of 16, which includes a robust
financial division who work on Federal grant funding, a Community Emergency Response Team program,
a Planning and Exercise team, operations and management and community outreach staff.40
The BEM is
an independent bureau, and the Director reports directly to one of the City Commissioners. Bureaus
across the City tend to be fairly independent from one another, but are working to take a coordinated
and centralized approach to equity issues through the Office of Equity and Human Rights. This allows for
comparison across the City, rather than each bureau coming up with its own plan and assessment.
There is a Citywide Equity Committee (CEC), which is made up of staff at various levels and representing
each of the bureaus, that works to “integrate equity throughout each of the bureaus and shift internal
City culture by promoting the recognition and removal of racially inequitable policies and practices.”41
The CEC has develops tools for bureaus to develop their own Racial Equity Plans, identifies citywide
policies that are creating any barriers to access or involvement and trains CEC members to be resources
and trainers for their individual bureaus. Each bureau in the City is also encouraged to have a Diversity &
Equity Committee (DEC), although some have been more active than others. One of the roles of the CEC
is to provide support to those committees to keep them active. Each DEC is bureau-centric, focused on
specific issues that Bureau is facing. For example they may address issues with language access in
communications and racial equity in hiring practices and community outreach.
In Portland, the Emergency Management department staff has historically come from fire, police and
military background. It is not an especially diverse profession, but the Bureau is working to increase
diversity in hiring. They recently hired a new community outreach person who is working with existing
community groups to develop stronger relationships and lower barriers for preparedness and
participation in the BEM. One example of this work is developing a 72-hour kit with food, water, medical
supplies, pet food, clothing, etc. made up of material from the Dollar Store. There’s also a Title 6
Coordinator with the City who looks at language accessibility in emergency and preparedness
messaging. Work has been done to integrate Title 6 requirements more thoughtfully and thoroughly
into the work for emergency messaging. Racial equity is also part of budget process using an assessment
tool from the Office of Equity & Human Rights. There’s a checklist tool for posting new positions to
ensure they are advertised through groups and media that reach communities of color. The CEC has also
developed a Quick & Dirty brainstorming tool for training and planning processes- to think about
stakeholders involved in the work and identify potential barrier to involvement.
Lessons Learned: Daire Elliot of Portland’s BEM shared several lessons learned and best practices that
inform the Portland’s approach to emergency management using a racial equity lens.42
 It’s been difficult to find ways to engage fully with equity work on some of the internal-facing
focuses, there’s not currently a good template for how to think about equity in terms of
operations. The traditional thinking has been there’s not as much of a need to look at diversity
and equity in just delivering standard city services.
 Bringing in new staff with specific interests in equity work and applying that approach to their
position has made the strongest immediate impact.
40
Elliot, Daire. "Racial Equity in Portland's Emergency Management." Telephone interview. June 10, 2014.
41
“2012-2013 Annual Report for Office of Human Equity and Human Rights.” City of Portland, December 2013.
42
Elliot, Daire. "Racial Equity in Portland's Emergency Management." Telephone interview. June 10, 2014.

12
Best Practices:
 Hiring Process: Incorporate awareness of racial equity in the hiring process and job description
and reach out to communities that have historically had limited contact and involvement.
 Community Engagement: Get strong and more than one contact with community groups or
individuals who are both interested in emergency management and represent the communities
that the department is trying to reach.
 Expanding on Title 6: There are Federal requirements related to Title 6, which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin. It’s often treated as a compliance
issue, but really does have implications on emergency management work can be expensive, but
very important for emergency communications.
 Assessment Tool: Develop an in-depth assessment tool to be used citywide which covers
operations, management and leadership, infrastructure, community outreach, organizational
commitment, workforce, contracting, data, etc. The assessment in Portland, which is based on a
tool developed by the Portland Public School System called All Hands Raised, includes 41
questions covering how the various bureaus do everything from hiring to building relationships
with contractors, should provide some good solid data to work with and require thinking about
equity in everything the City does.
Emergency and Community Health Communications (ECHO) Minnesota
Emergency, Community, and Health Outreach (ECHO) Minnesota is a risk communication program
created by the Minnesota Department of Public Health targeted toward Limited English Proficiency
populations.43
ECHO’s mission is to collaborate with diverse communities to deliver programs and
services that help people be healthy, contribute, and succeed.44
ECHO accomplishes its mission by
collaborating with subject matter experts, multilingual community leaders and trained ethnic
spokespeople. The organization provides ongoing public health and emergency information through a
variety of media including public television, a multi-lingual website, radio, and through its network of
community partners.45
They've produced 20-minute video programs in several different languages
including Hmong, Khmer, Lao, Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese, and English, covering a range of topics such
as Lyme disease, severe weather warnings, and pandemic influenza. ECHO has been particularly
successful in forging a positive response among a diverse population. They have done this by
customizing their communications for each language and featuring native-speaking on-air personalities
and expert guests.46
ECHO also has a network of ethnic spokespeople who are trained to represent
ECHO as a whole and become part of the brand. This is possible because they have worked diligently to
develop a coalition of a wide range of organizations from state, county, and local health and service
agencies, many of which serve the populations they are attempting to reach. ECHO is also out and
present in the community frequently, building relationships and connecting with community leaders.47
43
“Limited English Proficiency Populations & Racial and Ethnic Minorities- Promising Practices.” RAND Health, Special Needs
Population Mapping. http://www.rand.org/health/projects/ promising-practices/limited-english-proficiencies/practices.html
44
“ECHO Mission & History.” ECHO Minnesota website, http://www.echominnesota.org/about/mission
45
“ECHO Services.” ECHO Minnesota website, http://www.echominnesota.org/tools
46
Limited English Proficiency Populations & Racial and Ethnic Minorities- Promising Practices.” RAND Health.
47
McDonald, Lillian. "Racial Equity and ECHO MInnesota." Personal interview. June 25, 2014.

13
According to Executive Director Lillian McDonald, there are three primary areas where racial equity
plays out in ECHO’s work and in emergency management in general:40
 Leadership: At the leadership level there is some resistance to bringing on new and diverse
staff. In order to incorporate representative community members, there is a need to be nimble
and realize that the work people produce may not be in the formats that easily fit into existing
systems. Existing operating systems tend to be quite rigid, and don’t allow the opportunity for
the evolution of cultures. Non-dominant cultures do business differently. There will still be
results delivered; in fact they are often enhanced results because they’re more authentic.
 Systems: Existing systems are not accommodating diversity; they aren’t prepared for the
implications of bringing on new, diverse staff members and cultures. People don’t leave their
culture at the door when they come to work, and accommodations or modifications of existing
systems may be required to attract more diverse staff. Humans are naturally socialized to have
subconscious, inherent biases. It’s necessary to become aware of those biases and then address
where they’re playing out in our systems. That’s going to take training and time.
 Community Engagement: It’s hard to measure and quantify the return on investment (ROI) for a
full-time community engagement staff person. Their whole job is basically to talk to people,
develop relationships and keep as much data on the community as people are willing to give.
People cut that because it’s not always tangible- not like saying we’ve got 5 fire trucks, did 3
tabletop exercises, etc. When the crisis happens, what adds up are the relationships that have
been developed by attending community events or meetings and showing up in the community
not just to get something from them. In order to develop the trust and relationships for people
to feel comfortable talking honestly about racial inequities and disparities, there needs to be
trust and an existing relationship.
Lessons Learned: Lillian McDonald also shared a number of lessons learned and best practices from
ECHO Minnesota based on their work in emergency communications in diverse communities: 48
 The community is tired of having public
officials coming to them only when they
need something. The missing link is to
invest resources in engagement. Everyone
wants an ROI on any project or program,
but there’s a need to reframe the inherent
value of engagement. It can be measured
by the number of contacts that are made in
the community, how many people are on a
contact list or in a network, number of
community events attended, etc. These
connections will pay off in the event of an
emergency in having trust with
communities.
48
“In a community in rural Minnesota, the fire chief
told me he had the opportunity to hire his first
Somali fire fighter, recruited from the high
school…but he had a problem: The young man
wears a goatee so the fire equipment, according
to OSHA standards, won’t fit on his face properly.
The chief has gone all the way to OSHA, told
them that for religious reasons the man wears a
goatee. OSHA agrees that their rules need to be
adjusted to accommodate a changing work force
and agrees to give the ‘wink-wink’ okay, but they
would not put it in writing so that the fire chief
could execute his role. That puts the chief at a
liability if a problem happens.”
-Lillian McDonald, ECHO Minnesota45

14
 Asking people to serve on another Board or committee may not be the most effective
engagement strategy. It is asking for more uncompensated time from cultural community
leaders, when they’re already busy being pulled into a lot of such processes. This approach
tends to burn people out or be a somewhat superficial way to engage. That system needs to be
adjusted to accommodate people to be more authentically engaged. There are structures that
aren’t going to work for all cultural communities, so it’s important to examine those structures
and systems in detail to ensure they’re inclusive.
 There’s a chicken and egg issue with hiring practices. There’s an attitude of: “If the force doesn’t
look like me, I don’t want to be a part of the force.”49
But if they can’t hire more people of color,
then the force will continue to look that way. There is a need to examine what systems in the
hiring processes may be posing a barrier.
 In order to address the systemic issue of racial disparities, it will require reading through the
forms and paperwork that staff use to do their jobs, looking at the protocols of the organization,
the performance reviews, the policy handbooks, the signage, the promotion process, the Human
Resources records, the organizational structure, how people are brought through a process for
their jobs, etc. It has to go beyond just talking about why one should do the right thing and
making broad cultural generalizations, to actually looking at the issues within the organization or
business that may have unintended consequences, cultural flaws that exclude (subconsciously
or consciously) cultural communities.
 Measuring the impacts of this type of work is challenging. Unless a study is conducted using
electronic medical records and follow people through that process, there won’t be the kind of
ROI that may be expected. Instead it’s important to identify at the begging what the goals of the
work are and how to measure them. In order to influence systemic changes, it’s necessary to set
the targets accordingly. Also get feedback from the community about what should be measured
and how to measure it. There’s value in city leaders talking to community leaders about these
issues. Waiting until the last minute to bring people in and ask for assistance on these
intercultural issues is a mistake.
Best Practices:
 Whole Community approach: It’s important to have a cross-section of the population involved
in emergency planning, including those who are well-integrated and familiar with the issues as
well as community leaders, some of whom may be paid through their jobs to participate. It
should also include people who are new to the issues, to keep on the pulse of where
communities are on these issues. When the crisis occurs, it intersects across all aspects of life-
jobs, school, kids, etc. It has worked well for ECHO Minnesota to also bring economic, social, and
political issues as well as emergency issues to their advisory committees.
 Cultural Services Unit/Multicultural Advisory Committee: Recruit community members from a
jurisdiction to serve as Cultural Service Unit volunteers. They are trained over the course of 6
weeks where they learn about emergency management and are paid for their time. They have a
vested interest in these issues and want to give back to their communities. After the initial
training, holding quarterly meetings of the CSU is usually sufficient. It’s important to be very
49

15
specific about the objectives and the roles that CSU members play. This team of volunteers is
well-equipped to serve in other ongoing roles with the city, including joining the Multicultural
Advisory Committee (MAC), which helps advise the city on these topics.
 Coordinated Efforts: In Minneapolis there are a number of siloed departments, but these
community engagement efforts should be coordinated to include at least the Health,
Neighborhood and Community Relations, Emergency Management and Communications
departments. That way the financial responsibility could be shared between departments. It
would consolidate and coordinate those 2-way communications and engagement from the City
rather than multiple city offices coming into the community separately to solicit input. A
coordinated strategy would demonstrate to residents the city’s presence in the community and
its interest in engaging residents to give a voice, weigh in and lead on projects.
 Multi-cultural Approach: A CSU or MAC should consist of City staff and representatives from a
variety of cultural communities. Take a multi-cultural approach, soliciting representatives from
the Somali, Hmong, Latino, African American, Native American, and other cultural communities
to serve as members. Eventually it may be necessary to have different groups for each cultural
community, since there are unique cultural circumstances around those issues.
 Clear, Community-Informed Expectations: The group should have a clear set of objectives to
accomplish, that they are compensated to achieve. It may be helpful to conduct in-person
surveys in the community to help inform those objectives. This will help identify some of the
core issues of concern in the community to be addressed. The CSU or MAC could help to
conduct the survey and gather information. Then when a tornado blows through, there’s an
army of volunteers who are connected both with the community and City departments. It can
help to build that capacity in the community.
American Red Cross, Northern Minnesota Region
The American Red Cross has a mission to “prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of
emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.”50
The Northern
Minnesota Region of the American Red Cross serves more than 4.3 million people in 43 counties in
Northern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.51
It is one of 189 Red Cross societies around the world,
which is part of the Red Cross movement globally, the largest human movement in the world.52
There is
a set of fundamental principles that all the Red Cross societies follow: humanity, impartiality, neutrality,
independence, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality.48
Particularly
relevant to this work is the principle of impartiality, which says the Red Cross “makes no discrimination
as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It endeavors to relieve the suffering of
individuals, being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.53
According to the impartiality and neutrality principles, all people are treated the same wherever they
are in the world. In an interview with Phil Hansen and Megan Mrozek, they shared a number of
examples of how diversity is incorporated into the work of the Northern Minnesota Red Cross region.
50
“Mission, Vision, Fundamental Principles.” American Red Cross, September 2012. http://www.redcross.org/about-us/mission
51
“About Us.” American Red Cross, Northern Minnesota Chapter. June 2014. http://www.redcross.org/mn/minneapolis/about
52
Hansen, Phil, and Megan Mrozek. "American Red Cross, Northern Minnesota Region." Personal interview. June 30, 2014.
53
“Mission, Vision, Fundamental Principles.” American Red Cross.

16
Nationally, the American Red Cross has developed a
Diversity, Value and Respect Initiative that represents the
organization’s commitment to diversity as a business
imperative.54
The initiative has a series of objectives (see
sidebar), and focuses on three areas:
 Hiring diversity- Diversity in the workforce
 Partner diversity- Diversity in partners and
communities we engage with
 Product diversity- Diversity in purchasing and
product vendors 50
There are explicit goals within the American Red Cross,
measures for meeting the diversity mission. For example, 15% of sourceable spend (purchasing) in the
organization needs to come from diverse vendors.55
The organization is actively trying to recruit and
encourage diverse vendors in order to meet that goal. On the workforce side, there’s not a specific
hiring target, it’s on a community-by-community basis. The intention is to reflect the community served,
and hire based on the demographics of that area.
There are also training requirements for staff
on diversity, which have three components:
 Get It: New Employee & Volunteer
Orientation (NEVO), online Sensitivity and
Awareness training, cultural competency
series on specific communities- American
Indian, GLBT, Disability, etc.
 Know it: Scenario-based, intensive online
education on cultural competence and
sensitivity developed specifically for the
American Red Cross, required for
managers and supervisors, executive
coaching on diversity issues
 Do it: Cultural affinity groups for staff and
volunteers, online resources and forums
for those groups, Diversity Advocates
Roundtable, employee engagement 50
The training program is integrated throughout
the organization so that all staff understands
that it is a mission-critical part of the work.
There is a local focus to some of the cultural
competency trainings, focused on the specific
diverse communities that they are likely to
work with as clients- in Minnesota that is
mostly commonly Somali, Hmong and Latino.50
54
“Diversity Mission Statement.” American Red Cross, Corporate Diversity. http://www.redcross.org/about-
us/governance/corporate-diversity
55
The American Red Cross empowers people in
America to perform extraordinary acts in the
face of emergencies and disasters.
 To ensure full benefit of this experience
by all, we deliver our products and
services in a culturally sensitive and
appropriate manner to all we serve.
 We fully embrace and promote inclusion
across our people, products and services,
and we integrate diversity into our
business strategies and decisions.
-Diversity Vision Statement
49
Within the American Red Cross organization, diversity
and inclusion is achieved by aligning diversity efforts with
organizational business objectives to ensure service to all
is achieved as we accomplish the following:
 Being Reflective of Communities We Serve — by the
enhancement of the Red Cross’ ability to attract and
retain diverse volunteers, employees and donors
representative of the communities we serve.
 Enhancing Training to Improve Service Delivery —
by the development and delivery of diversity training
focused on building diversity awareness and
sensitivity, improving cultural competencies, and
fostering a welcoming, respectful and inclusive
environment in which to work and deliver services.
 Reflecting Diversity Commitment in Business
Opportunities — by performing effective outreach to
diverse suppliers and encouraging their participation
in Red Cross procurement activities, which provides
additional opportunity for the organization to better
reflect all we serve.
 Increasing Effectiveness and Accountability in All
We Do — by creating and applying measurable
diversity goals and objectives.
 Becoming Better at Telling Our Stories to Diverse
Audiences — by improving, and/or expanding,
messaging to diverse audiences, which effectively
conveys the American Red Cross commitment to
diversity and inclusion, and highlights success stories
demonstrating that commitment.
-American Red Cross Diversity Mission Statement
49

17
The American Red Cross Northern Minnesota chapter has seen in its work that communities of color
tend to be disproportionately represented among their clients. There may be fewer resources, especially
in foreign language populations, to ensure an understanding around building community resilience.
While there was a lot of diversity in communities receiving response services, the organization would
like to see more people of color involved in preparedness. An important factor in the success of this
work is having a workforce that represents the community, among both volunteers and paid staff.56
The American Red Cross recognizes that trust is a key factor in its ability to serve communities well. The
organization works to build trust through preparedness and resilience programs. That way, when a
disaster hits the organization can rely on existing connections to make sure that services reach everyone
who needs them. This is especially important in the Latino community especially, where people may be
undocumented and tend to retreat when a disaster hits, but they may also be some of the most
impacted. This was particularly helpful in responding to the Cedar Riverside fire; the existing
relationships the Northern Minnesota chapter had in that community made it smoother to be able to
connect with and provide services to people. That trust enabled the organization to be engaged in
culturally sensitive conversations about finding missing people. The leadership from the various
community groups already knew and trusted the staff and reputation of the American Red Cross, and
those relationships have continued going forward.
The data out there on emergency preparedness is not really sufficient; there are some bigger national
studies, but not a lot of data locally. The Northern Minnesota American Red Cross chapter undertook
doing a survey this past year on local preparedness, which is just being completed. The goal was to
reach 1500 respondents, with a focus on and benchmarks for collecting responses from diverse
communities. The data will be analyzed in the next year, and should provide some telling information
about which communities are further ahead or behind around preparedness and resiliency building, so
that programs can be tailored to those results.
Best practices: 57
 Community convening: In the last few years the Northern Minnesota chapter has organized
convening projects in various cultural communities as part of their resilience work –creating
safer, more resilient communities involves spending time doing programming and outreach to
reach diverse populations. The convening project provided an opportunity not only to provide
resources and training, but also to recruit new volunteers from those communities.
 Leverage leaders: Reach out through networks to identify leaders in the community, who are
most influential. This is a more effective approach than trying to reach every member of the
community individually, focus instead on the influencers in the community, who will help to
generate interest and spread the word with others.
 Localized response: The American Red Cross has changed the model for delivering disaster
services, especially on a large national scale. While the approach used to be- “the local team is
probably so worn out, we’re going to send in reinforcements to deal with the situation”- the
organization has increasingly realized the value of local knowledge and someone who knows
that local community. The entire response model has shifted to make sure those people are at
the forefront, that they’re supported rather than replaced.
56
57
Ibid.

18
 Cultural Competency: The American Red Cross has taken a number of steps to modify its
approach and services to accommodate and integrate new and changing cultures. They are
working to find ways to engage diverse and especially foreign-born populations to volunteer in
non-traditional ways. Volunteerism is not a norm in every culture, so they’re adapting
opportunities so that people can volunteer in ways they are comfortable with. A number of the
applications and preparedness materials from the Northern Minnesota chapter have been made
available in multiple languages- Somali, Spanish and Hmong. Additionally they’ve designed
programming and communications to address some of the issues that may not be clear for
immigrant and refugee communities who aren’t familiar with the norms of emergency response
in this country.
Conclusions and Recommendations
While there are not explicit guidelines or measures for incorporating racial equity in emergency
management, literature on the topic and examples from other communities provide some helpful
direction. This is an evolving area of work, which will need to be modified and revisited based on
implementation and evaluation. By applying a racial equity lens to budgeting, hiring, contracting,
procurement, and public involvement, Minneapolis OEM can look for opportunities to incorporate
equity goals into department operations. The citywide Equitable Solutions framework should provide
resources, tools and training to understand and operationalize equity in day to day work and decisions.
The Minneapolis OEM has a number of areas in which to incorporate this work, particularly in
community outreach and engagement efforts.
 Establish an Emergency Management Multicultural Advisory Commission: Get a strong and
more than one contact with community groups or individuals who are both interested in
emergency management and represent the local underrepresented communities, to provide
guidance and feedback on department work and can also serve as community liaisons.
 Start planning with the community: That’s where to find the best information about concerns
within communities and answers about how to effectively do the work. Conduct early and
meaningful community engagement- in developing the Emergency Operations Plan and
identification of localized threats and hazards.
 Participate in citywide racial equity work: Emergency Management staff should participate on
the Equitable Solutions Staff Team, to understand citywide objectives and resources for this
work, to inform that process and to bring back tools for the OEM’s work.
 Data collection: Conduct a baseline equity assessment of the Emergency Management
department, guidance for which is provided in the Racial Equity Strategy Guide, to understand
how programs, policies, procedures or initiatives may impact or perpetuate disparities.58
Establish metrics based on that assessment to track progress, using existing data or developing
new data collection strategies.
 Invest in CERT and CSU programs: Work with Neighborhood and Community Relations, Health,
Communications, Police, Fire and other departments to reinvigorate these programs, which are
important for building community capacity around emergency preparedness.
58
“Racial Equity Strategy Guide.” Portland’s Partnership for Racial Equity, Urban League of Portland, August 2012.

19
Appendix
 “2012-2013 Annual Report for Office of Human Equity and Human Rights.” City of Portland,
December 2013.
 “A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes and Pathways
for Action.” FEMA, December 2011. http://www.fema.gov/media-library-
data/whole_community_dec2011__2_.pdf
 “Approaches to Emergency Management.” Theory, Practice and Fundamental of Hazards,
Disasters and U.S. Emergency Management. Session No. 12, FEMA Emergency Management
Institute.
 “City Vision, Values, Goals & Strategic Directions.” City of Minneapolis, March 2014.
http://www.minneapolismn.gov/citygoals/index.htm
 “Crisis and Risk Communication- 10 Tips for Public Health Professionals Communicating with
Native and New Americans.” Robert Littlefield, Kimberly Cowden and Will Hueston. Institute for
Regional Studies, North Dakota State University, 2007.
 “Disasters, Race, and Disability: [Un]Seen Through the Political Lens on Katrina.” Lakshmi Fjord.
The Journal of Race and Policy, vol. 3 No. 1. pp. 46-66. http://cardcanhelp.org/images/Disasters-
Race-Disability-Lakshmi-Fjord.pdf
 “Disparities by Race in Heat-Related Mortality in Four US Cities: The Role of Air Conditioning
Prevalence.” Marie S. O’Neill, Antonella Zanobetti, and Joel Schwartz. Journal of Urban Health:
Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, Vol. 82, No. 2.
 “ECHO Mission & History.” ECHO Minnesota website,
http://www.echominnesota.org/about/mission
 “ECHO Services.” ECHO Minnesota website, http://www.echominnesota.org/tools
 “Enhancing Disaster Resilience in Racially & Ethnically Diverse Communities.” Dennis Andrulis,
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20
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