A model to improve preparedness and strategically enhance resiliency at a community level: The Garden State approach
Abstract
This paper focuses on community resiliency planning in high-density areas, concentrating on balancing critical infrastructure recovery needs with real-life limitations in funding, and knowledge for how emergency management is done. A case study examines how a New Jersey government agency and state university were able to pilot a community resiliency concept in order to rapidly inject emergency management knowledge into a community that was affected by Superstorm Sandy. The lessons learned are intuitively understood by emergency planning professionals: preparing continuity of operations plans, conducting training and exercises, and mitigating risk for future disasters. However, the value is not in reinforcing what the professionals already know, but in providing low-income and disaster-affected communities with the tools to help themselves and develop the competencies to provide meaningful information to those who can provide assistance.
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Author's Biography
Rodric Bowman is Senior Director, Emergency Management Operations at NYC Health + Hospitals. Dr Bowman is an adjunct professor at Colorado Technical University where he teaches in the Homeland Security Studies programme. He holds a bachelor’s degree in public health from Western Connecticut State University, a master’s degree in administrative science with a focus in emergency management from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a doctorate in civil security leadership, management and policy from New Jersey City University.
Alexander Newman is a New Jersey preparedness planner with experience in building resiliency across public sectors and in geographical regions such as the Southwestern USA, Southeast Asia, Western Europe and the Middle East and North Africa region. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Towson University, a master’s of public administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a master’s of public affairs from Sciences-Po, Paris.
Citation
Bowman, Rodric and Newman, Alexander (2016, December 1). A model to improve preparedness and strategically enhance resiliency at a community level: The Garden State approach. In the Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, Volume 10, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.69554/JDNS2279.
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