Innovations to Alert and Warn Diverse Populations BCPA ‐ February 13, 2014 Presenters: Lillian McDonald Executive Director, ECHO Minnesota Lauren Rimestad Marketing and Development Director, ECHO Minnesota 1
Innovations to Alert and Warn Diverse Populations 3 Parts: What is ECHO? • Engaging New Americans in Emergency Response • Diversity Improves Warning and Alerting Systems • Integrated Public Warning and Alerts System • Corporation for Public Broadcasting Warning and Alerts • 2
What is ECHO? • Mission: to collaborate with diverse communities to deliver programs and services that help people be healthy, contribute, and succeed. • Founded in 2004 as project in the aftermath 9 ‐ 11 • Populations of color will increase from 6% to 15% (from 1990 to 2020). Growth is projected for Asians and Latinos. (Source: demography.state.mn.us) 3
ECHO’s Model… Education and Emergency Communication Mainstream & ECHO ECHO ECHO Phone ECHO ECHO ECHO ECHO Web Ethnic Media PSAs TV Info Line Radio DVDs Partner Systems Since 2004 65 Bilingual Ambassadors 200 Partnering Organizations 12+ Languages 4
What does ECHO deliver? • Multilingual Multimedia • 4 or 8 languages on public television weekly • 100 topics on health, safety, preparedness • Over 110,000 video views on YouTube globally • 12 ‐ language phone line (888 ‐ 883 ‐ 8831) • 7 ‐ language web site (www.echominnesota.org) • Community Outreach • 36 trained bilingual citizens liaise to community • 250 English language learners taught • Cultural awareness training or assessment 5
Example: “The New American Vote” Multilingual, multimedia education In classrooms, online, in broadcast and through outreach Television Broadcast, Online Webcast, DVD Distribution + Community Forum, English Language Classes, and Outreach 6
ECHO’s role in our community Multilingual, multimedia education In classrooms, online, in broadcast and through outreach Experts and Community Leaders Bilingual Spokespeople providing their knowledge and influence Making education culturally and linguistically relevant. New Americans who are healthy, safe, prepared and engaged 7
Why engage cultural communities in emergencies? Rand Study: “Key levers of building community • resilience to disasters are wellness, access, education, engagement, self ‐ sufficiency, partnership, quality, and efficiency.” (ECHO part of Rand study on engaging cultures in EP work) ECHO cited as “best practice in Preparing Racially And • Ethnically Diverse Communities For Public Health Emergencies” (Drexel University Study) 8
Go ‐ To Resource • For government, private and 501c3 orgs seeking to communicate culturally relevant and high ‐ quality messages to LEP communities. ECHO accomplishes this by collaborating with… subject matter trained ethnic experts spokespersons multilingual community leaders 9
ECHO in the Joint Info Center (JIC)… Joint Information Coordinated Center Communication 10
Innovations to Alert and Warn Diverse Populations 3 Parts: What is ECHO? • Engaging New Americans in Emergency Response • Diversity Improves Warning and Alerting Systems • Integrated Public Warning and Alerts System • Corporation for Public Broadcasting Warning and Alerts • 11
Surveying Needs of New Americans • Over 500 individuals and professionals surveyed • Some key results included: Most used ECHO Materials Top 5 emergency interests of New Americans 12
Community Outreach – Health, Safety, Civic • Training for professionals working with Limited English Proficiency populations • Bloomington Police Department & Public Health • Medica Customer Service Staff • Association for General Contractors • New American Vote 13
Community Outreach – Builds Resiliency • Partnership with public departments to help new Americans be safe • Hopkins Fire Department and ECHO helped 52 households make their homes safer • Operation Medicine Delivery 14
Community Outreach – Cultural Service Units (CSU) • Partnership between Hennepin County, Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), ECHO, and host city • Multicultural volunteers capable of supporting: • Community recovery efforts • Health and safety initiatives • All volunteers are enrolled in the MRC • Resource for entire state if deployed • Trained: ICS 100, MRC, etc. 15 15
Community Outreach – Cultural Service Units (CSU) Brooklyn Center: • o 14 graduates in June 2013 Minneapolis: • o 22 graduates in December 2013 Brooklyn Park: • o Beginning 2014 16 16
Community Outreach – Cultural Service Units (CSU) Comment From CSU Member Evaluations: “ I’m happy to see that Mpls is recognizing that it’s population is changing. And there are those in it’s population, if given an opportunity, would love to be part of the solution.” 17 17
Innovations to Alert and Warn Diverse Populations 3 Parts: What is ECHO? • Engaging New Americans in Emergency Response • Diversity Improves Warning and Alerting Systems • Integrated Public Warning and Alerts System • Corporation for Public Broadcasting Warning and Alerts • 18
ECHO and tpt Collaboration • ECHO TV on Minnesota Channel for nearly 10 years • Branded on “Monday nights” • Increases educational reach & visibility statewide • Adds “diversity” to emergency preparedness programming (mainstream & ethnic audiences) • Builds Public Broadcasting’s Warning and Alerts systems (Hmong & Somali) 19
ECHO and tpt in Action: North Minneapolis Tornado H1N1 Flu Virus Avian Bird Flu Community Resiliency Stay Alert Using Weather Radios 20
Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) In with the new • Lessons learned with the 2011 test of the nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) • Old EAS did not include smartphone technology • Example: 35% of Americans heard about Boston Bombing within the half hour. Facebook, Texts, and news alerts (Source: yougov.com) • EAS is now part of the larger effort of IPAWS 21
It’s already happening: social media “alerts” Boston Shelter In Place Hurricane Katrina Survivors 22
Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) • What is IPAWS? ( watch video) • Modernization of alerts – quicker, more comprehensive • Includes Emergency Alerts System, Wireless Emergency Alerts, Weather Radios • State and local authorities can sign up to use IPAWS 23
Minnesota IPAWS Committee • Minnesota Statewide Emergency Communications Board • Membership: Sheriff’s Assoc., AMEM, HSEM, DHS, MDH, ECHO, TPT, NWS, State Patrol, APCO, NENA, BCA, MNDOT, AMBER Alert, MN Broadcasters Association, Cable, Telecom, etc. • IPAWS Committee Sub ‐ groups: • Policy: Who alerts? Which alerts? • Infrastructure: How are alerts delivered? • Public Information: What is the message? 24
Minnesota Warnings and Alerts Flow Chart 25
Emergency Response Systemic Partnerships • Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) • Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Warning and Alerts in Hmong and Somali 26
Partnership Strategy: Resonate with the community Build effective engagement tools Implement process to deliver education Limited English Proficiency Nationwide Communities Replication Public, Private, & 501c3 Partners 27
Public and Private Partnerships Key to successful execution of IPAWS 28
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Emergency Alert & Communications Grant Program • A total of $1 million awarded to 5 stations • Locally ‐ owned, public TV stations uniquely positioned • Builds on existing digital technology • Minnesota, the only language ‐ specific project • Requires all grantees to share their work and experiences to increase the impact and capacity 29
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Emergency Alert & Communications Grant Program GOALS: 1. Develop language resources necessary for text ‐ to ‐ text and text ‐ to ‐ voice translation for Somali and Hmong, 2. Develop translation software to automatically translate English messages into Somali and Hmong, 3. Ensure that the new translation software for Somali and Hmong, and existing software for Spanish, is implemented at participating partner facilities, 4. Work with public television stations throughout Minnesota and the University of Minnesota to ensure messages will be translated throughout the state. 30
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Warnings and Alerts Partners 31
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Warnings and Alerts Minnesota is the first state to test warning and alerts for limited English proficiency populations 32
CPB Warnings and Alerts Plan for MN • Phase One • Acquire, deploy, and test all technology • Spanish text ‐ to ‐ text and text ‐ to ‐ voice translation functionality for MN • Somali and Hmong text ‐ to ‐ text and text ‐ to ‐ voice translation • Community engagement plan with cultural communities • Phase Two • Continued Community engagement, events, and public awareness • Investigate potential additional languages • Brief FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, FEMA, and the National Weather Service 33
What does this mean for the future? Statewide efforts can be duplicated nationally 34
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