1. Los Altos Block Action Teams (BATs): 2019 ECA Mini-Awards Nadja Jackson BAT Program Manager Los Altos Community Foundation losaltosbat.org

2. Background
Los Altos Community Foundation (LACF) recruits, trains, and supports neighborhood Block Action Teams (BATs) in partnership with the City of Los Altos.
The collaboration of BATs, CERTs, HAMs, Neighborhood Watch, City of Los Altos, and First Responders is a community-based disaster preparedness and response effort called “Los Altos PREPARES,” which was started by community volunteers in 2013.
Ann Hepenstal, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the City of Los Altos, is the ECA associate for the awarded Los Altos Block Action Teams.
Enhance our community’s knowledge about how to prepare.
Strengthen its ability to respond and recover from a major disaster.

3. Los Altos: 300 BAT Leaders trained, 95 BATs formed, 2,800 households supported (~25%)
Zone 11
Zone 10
Zone 9
Zone 8
Zone 7
Zone 6
Zone 5
Zone 4
11 zones established; sized to allow runners to reach ham sites (EIRS) if other communications methods are limited or not available
Zone 3
Zone 2
Zone 1

4. Award Winners
Each winner received “Secure Your Space” Kits for 10 households BAT 35, Ed Yu BAT 52, Sue Hiller BAT 67, Karen Han BAT 105, Patricia Evans BAT 108, Cheryl Branson

5. BAT #35 Report (Ed Yu)
We invited the 41 households in our BAT to apply for a household kit and awarded all 10.
Each awardee submitted photos to document their work.
These items supplement the series of trainings and block parties we have been holding to educate our neighbors about preparedness.

6. BAT #67 Report (Karen Han)
We held a block party for the 29 households in our BAT.
This was our first get-together: the ECA supplies were an incentive to get started and for recipients to provide contact information, and we had over 50 attendees!
Our local fire crew came to show kids around the truck – this also reinforces community resiliency and preparedness.

7. BAT #67: Survey for ECA Supplies

8. Invitation (online & flyer)
BAT #67 Block Party
Invitation (online & flyer)

9. BAT #105 Report (Patricia Evans)
Three training courses (each offered twice)
How to use walkie talkies
How to use fire extinguishers
Personal emergency preparedness, especially for earthquakes and wildfires.
8-10 families participated each time.
Participants were provided free or discounted supplies, courtesy of Los Altos City Grant and ECA “Secure 10 Living Spaces” Kit

10. BAT #105 Training Sessions
Handing out Mini-Award supplies
Fire extinguisher training
City of Los Altos $20K Community & Emergency Preparedness Grants were a great incentive for our community to connect and get organized and ready; $40K allocated.

11. Other results (BAT #105)
Surveys before and after training showed improved knowledge and skill (0-5 scale).
Before: average score on personal emergency preparedness was 2.6
After: average score was 4.6 on “confidence in reducing hazards”, 4.6 on “confidence in assembling supplies and a Go Bag”, and 4.3 on “confidence in planning for disasters.”

12. BAT #108 Report (Cheryl Branson)
ed neighbors asking who could use earthquake readiness kits and specific contents.
Offered aid in installing
10 neighbors responded requesting kits. All were able to install the supplies themselves.
2 neighbors returned parts of the kits, which we redistributed to other households.

13. Other results (BAT #108)
Prior to this grant, we had only just become a block group and neighbors weren’t that aware of our BAT’s role in emergency readiness.
Earthquake kits were a great first step toward improving
neighborhood emergency awareness
neighborhood resilience
neighbors seeing the advantage in neighborhood cooperation with each other and the City through our BAT.

14. “Secure Your Space” Kits & Museum Putty In Action!

15. Household Installations

16. Household Installations, Cont.

17. Feedback & Thank You!
“I always mean to get around to securing things my home and now I will actually do it!”
“Now that we have secured some of our furniture, I realize how bad it could have been if it had fallen on someone.“
“There are so many news on earthquakes these days. I guess we should think about it just in case.”
“Regarding the earthquake preparation materials, my husband used the furniture straps to secure our china hutch. He thinks that it’s easy to install with an electric screwdriver, and did it by himself.”
“We used the putty to secure china displays and knickknacks. The items seem to be well “glued” to the shelves without making marks.”
“We are so thankful for the Block Action Team!”