Communicating About Flood Hazards in Coastal Communities A Challenging and Risk-y Business Henrietta Williams, Lynne Keating, and Dick Wild Presentation at ASFPM National Conference, May 24, 2012

2 Communication Challenges  Stakeholder 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

3 A Magnificent Undertaking Indeed!

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

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

6 Use Variety of Delivery Vehicles  Articles/items for stakeholder newsletters and magazines  Booths at state/county fairs  Brochures  Fact sheets/FAQs  Informational letters  Local TV/Radio PSAs

7 Delivery Vehicles (Cont’d)  Local TV/Radio appearances  Newsletters  Newspaper op eds and Letters to the Editor  Presentations to civic associations  Presentations to stakeholder NGOs Conferences Meetings

8 Delivery Vehicles (Cont’d)  Press releases  Risk MAP meetings and open houses  Other community meetings

9 Delivery Vehicles (Cont’d)  Web-based vehicles Project website RSS feeds, widgets, Tweets Project content on partner websites

10 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

11 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

12 Communicate with as Many Stakeholders as Possible  Public-sector stakeholders  Private-sector stakeholders

13 Public-Sector Stakeholders  State/district offices of Federal agencies  State agencies  Regional entities  Community officials  U.S. Congress  Elected State officials

14 Private-Sector Stakeholders  Developers  Engineers  Architects  Floodplain managers  Builders  Civic associations in affected counties/ communities  NGOs

15 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

16 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

17 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?

18 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

19 Open House Layout - Visual Glance 1 – Property Lookup Stations 2 – Insurance Information Stations 3 – Appeals and Comment Station 4 – Engineering Study Station 5 – Community Assistance Station

20 Property Lookup Station

21 Insurance Information Station

22 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

23 Translations (Cont’d) projects/coastal/haitiancreole.php projects/coastal/spanish.php projects/coastal/vietnamese.php

24 Coastal Outreach Contacts  Henrietta Williams, CFM, FEMA Region IV Coastal Outreach Lead  Lynne Keating, FEMA State Outreach Lead, Alabama and Georgia  Dick Wild, BakerAECOM Coastal Outreach Lead  Ben Accurti, BakerAECOM Coastal Web Development Lead

25 Thanks for Participating