Supporting the Medically Fragile and Socially Vulnerable

Public officials and community leaders are leading across multiple crises while also managing “COVID fatigue.” A common charge each of these groups have is recognizing and meeting, as best they can, the needs of medically fragile and socially vulnerable populations. Medically fragile populations are understood as those persons with chronic medical needs and dependencies. Socially vulnerable are understood as those with insecure access to key social determinants of health, including food, financial stability, education, and housing. 

Excited to share some reflections from my collaboration with Healthcare Ready along with other private sector, faith-based and civic society partners that support these populations year-round have provided insights and recommendations we hope help public officials and community leaders seeking to lead their communities through crises. To read the full article click here.

New Podcast Interview with Checkbox Outreach!

Had a great conversation with the founders of the Checkbox Outreach Podcast! The podcast is a little under 40 minutes (about enough time to prep your favorite meal or do some house chores) and we cover a range of topics at the intersection of equity, emergency management and disaster response. Some specific concepts we cover include:

• Organizations providing equity considerations for the coronavirus response and in the context of emergency management and disaster response

• Leading from where you are in times of crisis using the principles of Meta-Leadership

• Reimagining Worship and Social Connection During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Rethinking how best to support the $1.2 Trillion socio-economic contribution from religion to American society

• How public officials and community leaders can partner with organizations like Healthcare Ready, the Civil Rights Corps to meet the needs of the medically fragile and socially vulnerable.

Subscribe to the Checkbox Outreach podcast on  iTunes and/or Spotify rate, and leave a review.

Subscribe to the Checkbox Outreach newsletter on the Checkbox Outreach website under ‘Get Involved.’ 

Reimagining Worship and Social Connection During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Resources and Insights from the Faith Community

Click here to read the full blog post co-authored by Dr. Nicolette Louissaint, Executive Director for Healthcare Ready and Marcus Coleman, Senior Associate of HWC Inc.

“Who are we? Who do we serve? and What are we about?”

-       Rev. Eugene Cho, President-Elect, Bread for the World

Though asked in the context of the Christian faith tradition, it’s a question asked by leaders across faiths as they continue to create spaces for fellowship, worship, and service for people and families grappling with impacts of COVID-19. Healthcare Ready joined more than 4000 faith leaders for the virtual #COVID19Church summit to share resources for individual and patients and insights from working on disaster response from within the healthcare and public health community.   

What we learned from the Summit prompted a broader conversation within our organizations. We were motivated to highlight and elevate promising practices from faith communities around the world. Our team is working to support these great efforts by sharing the practical tools and insights gleaned from faith leaders preparing to celebrate holy days while remaining physically distant outside of synagogues, churches, mosques, gurdwaras and other facilities normally attended by congregants during religious observances. 

For those looking for a place to start or to improve your virtual outreach efforts, below are some tips we have learned along with examples of helpful resources and content to assist faith leaders and public health officials seeking to provide adaptable guidance across the faith traditions in their community. 

Tip #1: Using conference calls, Facebook Live, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and other telephone and video conferencing technologies to hold services ensure congregant have options to stay connected while following public health guidance. 

The Aspen Institute Inclusive America Project developed two helpful resources for people of all faiths.

1. How to Celebrate Holy Days While Socially Distant – this  series of short videos provide a Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspective on how each religious holiday will be observed in new ways.

2. Resources for Maintaining Community During the COVID-19 Pandemic

 Tip #2: Bringing back the “prayer chain” call can serve as a helpful way for people to check in regularly by phone in between virtual services. 

This tip comes from, Dr. Jamie Aten, Co-Founder of Wheaton College Humanitarian Disaster Institute and is found in the Sojourners article, Community without Communion Resources for a Virtual Church. In addition to this help tip, Wheaton Humanitarian Disaster Institute developed a suite of resources for the church including the useful guide Preparing Your Church for the Coronavirus. Dr. Aten also has insightful pieces for faith leaders and congregant alike on the Hope + Resilience blog.

Tip #3: Follow public health and cybersecurity best practices to be sure your house of worship is providing safe and secure methods for online giving (e.g. tithes) and donations in addition to mailing checks.

Religious offering like Tithes, Zakat, Tezdaka are all important religious norms and can be accommodated during this difficult time. One place to see how faith communities are adjusting religious norms across faiths is Corona Guidance: Religious Norms for Navigating the COVID-19 epidemic a databased developed by David Freidenreich of Colby College that provides ”religious responses to the pandemic that draw on traditional texts or values to offer practical guidance for daily life. It is organized by religious tradition and searchable by full-text and using pre-defined categories.” Mr. Freidenreich notes the database remains a work in progress — please share feedback and additional sources with him directly, his e-mail is (dfreiden@colby.edu)

For those looking for additional tips and information we invite you to check out the Faith and COVID-19: Resource Repository - This online platform from the Georgetown Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs  collects and communicates information related to religious actors responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizing information so that it can be quickly found and used by development policymakers and practitioners and religious actors who seek to work together in the COVID-19 response. 

For those seeking to serve the needs of individuals and patients we invite you to connect with Healthcare Ready and our efforts to strengthen healthcare supply chains through collaboration with public health and private sectors by addressing pressing issues before, during, and after disasters.

2019 International Association of Emergency Management EmVision Talk

This EMVision Talk was filmed during the 2019 IAEM Annual Conference. The talk, "Keeping the Faith When 'You're It'" was presented by Marcus Coleman, Jr., MPA, a senior associate, at HWC, Inc. Learn more about IAEM at www.iaem.org. Learn more about the IAEM Annual Conference at www.iaemconference.info.

You can view all of the 2019 EmVision Talks by clicking here.

Keeping the F.A.I.T.H. When You're It

Read the full blog here.

How do faith-based organizations help communities become more resilient to disasters? There’s an ongoing conversation among emergency managers, first responders, and government officials about the “vital role” these organizations play in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

In the United States, faith-based organizations – religious congregations, businesses inspired by faith, faith-based charities, and other institutions – contribute an estimated $1.2 trillion to society each year.

There’s a perception that the role of faith-based organizations is limited to providing meals, beds, and emotional support when disaster strikes. And it’s true that these organizations do provide that level of care. But that’s not all they do. 

So what should emergency managers, first responders, and government officials consider in seeking to build partnerships with these groups? First they need to understand the concept of swarm leadership and what it means to keep the F.A.I.T.H through a crisis, or any situation that requires navigating significant change.

 Keeping the F.A.I.T.H includes committing yourself and your agency to:

• Fellowship: Emergency management programs like Neighborfest or organizations like the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, and the International Association of Emergency Management Faith-Based Caucus reinforce the value of social cohesion – the willingness of members of a society to cooperate to survive and prosper.
  
  A study conducted by Dr. Daniel Aldrich explains how social ties are the critical aspect of resilience in immediate survival and community recovery. Connectedness isn’t always developed in highly social settings, more practical options include training, exercises, and planning activities.

• Appreciative Inquiry (AI) – When faced with a crisis, focusing on current assets as opposed to deficits can be the difference in disaster recovery outcomes. Pastor Joshua Monda of First Baptist Church and Pastor Ben Davidson of Bethany Community Church reinforced the approach of focusing on “what’s left” instead of “what’s lost” when they responded to the needs of their community of Washington, IL in 2011. 
  
  Alongside Washington Ministerial Association, AmeriCorps and the Illinois Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, Pastor Monda and Pastor Davidson coordinated the community’s recovery efforts by simply asking themselves: “How can we make others around us successful”?

• Integrative Thinking is when two opposing ideas are brought forth and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, a creative resolution is used to form a new idea that contains elements of both. Sherry Capers, Emergency Planner for Miami-Dade County Office of Emergency Management partnered with faith-based and community-based organizations in response to FEMA’s “A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes, and Pathways for Action.”
  
  When building resilience, instead of choosing an “emergency management” approach versus a “faith-based” or “community-based” approach, Ms. Capers and her team confronted the tensions between approaches and laid the groundwork for others to follow. Sherry’s insight informed FEMA’s Engaging Faith-based and Community Organizations: Planning Considerations for Emergency Managers plan.

• Transparency – Manuel Soto, Emergency Manager for the City of Orlando, is one of the most transparent emergency managers that I have the pleasure of knowing. His transparency has served the city and the country well. 
  
  In the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Mr. Soto worked alongside other government and non-government partners to guarantee that survivors from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands had immediate access to information and resources. They organized a Multi-Agency Resource Center that survivors could use immediately on arriving at the Orlando airport. He took the additional step of engaging directly with members of the faith-based community, including Reverend Dr. Gabriel and Reverend Jeanette Salguero of Calvario City Church, who in turn opened their doors in service and humility to the community.

• Humility – The research supporting the connection between Humility and Leadership continues to develop, and it’s also the final principle towards keeping the F.A.I.T.H.
  
  A recent interview led by, Dr. Jamie Aten, mentions that “Humble leaders have successfully tempered or tamed the ego and embraced a leadership perspective that seeks to elevate everyone.” In emergency management, humility means embracing uncertainty while actively valuing and verbalizing the strengths of those around you. When emergency managers, and faith and community leaders do this well, the world notices.

If you commit to keeping the F.A.I.T.H. before disaster strikes, you can set up the conditions that reinforce the positive outcomes of swarm leadership. These concepts are intertwined with my desire to change the world for good, and I hope they serve you in building a more resilient community. Which of the five principles will you commit to first?

5 Ways to Avoid Undermining Your Partnership: An introduction

The moment you visualize the possibilities of a partnership can be an invigorating. In the pursuit to achieve impact at a desired scale, it is also important to know how to navigate the speed bumps that can become road blocks. The article, “Reaching the unreached: Building resilience through engagement with diverse communities” highlights five impediments that left unchecked, could derail an otherwise successful engagement effort.

1. Introducing too much too quickly

2. Working outside formal structures and decision making processes

3. Not leveraging existing social networks

4. Seeking long-term results from short term investments

5. Seeking to build capability without building social currency

I welcome your thoughts, resources and approaches to how you have navigated the challenges of developing public private partnerships. 

Building Community Resilience Through Partnerships

A community’s ability to bounce back from a stress or disruption, whether man-made or natural disaster, is only as strong as the cohesion and trust built at every level of a community. I have seen the consequences of lack of cohesion and trust: misinformation, unnecessary escalation or use of force, and survivors not getting the assistance they need. Building, maintaining, and strengthening trust takes work from both government and non-government partners alike. I shared how organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc are working to build community resilience. Read the full post on the Truman National Security Project Blog.

Welcome to the North Star Partnerships Blog

Why North Star Partnerships

"Follow your North Star." This advice changed my orientation toward the world. North Star Partnerships blog highlights how people and organizations of varied interest work with each other to create a world we all aspire to live in. This includes sharing tools, resources and interesting perspectives I hope will help you follow your North Star.