Staying on Track for Long-Term Resiliency in the Face of Multiple Crises
Staying on Track for Long-Term Resiliency in the Face of Multiple Crises
On Friday, October 16, IEDC hosted a webinar and annual conference session addressing long term resilience in the face of multiple crises. The session addressed the road to recovery as disasters meet, particularly how to address natural disasters in the midst of a global pandemic and nation-wide recession. The session included a presentation from Mickie Valente, president of Valente Strategic Advisors and a panel discussion between economic development professionals from around the country. Attendees were welcomed by Dennis Alvord, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Development & Chief Operating Officer.
In her presentation, Mickie Valente described the emergency management continuum, the continuous process through which economic developers are preventing, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. Through preparing for this process by building a consistent economic response and recovery team, an economic development organization is able to adapt and respond to emergencies and crises more effectively. Moreover, establishing clear communication networks with business leaders, crisis response teams, and community stakeholders as part of the prevention and preparedness process will assist in disaster response and recovery.
Following the presentation was a panel hosted by Rebecca Moudry, Director of the Department of Economic Initiatives for Fairfax County, VA. She presented the five panelists with a number of questions regarding community response to COVID-19 and natural disasters. Throughout the panel discussion, key points such as the use of data in the preparedness and recovery process and organizing economic recovery teams were addressed. The five panelists were:
- Jerry Bologna, CEcD, President and CEO, Jefferson Parish Economic Development and Port District (JEDCO)
- Grant Ervin, Chief Resilience Officer, City of Pittsburgh
- Jeb Brugmann, Founding Principal, Resilient Cities Catalyst
- Dina Blaes, Director of Regional Operations, Salt Lake County Office of Regional Development
- Douglas Nam Le, Disaster Recovery Officer for the County of Hawai‘i
Dina Blaes, Director of Regional Development for Salt Lake County, Utah, reflected on her region’s use of data to influence hard decisions during the pandemic and post-natural disasters. Because their economic developers had established a disaster recovery team prior to a disaster, they were able to collect and interpret qualitative and quantitative data from their community members quickly and accurately. Other panelists discussed the role that stressors in their communities - those underlying forces that gradually chip away at economic stability, such as inequality - take on when a disaster hits. For example, Grant Ervin, CRO at the City of Pittsburgh explained that COVID-19 had exacerbated the racial disparities in their community.
Other panelists addressed crises that plagued their communities prior to the economic strain of COVID-19 and continue alongside the pandemic. This conversation then transitioned into breakout sessions, in which participants discussed strategic planning for disasters, small business assistance, crisis communications, and economic diversification after a disaster.
This session provided participants with the opportunity to share their communities’ approaches to crisis management while learning disaster recovery best practices from prominent economic developers. Resources from the discussion, including a recording of the presentations and panel, can be found here.