Bridging divides: Progress reaching underserved and overlooked populations at risk from severe weather in the southeast United States

In early 2020 the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC) in collaboration with NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) partnered to create a model for a regional extension program to integrate physical and social science research from the VORTEX-SE program to local application for a broader target audience. Our talk will explore what came next, where we are now and future directions.

First, we took a Theory of Change approach, identifying key stakeholders and knowledge brokers to help us identify vulnerable, underserved, and often overlooked populations. We experimented with different outreach events and engagement activities to learn from participants what was well received and actionable. This allowed us to understand gaps and needs of different communities on a practical level.

We will share an overview of initial outreach and engagement programming - a pilot project in Biloxi, Mississippi, that targeted two mobile/manufactured home (MMH) parks by inviting their residents to attend a Severe Weather Expo hosted by a local church within walking distance of the parks. We learned the MMH parks were very different in composition and in how they communicated to their residents even though they were located next door to one another. Attendees at the event had misunderstandings about safe sheltering and the host church had misconceptions about providing shelter in the event of a tornado, confusing it with hurricane evacuation.

We aim to build on this, sharing an overview of a curriculum we created that focused on teaching basic skills for preparing for, responding to, and recovering from severe weather. The full day training was first piloted at a local library in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Basic first aid, CPR, chainsaw safety, packing a “go kit”, locating a safe shelter, and receiving emergency alerts on your phone were some of the topics covered. We have since iterated on these trainings after more training sessions with the public, producing a shorter version modified to fit into a two-hour offering and is currently being delivered in collaboration with a local library in Raymond, Mississippi.

We aim to explore how offering this type of programming at local libraries helps to draw in a cross section of the population and the library is a safe space for sharing and learning. The goal is to eventually train a cadre of librarians and/or friends of the library that can deliver the training in the future. Working with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Mississippi Library Association, modules and materials will be packaged in a portable “chest” that can be checked out by any library in the state for use in delivering the curriculum. This way we hope to build sustainability beyond the initial funding and outreach efforts. A version of the curriculum has been modified for school aged students and delivered in elementary classrooms. This version includes cartoon strips showing the process for finding a safe shelter depending upon what type of structure you live in, creating tornadoes in a bottle, and exploring “go kit” items.

We also want to share how we tackle other issues and knowledge gaps, through a series of virtual workshops offered to gain participation from those unable to travel to local trainings. These have ranged from town hall style question and answer sessions to targeting specific audiences such as emergency managers with social science topics around severe weather. In collaboration with FEMA, we have been hosting a series based on the social science behind behavior during severe weather and how to better communicate risks to mobile/manufactured home owners, deaf and hard of hearing audiences, and those with language barriers (Vietnamese populations, Hispanic populations). These virtual events allow us to reach beyond Mississippi and Alabama into neighboring states.

To continue to understand needs within communities, the social science researchers and outreach professionals have teamed up to conduct on-the-ground surveys in areas hit hard by severe weather. Interviews in Rolling Fork, Mississippi and outreach events in Moss Point, Mississippi have helped to identify gaps in understanding, relevant actions that are being taken during emergencies, and where the information is flowing (to whom, by whom). This data has greatly informed the direction of future outreach and engagement events. It has also served as an important feedback loop to researchers trying to improve the warnings and communication of risk to those most likely to be impacted from severe weather.

Throughout the process of building an outreach and engagement program around severe weather, there have been some surprising lessons learned about existing needs and emerging needs. We aim to explore these, showing that while our programs have targeted vulnerable audiences, they have drawn a wide range of professional audiences also looking to learn more about practical actions they can take to protect themselves and help their neighbors. Some practitioners have joined to better understand messages about safety around severe weather, while emergency managers joined to learn more about the social science behind the actions they are asking people to take during these events. This has revealed a greater need for basic skill building and discussions of the complex actions being taken, and decisions being made throughout a severe weather event. It warrants opening the availability of offerings to a secondary audience.

Finally, we aim to share our future efforts of the outreach and engagement program, focusing on expanding the reach of the trainings and short programs by teaming up with cooperative extension professionals in other parts of the state using a train-the-trainer model. Additional efforts will be made to reach mobile and manufactured homeowners as well as young African Americans living in marginalized communities who are seen as knowledge brokers, often educating and sharing information with their parents and grandparents. We believe these trusted youth are in the unique position to teach skill building (how to get emergency alerts on your phone) and safe sheltering techniques (where to go and when to go there) to older generations.