This Group is for posting meeting notes, information about new partners or programming, and information that helps us coordinate our efforts in Lee and Collier Counties.
Below is the description of this effort, and meeting notes that chronicle the process used to design the project.
Meeting Notes in Reverse Chronological Order Page
Friday, Sep 14, 2018 Zoom Call |
1 |
Revised UUFP Grant Application: Resilience Volunteer Youth Corps |
3 |
Budget |
10 |
Friday, Sept 7, 2018 Zoom Call |
11 |
Thursday, Aug 30, 2019 Zoom Call |
11 |
Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018 Zoom Call |
12 |
Friday, Sep 14, 2018 Zoom Call
In Attendance: Jan Booher (UU Justice Florida), Crystal Johnson (Community Forum Foundation, Inc.), Shirley Burns (local Pan-Hellenic Council, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church), Joan Marshall (All Faiths Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers Climate Action Team), Holley Rauen (UU Church of Ft. Myers), Gary Robbins (UU Church of Ft. Myers), Amy Clifton (UU Congregation of Greater Naples - Collier County)
AGENDA:
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Process reminder (Jan)
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Update on progress reaching out to contacts (Holley, Crystal, and Amy)
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Discuss Draft Final Proposal (All)
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Discuss Draft Final Budget (All)
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Discuss possible resources for UUCGN f Amy has sufficient interest to proceed
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Task List (All)
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Process Reminder (Jan): We did not receive the EPA Environmentla Educational grant to create the Water Wise & Hurricane Strong program, but we did receive $10,000 from the UU Fund for Social Responsibility (UUFP) as matching funds for that grant. These meetings have been creating an alternate, downsized plan to submit to the UUFP. UUJF has already received the funds, but does not want to spend funds until the alternate plan is approved. This is the last meeting to finalize the draft of the alternate plan. Jan will then contact Terry Lowman, who was the member of the UUFP selection committee assigned to our proposal. When UUJF received the award he asked if there was a similar use of funds that the UUJF Climate Resilience Ministry had if the EPA award did not go through. This proposal represents that alternative.
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Update on Progress Reaching Out to Contacts (Holley, Crystal, Amy)
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Holley (UUCFM - Lee County) said she shared the draft proposal at UUCFM with Jenelle Grant, who does education of girls on women’s health and human trafficking locally and iternationally in Nicaragua. Jenelle is interested in the project. There is a need to describe concisely what the UU congregations will be doing, so volunteers and committees can understand how they can become involved.
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Crystal said she resched out to Lehigh Senior HS and Ft. Myers HS. She already knows Sgt. Bison at Ft. Myers HS, who runs the JROTC program. Potential collaborators for the training are stepping forward, and students as well.
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Pastor Velma Black-Smith, pastor of The Apostolic House of Godhas a church within the community that is underutilized by the congregation, but the paster allows events at the church without charge. The church hosts a summer camp only charging only $10/child due to grant support, and is the rehearsal space for the Dunbar Youth Choir. Crystal would like to find out if this facility could become a Resilience Hub. (Solar roof, etc. would be welcome, and Pastor Blacksmith is aligned with the resilience agenda and the Community Foundation, Inc.’s agenda to strengthen the community.)
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STARS Complex has $1 million for resilience associated with the the STARS buildout. It is for becoming a Resilience Hub under CDBG. (Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen District 78 - Coastal Water District)
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Amy Clifton (UUCGN-Collier County) said she updated the UU Social Justice Committee at UUCGN about the EPA grant status and current plan. Bill McCormick runs the mentoring component at Emmerson Academy ACT prep w connections at Golden Gate High and Palmetto High. (Low income population and in connection with NAACP. The local NAACP does have an EJ component.). Bill is traveling now. Harriet Lancaster is also traveling. She is a strong proponent of the Golden Gate Senior Center. She is proposing that the Senior Center benefit from the UUCGN auction. UUCGN’s board has approved solar panels at UUCGN. Amy will be the fundraiser for that.
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Discuss Draft Final Proposal (draft below reflects all changes discussed)
Revised UUFP Grant Application
UUFP Grant for Stormdrain Awareness and Hurricane Preparedness in Dunbar, Ft. Myers
Narrative
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Please give a fifty word summary of the project.
UUJF will coordinate efforts of UUCGN, All Faiths Congregation of Ft. Myers, and UUCFM and the Pachamama Alliance of SW FL, to support a ResilienceYouth Volunteer Corps that will be led by The Community Forum Foundation, Inc. and will move youth into leadership in Ft. Myers, FL.
2. Describe your group and its recent history.
The UUJF Climate Action Ministry was formed in 2017 as a standing committee responsible to the UUJF Board due to the high level of interest in Rising Togetherprojects and the time demands of addressing it. Recent UUJF Climate Resilience activities include not only replication Rising Together projects, but also piloting a new field protocol to test for bacteria in floodwaters, grant writing with Florida universities and UU congregations, strategic planning assistance for the Florida Interfaith Climate Action Network, mentorship of developing coalitions, working to increase data available from low income communities experiencing climate impacts, and a project in Shorecrest, Miami, which piloted pairing theRising Together project with the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine’s Community Health Mapping Initiative, <http://reacttoolkit.net/index.php/rising-together-shorecrest-miami-2017/> In addition, an EPA Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving Grant application initiated by UUJF’s Climate Resilience Ministry in partnership with All Faith’s Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers, although declined by the EPA, created relationships and revealed those willing to partner on EJ issues in Dunbar. If funded, his Collaborative Problem Solving grant will enable UUJF’s Climate Resilience Ministry to support a low income community to create its own community Environmental Justice Committee to advocate for residents exposed to arsenic sludge dumping in their community from 1962-1992, but who only learned of their exposure in the summer of 2017.
This is only possible because, for the past several years, UU congregations in SW FL have been working on small scale Rising Together community projects based on the ReACT Tool Kit created under EPA Grant #EQ-00D35415-0. UUCGN and All Faiths Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers built resilience in low income communities of color by educating about how to protect personal health and safety in the face of climate change, surveying to identify resilience issues of concern, and connecting leaders in the community to public officials responsible for the resilience concerns the surveys identified. Under the direction of UUJF’s Climate Resilience Ministry, in SW FL theUU Congregation of Greater Naples partnered with Habitat for Humanity in Naples Manor, Naples<http://reacttoolkit.net/index.php/rising-together-naples/> andAll Faiths Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers partnered with the Dr. Ann Murphy Knight STARS Complex Community Forum in Dunbar, Ft. Myers.<http://reacttoolkit.net/index.php/rising-together-naples/> Both the Naples Manor and the Dunbar projects created deep ties between the congregations and low income residents. Moreover, members of these congregations developed a greater understanding of the problems in the communities where they partnered.
When these communities were challenged by Hurricane Irma, UUJF and the UU churches in the region, did relief work. In a coalition effort, UUJF provided administrative support for needs to resource matching in SW FL. UUCGN collected emergency supplies, even when their church had no power, and the coalition was able to coordinate their distribution to Immokalee in the days before FEMA arrived. The UU Fellowship of Charlotte County in Port Charlotte gathered medical supplies that we distributed to residents in Everglades City and Copeland before any help arrived from outside the region, with help from coalition partner Physicians for Social Responsibility. Representatives of the Dr. Anne Murphy Knight STARS Complex, who had partnered with All Faiths Unitarian Congregation on Rising Together, arranged for meals and ice delivery for Dunbar residents on the coordination calls. She and others struggled to assist the elderly, who were isolated in sweltering homes with dwindling supplies during the prolonged blackout. Individuals from UU Church of Ft. Myers assisted isolated Latino and African American communities in Bonita Springs, Lehigh and Charleston Park. Quality Life Center of SW FL, the partner on this proposed project, opened its doors to provide daycare to families who needed to deal with storm damage, was a distribution point for food and water, and sent out teams of teens to assist the National Guard and churches in food/water distribution and other recovery efforts. In short, the entities applying for this grant not only suffered the impacts of Hurricane Irma, but they also worked tirelessly to fill needs in the community in the aftermath of the hurricane.
UUJF’s tri-lingual work in low income communities, under the Climate Resilience Ministry’s direction, was awarded an Honorable Mention in FEMA’s 2017 national Community Preparedness Champions awards. <https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2017/10/26/three-florida-programs-recognized-femas-individual-and-community> The proposed project would be the first regional hub of action in Florida to support resilience-building in a low income community, coordinated across multiple UU entities. This regional UU cooperation is an important development, because it reflects an organizational group of congregations united by the unique climate change adaptation challenges they have in common in the geography, rather than an artificial administrative grouping like a UU cluster or district. Lee and Collier Counties, in which the three UU congregations involved in this project are located, have two watersheds in common. It would also, for the first time, involve organizations active with the Florida Interfaith Climate Action Network, for which UUJF has been has been providing leadership for the past 4 years.
3. Describe your project more fully. Describe the issue(s) your project addresses. Be specific about goals, activities, and timelines.
The twin goals of this proposed project are to create a volunteer corps that increases resilience to disasters using methods that raise youth into leadership, and to increase social cohesion in the community. Resilience-building efforts are needed to mitigate flooding and storm damage, to protect our water supply, and to prepare residents for stronger storms and more frequent flooding. Blocked storm drains exacerbated flooding, and delayed power restoration due to impassable roads after Hurricane Irma. Addressing flooding and blocked storm drains requires concerted community action that requires a greater awareness, and a movement from awareness to action. Residents need information about how to protect their health and safety, and how to to assemble family emergency kits. Youth provide critical links to important information for their families, particularly in bilingual households, where children are often the source of information about community resources and initiatives. Therefore, this project begins with youth that will serve the community in ways that increase knowledge, leadership skills, and leadership experience.
The proposed project will establish a volunteer disaster preparedness and response training program for 9th-12th graders. The following partners in Lee and Collier counties will work together to create a training program for 9th to 12th graders, and to recruit student volunteers: UU Congregation of Ft. Myers, All Faiths Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers, and UU Congregation of Greater Naples, Dr. Ann Murphy Knight Stars Complex Community Forum, Quality Life Center, and the local Pan-Hellenic Council. Area high schools will be contacted to locate students for the program. The partners in Lee and Collier counties will cooperate in contacting a stormwater manager, relevant Emergency Management Departments and Fire Departments, the American Red Cross, relevant Departments of Public Safety, Lee Health, people who worked served on the Rising Together outreach teams, elderly residents and their caregivers, the Collier County NAACP, and others.
Training will likely include: food handling, interacting with the elderly and with the common medical equipment they may have, storm drain awareness, flood safety, contaminated water, Know Your Flood Zone, volunteer procedures such as signing up as a volunteer, reporting to work after a hurricane or other disaster, using radios to communicate, how to protect your back when you lift,, family preparedness, navigators for registration for government services and ESE transportation. There will also be brief training that prepares volunteers and community members to use the West Florida Resilience System’s “We Have/We Need” Forum that matches resources to needs during disaster response. Hurricane supplies will be packaged for elderly residents, and volunteers will be trained to deliver them to elderly residents. The 9th - 12th graders will be publicly acknowledged as volunteer leaders, will assist in supervising young volunteers who have not received training, and will be eligible to receive letters documenting community service hoursd and letters of recommendation after volunteer service has been completed.
4. Who will carry out the project’s plan? What are their relevant skills and experiences? If your program involves children or young adults, include resumes of the adults in charge and detail the quality of the adult supervision provided.
Crystal Johnson will be providing leadership for this project in her capacity as Chairperson of theSTARS ComplexDr. Ann Murphy Knight Community Forum. This facility, together with staff experienced in serving young people in the community, will be the location for training. Crystal is a Certified Child Care Center Director, and sits on the Criminal Review Board that reviews cases involving African American youth. Mrs. Shirley Burns, the former Deputy Director of the Department of Community Development of Cape Coral, will be consulting on the project. She has also served as the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) Administrator at the Home Ownership Resource Center – Fort Myers, FL. She is an authoritative voice on concerns of residents in affordable housing, due to her 10 years of service on the Board of the Lee County Housing Authority (appointed by Gov. Charlie Christ). Education about stormdrain awareness will be created with stormwater management officials and Calusa Waterkeeper in Training Holley Rauen. The disaster preparedness and response training of 9th -12th grade students will be conducted by the appropriate emergency, health and safety professionals. Outreach training is likely to involve experienced members of the Outreach Teams from the two Rising Together projects as well as the various response and safety experts. The Community Forum Foundation, Inc. is empowering the community of Dunbar through education and collective collaboration. Quality Life Center of SW FLis recognized by UU congregations in the area as an enlightened center that couples hope with best practices to transform the lives of Dunbar residents, and the UU congregations involved have developed relationships with QLC. It is structured as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation providing youth development programs including afterschool, summer camp, teen and early learning programs to help at-risk youth realize their potential though arts, academics and character-building activities. Youth development programs at QLC serve over 300 children annually, most of whom are of African American and Caribbean descent.
5. Who do you define as your community and how do you reach them? How has your UU congregation, district, or denomination been involved in the creation of your project? How are you working to increase the involvement of UU individuals and institutions in the issues your project addresses?
The location for this work is Ft. Myers, a city that the insurerKaren Clark & Company industry ranks as the 5th most vulnerable city to a major storm surge in the United States, with estimates of $70 billion in losses to residential, commercial and industrial properties in the event of a 100 year hurricane. This project is intended to reach primarily low income African American and Hispanic Americans with programming that builds environmental knowledge, civic awareness, and leadership. Dunbar is a low income predominantly African American community.
We will be reaching a low income community in coastal SW Florida that is coping with flooding, which is exacerbated by climate change and is expected to worsen due to sea level rise. The Dunbar community we will be reaching faces environmental degradation in addition to socioeconomic challenges. 95% of Dunbar’s 8,540 residents are identified as minorities using EPA EJSCREEN, with 69% of the population classified as low income. Fully 34% of the population has less than a high school education. Dunbar is in the 96th percentile of the EPA EJSCREEN’s Demographic Index for the US., and is in the 99th percentile in the US for Wastewater Discharge exposure. It is in the 94th percentile in the US for proximity to hazardous waste. It is in the 83rd percentile ranking in Florida for presence of lead paint, and also has poor air quality. It is in the 87th percentile for traffic proximity and volume in the US. It is in the 85th percentile nationwide on the NATA Respiratory Hazard Index, and in the 86th percentile of the EJ Index for Ozone in the US. TheRising Together Climate-Related Risk Perception Surveyconducted by AFUC and the Community Forum in 2016-2017 showed that 48.5% of responding households in Dunbar had experienced flooding or drainage issues.
This project is one of several UUJF Climate Resilience Ministry projects specifically to create opportunities for UUs to engage with low income communities of color in coastal Florida that are responding to climate adaptation challenges. This involves creating mechanisms to support low-income communities that allow individual UUs and UU committees to engage in meaningful participation without requiring a Board commitment from their congregation to administer a grant. Southwest Florida is the first of three regions UUJF has been developing to support a project with this level of UU involvement and institutional support.
6. How representative are your volunteers and staff of the communities you work with?
The volunteers and staff for this project are representative of the Dunbar community. The staff of the STARS Complex reflects community diversity, as do the various government agencies that are anticipated to provide training. The UU and coalition partners, who will be performing organizational and support functions are UUs and community members with less diversity, and more Caucasians than reside in Dunbar.
7. List the individuals, committees or organizations that have contributed significantly to this project through money or other support. What UUA resources have been consulted? If applicable, list funding sources and dollar amounts for your organization/project for the last two years.
The core group that will carry out the plan includes strong leaders in the Community of Dunbar working together with the leaders from UU Congregation of Ft. Myers, All Faiths Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers’ Climate Action Team, UU Congregation of Greater Naples’ Green Sanctuary Committee, and the Pachamama Alliance of SW FL.
The proposed project has been designed in a series of Zoom calls facilitated by Janice Booher, the Director of UUJF’s Climate Resilience Ministry, after receiving notification that the underlying EPA grant for a Summer Camp, website, and Youth Speakers Bureau did not come through. All partners listed above have been on the calls, and have contributed to project design. This project builds on hurricane supply purchase for Dunbar with $10,000 in funds secured through the South Florida Disaster Resilience Initiative, for which the UUJF Climate Resilience Ministry is providing leadership.
For the past two years, support for UUJF Climate Resilience Ministry efforts has been through the UU Fund for Social Responsibility ($12,500), Faithify Crowd sourcing ($8,000), UUFBR Endowment Fund ($5,000), and National Institutes of Health-National Library of Medicine ($17,000 - administered through a sub-grantee). The tri-lingual Rising Together outreach materials, which will be used in the Summer Camp and at community workshops in Dunbar, were developed with a $30,000 EPA Environmental Justice Small Project Grant in 2015.
Please describe your specific plans for raising income in addition to the proposed UUFP grant.
8. How do you plan to sustain the project?
This project is envisioned as the first year of annual volunteer and preparedness trainings with an ongoing Dunbar Youth Volunteer Corps. The project will be sustained by encouraging UU congregations in Florida to replicate the project. All collaborators will engage in securing continuing annual support of the Dunbar Youth Volunteer Corps, and will reach out to other faith groups and organizations that could become involved with the ongoing project. The UUJF Climate Resilience Ministry will create a project webpage, and will encourage congregations in Florida to engage in disaster preparedness and response efforts that increase social cohesion and community resilience.
9. Describe your plan for evaluation. Give the criteria/measures/tools you will use to evaluate the success of the project. What outcomes are you working to create? How will you know you have succeeded?
Goals: The long-term outcomes your organization hopes to attain through this project.
The long-term outcomes UUJF hopes to achieve are:
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To increase resilience in Dunbar.
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To build leadership in the 9th - 12th grade student population in Dunbar.
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To contibute to the establishment of Resilience Hubs in Dunbar.
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To build a base of informed residents to engage in advocacy and to engage in informed advocacy.
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To document a model collaboration of multiple UU congregations, with their allies, to build resilience in a low income community; and
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To involve UU congregations in building resilience to climate change in the State of Florida, with an emphasis on vulnerable communities.
Evaluation will be by pre- and post-assessments. There will be pre- and post- training assessment cards for youth volunteers, and for recipients of volunteer aid.
Program Strategies:
(1) The partnering entities will collaborate on program design by consulting with city and county emergency and safety professionals as well as community organizations and educational institutions that serve youth, so the community’s needs are addressed.
(2) A Collier County initiative, led by UUCGN will mirror the Lee County effort in Collier County..
(3) To raise 9th - 12th grade youth into leadership
Objectives: Details of measurable results you expect to see from the organization’s work towards its goal(s).
Outputs |
Outcomes |
|
Short-term |
Long-term |
|
Training Program |
-Training materials and outreach materials |
Working relationship among Dunbar residents, emergency services, community leaders, educators, and UU congregations |
Webpage |
Communications about the program can share links to a calendar of events to coordinate activities and promote the program |
-Increased access to preparedness information and training -UUJF Climate Resilience Ministry tool to offer to congregations |
Spring Break Training Week |
50 trained student volunteers -Increased stormdrain awareness -increased flood & hurricane preparedness -ability to use the West Florida Resilience System’s We Have/We Need Forum to access resources during disaster response & recovery |
-Establishment of viable, long-term youth volunteer corps -increased community resilience |
Assessment of learning; measuring success |
-pre-assessment -post-assessment |
9th-12th grade Dunbar residents prepared to engage in public dialogue and advocacy on stormdrains, flood safety and preparedness |
10. Describe the organization’s or group’s social responsibility philosophy.
Unitarian Universalist Justice Florida (UUJF) brings Unitarian Universalists and UU congregations together to work collectively for social and environmental justice, guided by our faith tradition and working with public interest groups and interfaith partners who work for the common good.
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Discuss Draft Final Budget (Draft Budget below reflects all discussed changes)
Friday, Sept 7, 2018 Zoom Call:
In Attendance: Jan Booher (UU Justice Florida), Joan Marshall (All Faiths Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers) , Ensign Cowell (All Faiths Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers), Gary Robbins (Unitarian Universalist Church of Ft. Myers), Amy Clifton (Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples), Crystal Johnson ( Dr. Ann Murphy Knight STARS Complex Community Forum), Shirley Burns (Deltas, Dunbar Community High School), Jan Sommer (Quality Life Center="the Q")
The Emerging Proposal was discussed and modified. Amy Clifton will use the Emerging Proposal to begin to approach people in Collier County about the mirror project.
Thursday, Aug 30, 2019 Zoom Call:
In Attendance: Jan Booher (UU Justice Florida), Joan Marshall (All Faiths Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers) , Ensign Cowell (All Faiths Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers), Gary Robbins (Unitarian Universalist Church of Ft. Myers), Amy Clifton (Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples), Crystal Johnson ( Dr. Ann Murphy Knight STARS Complex Community Forum)
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Jan went through the explanations for those who were not on the Wednesday call.
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There was a consensus to support an educational effort comprised of trainings that would prepare 9th - 12th graders to be volunteers after hurricanes.
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Crystal said that she could work with the Q to get their 9th -12th graders involved. She would like to use funds to address the needs of the elderly in disaster situations.
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Gary Robbins said that the fact that Dunbar doesn't have any emergency shelters is an important problem to address.
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Amy Clifton said that UUCGN liked the way the EPA grant application proposal because they could be involved with the EPA project without having to commute from Naples to Ft. Myers. She proposed collaborating on the design of a volunteer training program in Lee County and then mirroring the Lee County efforts in Collier County.
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Amy Clifton says that UUCGN has developed relationships with educators in Collier County.
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Things that were discussed as possible elements of a volunteer training program: trains 9th-12th graders, includes students from the Q, food handling, stormwater/stormdrain and flood safety education, how to interact with the elderly and with equipment they might have, recognition (training completion certificates, listing as trained volunteers who can be called when needed, recognition at a city council meeting or by an elected official, T-shirts or other disaster volunteer team identifier)
Wednesday, Aug 29, 2018 Zoom Call:
In Attendance: Jan Booher (UU Justice Florida), Joan Marshall (All Faiths Unitarian Congregation of Ft. Myers), Jan Sommer (Quality Life Center="the Q")
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Jan Booher explained that both Shirley Burns and Crystal Johnson are working on hurricane preparedness programs. Shirley Burns and the Deltas (an African American Sorority) had submitted a letter of commitment to host a FEMA Kids preparedness event. Crystal Johnson's Community Forum participated in the South Florida Disaster Resilience Initiative's Serious Games in Miami, and are receiving $10,000 from the Community Foundation to support hurricane preparedness in Dunbar. Jan has been mentoring Crystal through the process of securing funding for the new Community Forum 501c3 to support the community. Crystal has reached out to many government offices and to Shirley Burns and to Next Level Church, that helped Dunbar residents during the black out after Hurricane Irma. Crystal arranged a Know Your Zone training on Sept 19th at the STARS Complex.
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Jan Sommer expressed disappointment that we didn't get the EPA grant. The Q was looking forward to the educational summer camp for 9th - 12th graders.
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Joan Marshall expressed support for Crystal's efforts, and Jan Sommer concurred.
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The consensus was to consult with Crystal to see what she needs. The Q supports Crystal's efforts for the community. Jan will invite Crystal to tomorrow's call.
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