Riverside County nonprofits that received Listos California grants for disaster planning and outreach have found new ways to reach vulnerable communities amid the COVID crisis.
“Considering the circumstances, grantee organizations have had to completely reinvent the way they engage the community on preparing for emergencies,” said Yasmeen Dabbas, Programs Associate at IECF. “Large-scale events and programs have been canceled, restricting their efforts to reach the masses.”
Despite the many challenges, grantees are conducting outreach in the community through drive-thru events, online webinars, virtual training sessions and back-pack programs. Others are getting out the message through the local media. Last month, Carla Sullivan-Dilley, Vice President of Coachella Valley Disaster Preparedness Network, spoke with two news stations about their outreach efforts at the FIND Food Bank Distribution/Emergency Preparedness event in Cathedral City. There they handed out 500 English and Spanish information packets as residents drove up. Watch the news clips on KESQ-TV in English here and on KUNA-TV in Spanish here!
Listos California is the state’s emergency preparedness campaign led by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CAL OES) and California Volunteers to make sure our most at-risk residents are prepared in the event of a disaster. To date, IECF has granted over $890,000 to groups that are engaging the community through training and community outreach activities.
