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2023-2024 NET Program Realignment: Difference between revisions
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2023-2024 NET Program Realignment (view source)
Revision as of 16:15, 13 November 2023
, 13 November 2023→2.) Training and socializing
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* Ensure programming is structured logically to meet the challenges of both climate change/extreme weather events, '''''and''''' the threat of a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake; | * Ensure programming is structured logically to meet the challenges of both climate change/extreme weather events, '''''and''''' the threat of a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake; | ||
* Encourage the growth and development of block-scale neighborhood teams. | * Encourage the growth and development of block-scale neighborhood teams. | ||
Two other important notes about this proposal: | |||
# The ideas here are reflected in what NETs are already doing and what NETs have asked PBEM to do; | |||
# We're not attempting to take options away, but to add options for NETs to organize. | |||
== Summary == | == Summary == | ||
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The notion of '''''realignment''''' is important for this proposal. There is no intention to radically restructure PBEM volunteer programming. Instead, the intention is to better coordinate disparate parts of what we have and assemble them into a program that opens more doors to participating, from full NET volunteers to untrained neighbors. | The notion of '''''realignment''''' is important for this proposal. There is no intention to radically restructure PBEM volunteer programming. Instead, the intention is to better coordinate disparate parts of what we have and assemble them into a program that opens more doors to participating, from full NET volunteers to untrained neighbors. | ||
== | == What is Driving Realignment? == | ||
I am proposing program realignments both in response to long-term, know issues in NET as well as some urgent realizations that have emerged: | |||
=== Climate change === | === Climate change === | ||
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* '''Train together.''' This is done on different scales...everywhere from tabletop exercises to full blown comprehensive search and rescue at [[Scenario Village]]. Training together as a team is important because team members should build relationships and working routines ''before'' they need to work together in an intense response situation. | * '''Train together.''' This is done on different scales...everywhere from tabletop exercises to full blown comprehensive search and rescue at [[Scenario Village]]. Training together as a team is important because team members should build relationships and working routines ''before'' they need to work together in an intense response situation. | ||
* '''Socialize.''' The basic act of | * '''Socialize.''' The basic act of gathering as a team, even if for no other purpose than to get to know one another, is the most important part of community resilience. The number one best thing you can do to prepare for a disaster is get to know your neighbors.<ref>A few good sources on that, if you're interested: | ||
[https://theconversation.com/recovering-from-disasters-social-networks-matter-more-than-bottled-water-and-batteries-69611 | Recovering from disasters: Social networks matter more than bottled water and batteries] | [https://theconversation.com/recovering-from-disasters-social-networks-matter-more-than-bottled-water-and-batteries-69611 | Recovering from disasters: Social networks matter more than bottled water and batteries] | ||
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| [https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-18/california-storm-disaster-response-government-people-powered Column: Even in a flood, government can’t save us. Disaster response must be people-powered] | | [https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-18/california-storm-disaster-response-government-people-powered Column: Even in a flood, government can’t save us. Disaster response must be people-powered] | ||
| [https://kathmandupost.com/national/2022/07/10/locals-are-first-responders-during-disasters-but-they-are-ill-equipped-and-untrained Locals are first responders during disasters but they are ill-equipped and untrained]</ref> | | [https://kathmandupost.com/national/2022/07/10/locals-are-first-responders-during-disasters-but-they-are-ill-equipped-and-untrained Locals are first responders during disasters but they are ill-equipped and untrained]</ref> PBEM staff have also heard consistently from NETs that they want to connect more with the community on their street/floor/block level, but they don't feel entirely sure how to do that or how to keep those non-NET neighbors engaged. | ||
If we accept that the primary reasons for meeting as a team are earthquake response planning and training/socializing, then we should structure NET to facilitate those activities. | |||
=== A few of the NET program's known issues === | |||
I believe that some of the NET program's "known issues" are caused by a misalignment in what we're doing, and/or I believe a realignment can resolve those issues. Those include: | |||
* '''NET meeting attendance is low.''' Ever since the COVID pandemic, NET leaders report low meeting attendance at regular meetings. At the same time, a few exceptions aside, NET volunteers fill the deployment requests that PBEM makes. This leads me to conclude that low meeting attendance is not due to volunteers not feeling engaged. I admit that I'm not entirely sure the reason for the drop off in meetings. Anecdotes and my own educated guesswork<ref>One of the survey questions I will be asking, though, is "If you haven't been to a NET meeting lately, why?"</ref> suggests it is because teams lack a mission and arc...a clear path that goes from "a group of loosely associated people who live in the same large geographic area" to "a prepared and knowledgeable team of confident volunteer disaster responders". | |||
* '''Operations Plans are good but need to develop.''' PBEM began asking teams for Ops Plans in 2013. Since then, we've received some really good ones. But they need to move to the next stage. First, '''there is no template for Operations Plans''' and one is needed: both to bring clarity to NET volunteers, and to better apprise PBEM of team capabilities and to help PBEM staff know what NETs will be doing when self-deployed. Second, I believe all Ops Plans received by PBEM have only included trained NET volunteers. They should be inclusive of neighbors and ATVs as well; it is a glaring and troublesome omission. | |||
* '''Team Service Area boundaries are not logical.''' For over 20 years, teams have organized by neighborhood association boundaries. But if we decide that a team's response area is for earthquake response, we cannot expect even a well organized and highly trained group of NETs to take on the area encompassed by even a small neighborhood association. The average Portland neighborhood is 2.5 square miles and has 16,000 people living in it. | |||
* '''NETs want to engage with the neighbors who live around them.''' Related to the Service Area issue, Glenn and I hear consistently from NETs that they ''really'' want to help get their immediate neighborhoods prepared. That is, the level of the block, the street, or (in the case of apartment/condo buildings) the floor. But PBEM has not provided clear and engaging paths to doing that. | |||
== Notes and References == | == Notes and References == | ||