title: Applying community engagement to disaster planning: developing the vision and design for the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience initiative.
abstract: Community resilience (CR) is a priority for preparedness, but few models exist. A steering council used community-partnered participatory research to support workgroups in developing CR action plans and hosted forums for input to design a pilot demonstration of implementing CR versus enhanced individual preparedness toolkits. Qualitative data describe how stakeholders viewed CR, how toolkits were developed, and demonstration design evolution. Stakeholders viewed community engagement as facilitating partnerships to implement CR programs when appropriately supported by policy and CR resources. Community engagement exercises clarified motivations and informed action plans (e.g., including vulnerable populations). Community input identified barriers (e.g., trust in government) and CR-building strategies. A CR toolkit and demonstration comparing its implementation with individual preparedness were codeveloped. Community-partnered participatory research was a useful framework to plan a CR initiative through knowledge exchange.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Services and Society, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. kwells@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Kenneth B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lizaola
authors.forename: Felica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Arleen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Alix
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stayton
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chandra
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eisenman
authors.forename: Stella
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fogleman
authors.forename: Alonzo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Plough
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016730:Program Development; D055818:Public-Private Sector Partnerships; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D055500:Resilience, Psychological