(film reel clattering) - Hello and welcome to Ethnic Media Services' national weekly news briefing.

I'm Sandy Close, director of EMS.

Today, our topic is the wildfire and hurricane season, which started officially on June 1st and a groundbreaking national effort by nonprofit organizations in states that bear the brunt of these disasters to build resilience at the grassroots in the face of a broken disaster relief system.

We're grateful to Jennifer Farmer, a veteran communications expert and principal at Spotlight PR LLC, for bringing this topic to our attention and introducing us to today's speakers.

Now, I'm pleased to turn the conference over to our moderator, Jennifer Farmer.

Thank you so much, Jennifer.

- Thank you, Sandy, for convening this space.

You know, June 1st launched the beginning of wildfire and hurricane season.

And, as our guests across the country brace for an extended period of potentially deadly wildfire season and hurricane season, we need to say that this season is fueled by climate change and past inaction.

We are very aware that communities hardest hit by the combination of climate, pollution, the pandemic, hurricanes and wildfires are demanding solutions that allow us to build long-term climate resilient infrastructure and also thriving economies.

My first guest today is Ashley K. Shelton, and she is the founder and president and CEO of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice.

Unfortunately, she has lived through numerous hurricanes and has provided aid on the front line following those.

I would love for Ashley to speak with us about the disaster economy and about what folks in Louisiana are doing to prepare for this hurricane season.

Ashley?

- Hi!

And, again, just somebody put a thumbs up if I need to turn my video off so there's good sound.

But, I run the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and we are a local civic engagement table.

But, one of the things that we do in our civic engagement work is that we know that I can't ask you to vote if I'm not also supporting you in times of great need and disaster.

And, last year, we had the combined disasters of the pandemic and Hurricane Ida being the largest of storms, but one of many.

And for us, it's really important to, you know, like to make sure that community's okay.

And so, we are working to prepare for being able to provide direct cash assistance to communities.

We were able to get about $200,000 on the ground within that first week.

And, this is so critical because people don't understand that, you know, these hurricanes always happen around payday.

Folks are taking, you know, critical you know, resources that they would typically use to pay bills and do the things that they need to do.

And, those dollars are diverted to hotels, you know, expensive food where it is available.

And then, also too, left without, you know, internet or the grid for quite some time, especially in the case of Ida.

And, I think that, you know, for us, it's like how do we actually get resources?

Because also, FEMA doesn't show up until about two weeks after the storm.

And so, what that does is creates this gap where folks are desperate.

They're reeling and hurting.

And, you know-- and the disaster economy and capitalism in Louisiana has gotten so you know, it has become such an industry that, you know, we're now-- we did a lot of work this legislative session to pass legislation around insurance companies and making sure that we're holding them accountable to their clients.

Because we saw a lot of that last year after Ida, where insurance companies weren't paying out.

Lots of provisions that weren't clear in their policies, whether, like, it didn't cover wind or it had, you know, this cap for natural disasters.

And so, again, making sure that folks understand what's happening.

And so, we are preparing we're doing a couple of different workshops across the state to talk about what is available in community.

And so, for Power Coalition, it's about, one, how do we do mutual aid in a way that is effective and actually gets money on the ground to those most in need?

And then, the other piece is, you know, and how do we also hold government accountable in this process?

And so, forcing FEMA to stop giving us, you know, pretend deadlines.

Like, we had to submit forms, you know, like two-- a week and a half after the storm.

Well, if the grid is down, there's no electricity and no internet, how is anybody supposed to submit a form within that timeline?

And so, working with FEMA and the governor's office to make sure that the deadlines made sense for communities.

And that also, that the resources that are being provided to folks are clear, and that people don't feel like they're being you know, they're kind of ignored and played with by government.

And so, we have been trying to drive as much of those federal resources to the ground, create as much transparency.

It is unfortunate that it doesn't feel like those dollars are there, you know, are tangible, or can be felt.

And, it is that disaster economy that sucks up so much of the resources and leaves the everyday family person home behind in that process.

And so, again, building out stronger mutual aid networks.

Again, doing some pieces around what are your rights as a insured person?

All of the things that folks need to have ready.

Also, doing some work with our nonprofits to also have them prepared, as well.

- Ashley, can you talk a little bit about the importance of mutual aid?

I know in a lot of times after a disaster, you know, people think that FEMA is the solution.

But, can you talk a little bit about the role that mutual aid has played in communities of color?

- Absolutely.

The-- you know?

What-- the one thing that actually works in a, you know, in the aftermath of a disaster is community coming together to help each other.

And, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, I often talk about, you know, like community has figured it out, right?

Like, that mutual aid really pushing, you know, resources to the ground?

You know, like, the infrastructure.

I can say, like I said, over ten years.

It's so exciting to see how many folks are actually working and connected to folks in community and really being able to work together to move those resources.

And so, what we've been trying to do is have some of those same conversations at both the federal level and the state level.

You know, we've talked about the idea of tax credits.

This idea that, you know, just like we did with the child tax credit.

I mean, why can't we in the midst of a disaster give folks, you know, $500 for the for the first three months after a disaster's declared, and they live within the declared disaster area?

You know, also too thinking about, you know, like from a mutual aid perspective, one of the things that we often find is, you know, food becomes you know, like an unbelievable commodity because it's hard to find.

Food becomes hard to find when the grid is down.

Food goes up when the grid is- Oh, sorry!

Yep, I'll slow down!

The food is, you know, the food is hard to find.

And, people also find it hard to navigate, you know, the city.

And so, for us in this moment, one of the things that's really important- and I think is also is true- is that we know mutual aid works and we know that it is a very thoughtful and, you know, in a process that is not, fraught with fraud.

Which is what the federal government and state government likes to say about their processes is that they're trying to protect against fraud.

But the reality is, is that, you know, the fraud to me is that we're not pushing federal dollars down to people that have been devastated by these storms.

The fraud to me is that-- is that we are putting people through all of these things at they're-- at the worst moments of their lives.

Like, it doesn't make sense.

And so, for me, it's also too this idea about how does the federal government begin to trust people that they will receive resources and that when they receive those resources, that they, of course, they're going to rebuild their homes.

They're-- of course, they're gonna put those dollars where they need to be.

And so, whether it's a tax credit or just like we did with PPP loans, right?

Like, we trust the businesses with little paperwork and little questions.

And so, why can't we allow that trust to folks that have been just devastated by these storms?

And so, again, we know mutual aid works.

We know that the fraud is minimal.

And so, this idea that we can't trust people with resources is not fair.

And, I think-- and what is really true is we have not been able to trust the government.

And, we're dealing with clawbacks and other, you know, other things that are happening to people; lots of contractor fraud and other things.

And so, you're having to pay back money that you put out to a contractor that you can't get back.

And so, it's all of these things where government just seems to be failing communities.

- How do people submit required documentation when their documents may have been destroyed in the disaster?

- Yeah, it is-- it's tough.

I mean, I think you have a lot of folks-- depending on the damage, right?

If it's water, there's some things that can be salvaged.

But, this document process is really difficult.

And then, what's nice is that, you know, you can get your mortgage company to send you those documents.

You can get your insurance company to send you those documents.

But you gotta remember at scale, you've got thousands of people making those same calls to those institutions to be able to regain some of the documentation that they need.

And so, it is slow and it causes the process to go-- to be extended and even longer.

And so, I would say that, you know, they they're able to pick-- get some of those documents from the folks that they need to get them from.

But, it is much different when-- you know, again, they just moved legislation last year to change the heirship issue.

And so, now at least you can-- there are three different ways or several different ways that you can-- that you can show ownership of your property and those documents become really critical and oftentimes, you know, can be damaged.

And so, again, you know, some of that training and some of that preparation.

We're doing a whole Peel 'n' Prep!

We've got a crawfish boil!

We're gonna be talkin' to community, and at that we're talking about the kinds of boxes and different ways to protect their documents.

Because at this point, we've been through so many storms that folks are getting a little bit more savvy.

You know, lots of organizations provide, you know, waterproof, boxes to be able to hold some of those documents.

And so, we're, kind of working on solutions from the ground.

But, it is a huge problem.

And, especially when, you know, you don't have electricity for two weeks and the grid is down.

- Thank you so much.

So, our next guest is Dayza- Daysi- excuse me- Bedolla Sotelo.

And Daysi, I hope that I've pronounced your name correctly.

Daysi is the organizing director with PCUN.

And, just so you all know, PCUN supports Latinx families in Oregon from farmworkers to young people.

And, the goal is really to help the community have stronger political power to collectively improve their well-being and also to increase prosperity for all.

Daysi, thank you so much for being with us all the way from Oregon.

Can you talk a little bit about the concerns that you may have as we head into wildfire season and hurricane season?

And, also, you know, the impact on farmworkers?

- Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Thank you for having me.

Daysi Bedolla Sotelo, and as Jennifer shared, I am the organizing director here at PCUN.

And, yeah.

I mean, it's been really challenging for us.

Two years ago was the first wildfire that we actually had experienced.

And, you know, during the pandemic as well, right?

Just like Ashley was sharing, there's an added layer of just a lot of things going on, right?

And, what we actually saw was there was a lot of information coming out in English.

And, that's one of our main concerns as we're headed into the season again, because there's not enough information out there for preparedness or the steps that we should take to, you know, even go to FEMA, right?

All of the other things that Ashley was also mentioning, and that was one-- that still is one of our main concerns.

And we had to, you know, step in and make sure that we were helping the community and do a rapid response that year that it happened.

We also had mutual aid and we had to step in because the state is not-- was not ready, right, for a lot of these wildfires that are happening, as well as our community members that are not ready.

And so, a lot of the concern comes, of course, from the Spanish resources that weren't available.

We know that, you know, our folks can sign up to emergency alerts, but even then, when you're signed up, they're not getting it in the language that they are needing it and not just Spanish languages but also indigenous languages.

Here in Oregon, we have a lot of population from different countries, of course, but also indigenous languages that are-- a lot of the times not taken into consideration.

And, we're only talking about, you know, Spanish as a whole, right?

But then there's a lot of other dialects that are also spoken.

And, you know, it's been a huge concern and a surprise for farmworkers.

They were working and they still work while there's like a toxicity level that's really high from the smoke, right?

And so, that's such a big concern for our farmworkers as they are the ones that are providing the food at our tables.

And, they weren't being protected, of course.

And, we actually-- hopefully some of you all already know, but we just were able to work with OSHA and passed smoke and heat rules for our farmworkers that are taking effect this year.

So, we're very excited to be able to share that with our community members and that some of the work that we are going to be doing alongside doing presentations about how to prepare for wildfires, of course, and where to look for those resources so that our community members are more prepared, right?

What to have with them, what documents they should have, how to prepare an emergency backpack, right?

How to do all the little things that we think are little, but we're really not prepared to do.

And so, we want to make sure that we're doing a lot of that preparedness work with our community members.

And, you know, we do outreach really wherever we find our community members and our base is farmworkers.

And so, we go out to the labor camps; we go out to the farms; we're going out to all of the places where we know our community members are at to make sure that they are being informed and that they are being prepared.

And, at the same time, we do have a rapid response component to it because we were responding two years ago when this happened, and we are definitely way more prepared and ready than we were two years ago when the first wildfire hit us.

And, it was really devastating.

You know, a lot of our community members lost their homes.

And, just right after that, too, we had a winter storm.

So, there was a lot that was happening.

But those are some of the things that we're working on.

And also, some of the challenge is just not having access to the right things, right?

Not only in language, but, you know, what happens when we're sending an emergency text message, but the person doesn't have a smartphone, right, or what happens when we're asking them to sign up for something and they don't even have internet, right?

Or all of the other accessibility issues that come up with that, as well.

- Daysi, thank you so much for sharing.

We do have a couple of questions for you.

I do want to note that all of our speakers, they're in different parts of the United States.

They've been doing this work for a very long time.

This is not their first wildfire and hurricane season.

What is unique about this year is that they are talking in a more formal way together and they're under the umbrella of organizing resilience.

But, to focus on organizing resilience versus the specific organizations that they are representing would be a mistake because they have been doing this work on their own in community for a long time.

So, I just wanted to share that for framing.

So, Daysi, you know, what's the forecast for this season, given that many parts of the West have, you know, experienced a drought or are living through a drought?

- Yeah.

I mean, you know, it's really hard to say at the moment because we're living through this climate change as well, right?

I mean, here in Oregon, we are really "late with our summer," if you will, and it's-- all the changes are happening really fast.

So, it's really hard to say.

But, last year we experienced an extremely unfortunate event.

And, you know, we lost, unfortunately, a farmworker.

And, it was very sad.

And, to see that there weren't enough protections for our farmworkers, right?

And, that's why we decided to continue that advocacy with OSHA and come up with all of these rules that are being implemented soon.

But, the truth is that last few weeks, we're in a, we experienced a heat wave.

And, it was also the first time in, I think, 20 years that we had that amount of temperature, of high temperature.

And so, you know, as we-- we are, like, getting ready for the unexpected because right now the sun hasn't really come out.

We've had, you know, some hot days, but it's really hard to say what it looks like.

But, definitely I would say we're getting prepared for probably another heat wave, right?

As we already saw it last year; wildfires, as well.

And then, really anything else that might come up.

Unfortunately, we have to be ready as an organization, as a state, and of course, as community members as well.

And, it's sometimes unpredictable to even say, you know, we might have one or two or three.

And, the difference between Oregon and California, too, is that, you know, we experienced some of the first ones just like two years ago.

And, you know, we're not at the level that California is at, at the moment.

So, it would be a mistake for me to say, you know, this is really what we're looking at.

But, definitely rather getting prepared for another wildfire season and, of course, another heat wave.

And, it's very unfortunate that we're here, but it's the reality also of many of our communities that we're facing at the moment.

- Daysi, thank you so much.

I want to ask you one more question and then I'll hold the other questions until we get through.

If farmworkers are undocumented, do they qualify for relief?

Like, if they are directly impacted can they still receive support from, you know, from FEMA if they're undocumented?

- Yeah.

So, that has been extremely challenging and it's really challenging when it comes to agencies, right?

Because, I mean, even with the pandemic, we actually stepped up and were able to secure funding for our undocumented individuals because as you all know, they did not qualify for stimulus checks.

And so, it was a state, a state initiative that happened with three organizations that are sister organizations from us.

And, a lot of the work really has been even-- we had to set up an emergency fund here at the organization because it was just extremely hard.

And, the reality is that folks are actually scared to go to these agencies because they don't know what the repercussions are going to be, right?

So, it's a very sad thing because they're not able to look at these agencies.

And I mean, even when the wildfires were happening two years ago, there was a emergency setup and folks weren't going because there were a lot of rumors around that immigration was there or the fear of deportation, right?

So, folks are not really getting close to any of those resources because there's still that fear.

And, it's very unfortunate.

And, yeah.

So, we've been able to help through other ways, you know, with the state and then our other organizations through mutual aid.

But, the reality is that folks are not really looking at FEMA, right?

And, saying, "hey, you know, "we need this money because there's just so much paperwork that goes into it."

And, there's a lot of fear at the moment that we're still, you know, having to work with as well to be able to work with all the other agencies.

But, there is-- the reality is there's a mistrust, and it's just not also accessible to them.

- Daysi, thank you so much.

I want to go to our next guest and our next guest is Chrishelle Palay.

She's the executive director of the HOME Coalition in Houston.

So, Chrishelle, you and I have had conversations around the PTSD that can come from, from natural disasters that are exacerbated by the climate crisis.

Before I heard you talk about this, I had never experienced it.

Can you speak with our audience about just what it's like to survive a storm, and then to know that you're still in the eye of the storm?

So, can you talk about that and anything else that you want our audience to know?

- So, yes.

I'm in Houston, Texas, and I'm the executive director of the HOME Coalition.

So, we've been working and we were actually created in the midst of Hurricane Harvey.

And so, we're a coalition of about 19 organizations that are working at the intersection of housing, flood resiliency, environmental justice issues, labor rights and it's all undergirded by community organizing.

And so, we do a lot of advocacy work that's really focused on disaster recovery.

And, we've been doing this work.

Many of us have been in this sector long before Hurricane Harvey.

As far back as in some cases, some folks-- Allison, hurricane-- Tropical Storm Allison, Katrina, Ike, and then Harvey.

So clearly, we are no stranger when it comes to tropical activity.

And, although Harvey happened almost five years ago, unfortunately, there are so many people that are still, that are still waiting for assistance and for their homes to be repaired.

And especially, you know, low-income communities of color that are continuing to live in, in leaky roofs and homes with rotted wood, and moldy ceilings and walls.

So, if that were not enough, we also experienced a winter storm last, last winter in 2021, Winter Storm Uri.

And, it brought unprecedented freezing conditions to Texas.

And, our power grid failed millions, and this is the energy capital of the world.

And, we were left in freezing conditions and darkness for days.

And, in some areas actually for weeks.

And then, after the temperatures actually increased and the plumbing pipes warmed up, another disaster struck because there were burst plumbing pipes and water damage to homes, and no running water.

So, as we, you know-- coming into our-- are now in another hurricane season, with tropic activity actually moving in the Gulf right now, our community is really suffering from PTSD.

And, you know, we're worrying about yet another power grid failure.

We're worried about, you know, continued exacerbation of these issues that already existed.

And, even when it goes back to the power grid, we have-- we already have been warned because of increased temperatures looming-- rolling blackouts, at this point in time.

And, a couple of weeks ago, the state actually sent out messages that everyone should keep their thermostats around 78 degrees.

So, Texans are really worried.

Folks living along the Gulf Coast are really worried and concerned, not just about the power grid, but also about tropical activity.

And, being struck yet again, and especially for those communities that still are waiting and waiting for assistance.

We've been at the forefront and trying to make sure that their flood mitigation equity that's ongoing.

We've been working with the city of Houston, with the county and advocating for so many resources for our community members.

But, we are definitely a community that's waiting and hoping that's definitely suffering from PTSD at this point.

- When can we or the government consider investing in disaster-proof homes, i.e., earth-block homes, especially in locations where disasters continually hit?

- I feel like there's several of those type of models that are out there but we haven't had the political will to really push that and to make that a priority.

Then, I think the next part of that is, who gets those homes first?

How are they rolled out?

And, what communities?

I mean, I know that-- we know the communities that are most vulnerable that could potentially really really benefit from those types of models.

So, the products are out there.

There are very strong concepts about how to implement them.

But, what I've seen is that we've not had the political will to make it a priority and to really push that instead of the traditional FEMA trailer.

- Sandy, thank you so much!

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