East Harlem COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster): The development of a neighborhood-based response strategy for a public health emergency

The four phases of emergency management include preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. Implementing these phases at the neighborhood level is not well understood or documented. The East Harlem Emergency Preparedness Collaborative (EHEPC), formed in 2013, addresses the lack of organizational preparedness for a public health emergency among community service provider organizations serving vulnerable and low resource populations in the neighborhood.  Recent natural disasters and a gas explosion of an apartment building in the neighborhood revealed the absence of local and coordinated response strategies, thereby illustrating a weak phase in the emergency management cycle. The EHEPC turned its focus to developing a neighborhood-based response strategy by adapting the Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) partnership-based model.  To conceptualize the EH COAD, the EHEPC first analyzed prior local research efforts, conducted key informant interviews with neighborhood-based emergency response organizations, and integrated major themes generated from community conversations following recent disasters.  Next, the EHEPC will form an EH COAD Design Team comprised of a small number of community-based organizations representing a cross-section of sectors including multi/human service providers, locally owned businesses, faith-based groups, and community health organizations with strong leadership and proven interest in emergency response. The goals of the Design Team are to agree on the concept, design, purpose and function of the COAD and to determine next steps and recommendations for additional member organizations and sustainability.  The Design Team will be coached by the EHEPC regarding strategic thinking and planning to strengthen the response phase in the emergency management cycle.