Napa Valley Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD)

The work of COAD is guided by its mission, vision, purpose, and values. Our mission describes our overarching purpose, while our vision describes what it looks like when we achieve our mission. Our purpose statements are how we work toward our mission and our values describes the principle we bring to our work. MISSION: COAD develops and enhances partnerships for communication, coordination, and collaboration amongst the whole community including nonprofit and faith-based organizations, government agencies, and the private sector, during all phases of disaster (response, recovery, mitigation, and preparedness). VISION: COAD envisions a community where all members are equitably prepared ... read more The work of COAD is guided by its mission, vision, purpose, and values. Our mission describes our overarching purpose, while our vision describes what it looks like when we achieve our mission. Our purpose statements are how we work toward our mission and our values describes the principle we bring to our work. MISSION: COAD develops and enhances partnerships for communication, coordination, and collaboration amongst the whole community including nonprofit and faith-based organizations, government agencies, and the private sector, during all phases of disaster (response, recovery, mitigation, and preparedness). VISION: COAD envisions a community where all members are equitably prepared for disaster so all have an equal opportunity to survive and recover from a disaster. COAD VALUES: collaboration and cooperation, equity and inclusion, cultural sensitivity, dignity and respect for each person's experience, and meaningful engagement with partners and the community. PURPOSE STATEMENTS *COAD's purpose it to provide leadership to the nongovernmental response during all phases of disaster by creating linkages across all sectors and providing effective coordinated efforts to promote community resilience. COAD prioritizes the most vulnerable. *COAD is an inclusive network, which strategically networks its autonomous member organizations to maximize the County's capacity for disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. * Central to effective coordination is vetted, timely communications and collaboration to minimize the duplication of services to maximize available resources. *COAD works to complement government efforts, not duplicate their services. *After-action analyses are integral to COAD's work for mitigation planning and preparedness for future responses. COAD is an organizing body that provides leadership to the nongovernmental response in all phases of disaster, focusing on areas complementary to the government response and outside of their scope. COAD creates linkages across sectors for the development of a comprehensive approach to increase disaster resilience throughout Napa County. This is accomplished through coordination between nonprofits, faith-based organizations, local government entities and the private sector. COAD is not a direct service provider, but rather strategically works its network of autonomous member organizations' efforts to maximize the capabilities of response, recovery, mitigation, and preparedness. COAD and its member agencies focus on supporting vulnerable populations most in need of resources and services. The role of COAD is focused in three areas: *Communication - Develop and maintain effective channels of accurate, vetted, timely communication for member organizations, especially during activations, and amplifying County messaging to the public. *Coordinate - Stand up subcommittees to coordinate the response of second responders and other nongovernmental agencies to ensure an effective response that identifies gaps and avoids duplication. * Collaboration - Identify common goals and create shared solutions to meet needs during all phases of disaster. Work with the County and other partners to create collaborative and complementary efforts. COAD seeks to be a community leader in all phases of disaster helping to build a more resilient and self-reliant Napa County. COAD provides support to the whole community, while prioritizing more vulnerable and marginalized populations. COAD works toward equitable practices to ensure consistent and systematic just, fair, and impartial treatment, especially for underserved and marginalized populations. Equity acknowledges that we all do not all start at the same place and that adjustments need to be made for imbalances. Equity work is ongoing and seeks to identify and remove barriers. A key service COAD provides its members is ongoing communication which is highly valued based on two member surveys conducted in the November 2020 and 2022. COAD serves as the liaison between the County Emergency Operations Center and the member agencies who serve as second responders. This liaison role is essential to ensuring an informed, coordinated, and complementary effort. COAD's role is provide the services and fill the gaps beyond the scope of governments' ability to respond. To meet its mission, COAD has established 11 subcommittees to meet community needs during all phases of disaster. COAD members organize into subcommittees based on the primary services they regularly provide in the community. Response subcommittees include: Access & Functional Needs/Older Adults, Childcare, Emergency Financial Assistance, Food Access, Mental & Spiritual Health, Public Information & Outreach, Resources, and Volunteers on Call. Even though focused on response, there committees remain engaged in 'blue sky' times for mitigation planning and to ensure readiness for any potential disaster. COAD knows that preparedness is key to supporting vulnerable populations and ensuring better response outcomes. In a recent language access and preparedness community survey conducted by COAD, we learned that nearly half of the Spanish speakers who responded indicated that they were unprepared or did not know what 'preparedness' involved. As a result, COAD has a very active Outreach, Preparedness and Resilience Subcommittee which houses emergency preparedness education and our community resilience program, Meet Your Neighbor. This group works to conduct regular in person training and attends a wide range of community events throughout the county. Finally, COAD also oversees the Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG) and their work. Most recently. this group completed an After-Action Report summarizing its recovery work for the two back-to-back 2020 wildfires in Napa County. The attached program materials provide information about our work in all phases of disaster: MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR BOOKLET - In terms of preparedness education, COAD is a direct service provider. Our core document for providing preparedness education and promoting community resilience and self-reliance is our Meet Your Neighbor booklet. This booklet is shared at in-person and online training sessions, as well as at outreach events. Engagements around Meet Your Neighbor last anywhere from 5 to 90 minutes. In 2022, we engaged nearly 2000 households. In 2023, we have expanded our preparedness education to include insurance preparedness, especially for renters. Experience indicates that having insurance in place expedites and eases recovery. 2020 WILDFIRES AFTER-ACTION REPORT - This report outlines the collaborative work of COAD and its subcommittees in response to the 2020 wildfire which were concurrent events during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. COAD LONG TERM RECOVERY GROUP AFTER ACTION REPORT 2023- We have recently finalized and published our after-action report from the long term recovery (LTR) process for the 2020 wildfires. The final report includes the recovery journeys of several households who received funds through the unmet needs process, the final step when all other resources have been exhausted. While disaster case management (DCM) has closed and all the 324 households referred to DCM have been served, COAD's work will continue to address the issues outlined in the report's recommendations so we can better prepare and serve survivors in future events. During 2023, COAD will be working to address action items identified in the recommendations where it has some degree of control and influence. COAD'S CURRENT INITIATIVES COAD's work in the next 18 months remains focused on the following initiatives: - Preparedness, outreach, and community resilience. Our goal is to reach 4000 households over the next 12-18 months in meaningful engagements. Key components of this work include a concerted AFN/Older Adults outreach campaign in spring, participating in community events, and conducting in-person and online preparedness workshops. - Subcommittee development and succession planning. COAD is offering a mutually beneficial training program for members which includes an orientation to response work, along with leadership topics to improve subcommittee operations and support agency professional development. - Equity, inclusion, and language access. COAD and its members are committed to improving equity within COAD operations and within the preparedness and response infrastructures county-wide. We are using the results of our 18-month language access study to implement effective language access strategies and practices. - Government relations. Develop stronger partnerships with all jurisdictions, particularly city management, in sharing preparedness education and resources. Share with them the results of the LTRG After-Action Report to engage support for mitigation planning.