Kali Rapp Roy Executive Director, evacuteer.org Mission and History - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Kali Rapp Roy Executive Director, evacuteer.org

Mission and History

Evacuteer.org is non-profit organization that annually recruits, trains, and manages over 500 volunteers (Evacuteers) to assist residents during the public evacuation option called City Assisted Evacuation (CAE) in New Orleans.

• Founded in 2009 to fill gaps after first CAE activation
• Partner with local engaged community organizations
• Provide educational hurricane preparedness programs
• Increase public health awareness and train the community
• Work closely with city government

• The City of New Orleans had no plan for evacuation
• Relied on shelters of last resort
• Homeland Security and New Orleans Fire Department federally

mandated to develop a public option

Post-Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina (2005)

Special/Senior Care vs. General Pop EvacuSpots

Special Care EvacuSpot

• 4 total
• Indoor location for seniors

and persons needing medical resources (NMRs)

• Wheelchair-equipped buses

and paratransit vans

General Population Evacuspot

• 13 total
• Outdoor location with varied

levels of shade and/or immediately available resources

• Regular RTA buses and vans

Note: Only Special Care EvacuSpots use special needs vehicles

City Assisted Evacuation

• For Orleans Parish residents who cannot self-evacuate

during a mandatory evacuation due to financial need or lack of transportation, homelessness, medical and/or mobility needs, etc.

• Provides transportation from 17 designated pick-up

points called Evacuspots, to the Union Passenger Terminal bus station and onto state and regional shelters.

• 18 local and state agencies play a role

Sm it h L ib rary B u s St o p 6 3 0 0 Can al B lv d , L ak ev iew Palm e r Park

• S. Claib o rn e an d S. Carro llt o n

W est Carro llt o n M cM ain H ig h Sch o o l 5 712 S. Claib o rn e A v e, B ro ad m o o r L y o n s Co m m u n it y Ce n t e r 6 24 L o u isian a A v e, Irish Ch an n el D ry ad e s Y M CA 2220 O ret h a Cast le H aley B lv d Cen t ral Cit y W arre n East o n H ig h Sch o o l 3 0 19 Can al St , M id Cit y A rm st ro n g Park 8 0 1 N . Ram p art St , Trem e H arrie t Tu b m an Ch art e r Sch o o l 28 3 2 Gen eral M ey er A lg iers St allin g s Co m m u n it y Ce n t e r 4 3 0 0 St . Clau d e, B y w at er San ch e z Ce n t e r 16 16 C affin A v e L o w er 9 t h W ard W alm art 4 3 0 1 Ch ef M en t eu r H ig h w ay Gen t illy East N e w O rle an s L ib rary 5 6 4 1 Read B lv d N ew O rlean s East M ary Q u e e n o f V ie t n am Ch u rch 14 0 0 1 D w y er N ew O rlean s East

SEN IO R CEN TER L O CA TIO N S GEN ERA L PO PU L A TIO N

A rt h u r M o n d ay Ce n t e r 1111 N ew t o n A v e, A lg iers K in g sle y H o u se 16 0 0 Co n st an c e St , L o w er Gard en D ist ric t Ce n t ral Cit y Se n io r Ce n t e r 210 1 Ph ilip St , Cen t ral Cit y M at e r D o lo ro sa 1226 S. Carro llt o n A v e, Carro llt o n 1 5 10 15 2 6 11 16 3 7 12 17 4 8 13 9 14

e v a c u s p o t l o c a t io n s

Evacuation Timeline

5 days – Decision to Evacuate 4 days – Normal Operations Stop 3 days – City Assisted Evacuation Starts 2 days – City Assisted Evacuation Ends 1 day – Contraflow Starts

Special Needs EvacuSpot Locations General Population EvacuSpot Locations

Union Passenger Terminal

RTA

State or Regional Shelter

Bus

City Assisted Evacuation: Process Flow

MSY Paratransit Van/Bus

Who uses City Assisted Evacuation?

• 2016 data found that 86,000 individuals do not

have a vehicle in New Orleans

• Public health and public transportation numbers

are utilized to estimate population use of City- Assisted Evacuation during a mandatory evacuation

2016

• Expected use today: 35,000+
• Operates in 24 hours
• Needs to operate four times faster than during

Gustav

• Evacuteer assistance is estimated to increase

speed of operation by 70%

Households without access to vehicle

Poverty

http://www.datacenterresearch.org/data-resources/who-lives-in-new-

• rleans-now/

Rate of Poverty

Since Katrina (2005), the City Assisted Evacuation (CAE) has been launched once for Hurricane Gustav in 2008.

Gaps from Gustav, 2008

• Inefficient signage at pick-up points
• No organization/information at pick-up points
• Evacuees headed directly to Greyhound bus station to

evacuate

• Under direct oversight of city government
• No prior training provided to facilitators
• Took 36 hours to evacuate ~22,000 people

2013

All-Community Approach

• Funding provided by CDC, FEMA, Arts

Council of New Orleans, and private donations to Evacuteer.org

• Arts Council of New Orleans managed

Call for Artists and contract negotiation

• Manage maintenance
• Outreach partners: NOHSEP (New

Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness) and Health Department

• Evacuteers are recruited and trained from partners:

Community organizations that are active regularly in the communities that they serve in order to exchange trust and familiarity with the population

• Evacuteers are also individuals who are civic-minded and

willing to sign up. They sign up for one year at a time and need to recommit each year.

• The majority of training occurs between March and

August.

Volunteer Program

• Exercise assistance: Recruit volunteers for the annual City-

Assisted Evacuation Drill

• Contracted by the City to assist with spontaneous

volunteer and donation assistance for lower-level storms and other hazardous disaster events

• Children’s curriculum to ensure children do not lose

institutional knowledge of hurricane preparedness

• Outreach at community events and promotion of

education on preparedness planning for storm events

Year-Round Operations

How and when are you activated?

When: Storm is entering the gulf and may head our way

How: You will receive a text from Evacuteer requesting you confirm your ability to participate. Reply and stand by! 311 Specialists may be recruited to come into the Call Center at this point Evacuteer may activate for Hurricane George. Will you serve one 7- hour shift? Reply YES/NO by noon today. Stand by for next message at 6pm.

What will your shift look like?

Team: eam: 5-10 0 per r EvacuSp cuSpot Lead ad: : Ev Evacusp acuspot Cap aptain tain Shi hift: t: 1 shi hift/da t/day; y; 7 ho hour urs Mo Morning ing Shift Ev Evening ening Shi hift

(Eithe ither r shift t will l be first st depend nding ing on star art) t)

[D [Do not t work k af after dark ark] NO NOPD PD On On-si site

Taken from www.neworleanscitybusiness.com

What do I do at my Evacuspot?

Registration

• Registration tickets (filled out for evacuees on clipboard):
• One per family
• Wristbands
• Luggage label
• Provide information

Luggage Assistance

• Luggage loading
• Tag dat bag

Line up groups for the bus: Families stay together; can group at UPT before they get into shelter bus line

Difficult Situations: Answering Evacuee Questions

Users will be allowed one e carry-on

• n sized bag, does not include pets,

diaper bags or oxygen/medical bag.

• If someone brings more than one- explain that they may have to

move things into one bag. Fire Department will determine at UPT. At Evacuspot: Baggage may not take up someone else’s space on bus. Where are we going?

• While evacuees may not select the shelter location, once in line at

UPT with entire family– they will be informed where they will be going When are we coming back?

• When the city is reopened and deemed safe to return, buses will

come pick everyone up and bring them back. If someone’s area is not safe to return to, shelters will be provided in New Orleans.

Wristband: Number ties individual to ticket and luggage

Use the entire letter & number sequence

Luggage Label: Secure on luggage

NOP0002 144

Evacuation Ticket

NOP0002 144

Language Assistance at Evacuspots

Please note if you speak another language proficiently and wouldn’t mind serving as an interpreter

• Evacuation Ticket Laminated in Spanish for reference:

(unfortunately, tickets are only printed in English)

• FAQs and answers in Spanish at Evacuspot: You may

hand Spanish-only speakers this placard and ask them to review

• Commonly-used phrases in Spanish to assist you with

communication *Vietnamese speakers serve as Evacuteers in New Orleans East at the Mary Queen of Vietnam Church

Pets at my Evacuspot

COMMUNICATE PROCESS: DO NOT TOUCH ANIMALS- Always instruct the owner Owners SHOULD bring:

• Pet carriers
• Leash
• Collar with tags
• Pet Food (if special)
• Medications
• Vaccination records

Deactivation

H-Hour 30: Release of Evacuteers begins By H-Hour 24: Last shift completed

Self-evacuate in personal vehicles OR Use the CAE themselves

Re-entry

• City is re-opened
• Operations Team will re-

activate you (text, email)

• Evacuees return from

shelters/places of displacement by contracted buses

Into bus lines  Lead evacuees from buses  Back to EvacuSpot OR shelter if neighborhood/home is damaged/inaccessible

Spread the word about City Assisted Evacuation, Evacuspots & Evacuteer!

Contact Kali Roy at kali@evacuteer.org

Speaking events, hurricane preparedness outreach or questions?