During your get together, here is a guide on how to create your plan:

• Introduce Resilience:  Let your neighbors know that you have been learning about how to prepare your household for a disaster and talk a bit about some of the steps you have taken. Share your experience of how easy it was and how you feel more prepared and safer having your kit and plan!  Ask if folks have created their own household emergency plans and kits and share the Make a Plan and Build Your Kit actions on this site as a guide if they would like to learn more about how to prepare.

• Talk about what could happen:  Talk about the disasters that are most likely to occur in your region and what might happen (from the Find Local Risks & Resources action).  Talk about how during a disaster it may be difficult to access resources like food or water and other challenges like power and cell service outages for a period of time.  This is a time when neighbors can help each other!

• Make a Neighborhood Plan:  Ask everyone if they would like to make a plan to work together if a disaster happens in your neighborhood.  Let them know this is easy to do and you have a few basic steps they can start with right away.  Then create a plan for how you can work together as a community during a disaster:

  • Share plans and resources:  Share some of the most important plan elements and resources you learned in creating your household preparedness plan.  For example, if you live in a Hurricane or Wildfire zone, talk about evacuation routes, or if you live in an area with Extreme Heat, share information on the location of nearby cooling centers.  What are some of the local organizations that can help like the local food bank or CERT group?  If you may need to evacuate, consider talking about possible neighborhood carpools to reduce traffic during an evacuation.

  • Share contact information and skills: Share contact information with everyone participating and then create a list of disaster-specific skills and tools for neighbors on your block that would be useful in an emergency.

    • Create a contact list, then share this with everyone.  Make sure everyone knows to print out a hard copy of the list (or two!) and have one copy of the list in their emergency kit.  Then create a group text or WhatsApp group for everyone to reach each other quickly.  You can also create a Google or Facebook group for communications.

    • Create a list of skills or resources that neighbors have and would be willing to share in the event of an emergency. Examples of skills or resources include medical or First Aid/CPR training, experience caring for infants or elderly people, a large water tank or solar power that could be used if utilities don’t work, or an extra room or bed to house someone if their home is temporarily uninhabitable.  Include these skills on your list of contacts.  If there is someone on the block who couldn’t make the meeting that has important resources that could help neighbors in a disaster, decide on someone in the group that will reach out to them after the meeting and ask if they would be willing to help and join the plan!

    • Get creative!  Map out your block, draw the houses and list the resources, skills, and needs of each household.  Take a photo and share with your group.

• Make a plan to help neighbors that might need assistance:  Talk about who on your block or in your neighborhood may need help during an emergency. Consider elderly community members, those with medical or functional needs, and children who might be separated from their parents in the event of an emergency.

  • Make a plan and designate someone who is responsible for checking on each of these folks - and helping them shelter or evacuate, if necessary. Make sure that each one of these community members is brought into the conversation, listened to and given agency and the opportunity to consent to any plans.

  • Helpers should exchange contact information with the person or household they will be helping in the event of an emergency, along with that person’s guardians or family if applicable.

  • Helpers should plan to check in with the person or household they will be helping to follow up, discuss the plan, and make any revisions to the plan to prepare for an emergency.  For example:  What kind of help will they need? What is the best method of contact?  Make a back-up plan for someone else to help if you are unable to.

Once you get to know your neighbors and start working together it is amazing what you can accomplish!  There are many ways beyond your neighborhood emergency plan to help build community, sustainability, resilience and equity in your neighborhood and community. Here are a few ideas:

• Create a project to plant trees or grow food on your street to share.

• Create an Adopt a Drain program and share the task of keeping storm drains clean to reduce risks of flooding in your neighborhood.

• Identify a neighborhood hazard like a dangerous intersection or the need for bike lanes and talk with your city as a group to advocate for a solution.

• Connect with community level emergency preparedness efforts.  Attend a First Aid or CERT training together.

• Choose a project that builds equity in your community.  Some project examples:

  • Learn about and support local BIPOC or LGBTQ owned businesses or businesses owned by people with disabilities.

  • Create a book club to learn about and discuss topics of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

  • Volunteer! There are many volunteer opportunities in every locality, but a few ideas could include delivering meals to those in need, tutoring people who are learning English or helping to provide fresh produce and healthy food to areas without easy access.

  • Donate to organizations in your community working on equity and justice issues.