Engage your community in thinking about how they can prepare

Group Action Will Take Us Further

Don’t expect to prepare alone. Preparedness is a community effort. Get to know your neighbors and talk about preparedness together. If you’d like ideas for community engagement, contact Transition Twin Cities.

Faith communities can play a critical role in helping to build networks of caring, not just within their congregation but also radiating out into the community. This is an opportunity for practical outreach.

• Who in the neighborhood is particularly vulnerable? Who are the elders, people with medical concerns, people who don’t speak English?
• Do you know which of your neighbors has no air conditioning and might need a helping hand on an extreme heat day? Can someone check in with them?

Faith communities usually have buildings where people can gather in an emergency and staff who have experience meeting people experiencing difficult times in their lives. Are you prepared to welcome strangers who need immediate help?

Local businesses can step up during times of crisis in a variety of ways.

• A local clinic can offer classes on health impacts of climate change, like the Health Partners Como Clinic did in January 2019 when they hosted an evening workshop.
• Local stores can carry emergency supplies for sale.
• A local business with freezer space may offer to store food for homes or businesses that have lost power.
• A business with a generator may become home base for emergency organizing efforts.

Municipalities continually work on emergency preparedness as part of their everyday responsibilities. Usually that preparedness does not extend to “climate change” but several Minnesota Cities have begun such planning.

In St. Paul, the City worked with the Science Museum and several neighborhoods to help communities begin to think about climate change. These partners created a guidebook for St. Paul residents entitled Ready & Resilient: A Guide to Extreme Weather for St. Paul Residents. For another example of community planning, see also the City of Bloomington’s Community Based Emergency Preparedness Toolkit.

Does your township, municipality or neighborhood have a plan? If not, ask them to get started now, before it’s needed. Ask them how they will inform and include the public.

Realistically, our climate is going to continue to change for the rest of our lives. We are in this for the long haul. When repeated disasters drain state and federal funds, citizen networks of mutual aid will become increasingly important. Learn more about grassroots disaster relief efforts like Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, one possible model/partner for future preparedness work.