Building Resilience: Lessons from Emergency Management and Climate Equity in NYC

By Jamielee Polanco, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Fellow

Running off the heels of COVID-19, there’s now a new “normal” and it seems like everyday there’s a notification of another “once in a lifetime” climate event. My interest in emergency management stems from my curiosity of how I can best serve my community during imminent emergency events. I have had the privilege of being hosted at NYC Department of Mental Health and Hygiene (DOHMH)’s Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response (OEPR), within the Community Engagement and Response (CER) Unit as their Solomon Fellow this year. The CER Unit has 3 objectives: Community Preparedness Program (CPP) Sector-Based Approach, Technical Assistance and Capacity Building, and Community Operations.

Since 2015, the CPP has taken a sector-based approach to engaging nongovernmental partners in public health emergency management and has contracted partners across three sectors: human services, faith based, and community leadership. These multi-disciplinary partners become a part of the Community Emergency Network (CEN) that expands capacity, on-the-ground credibility, and meaningful access to hard-to-reach communities to ensure hyperlocal preparedness. Learning about the CENs unique hazards and vulnerabilities during our check-ins has raised my awareness of the need for hyperlocal planning and the development of mutual aid agreements between the CENs or across boroughs to address gaps in funding, stratified response capacity or service provision.

OEPR has various collaborations with DOHMH’s Bureau of Environmental Surveillance and Protection that I have had the pleasure of workshopping; including capacity building training for DOHMH staff that cover a variety of topics that are relevant to the health and safety of New Yorkers. I have also had the opportunity to contribute towards the development of approachable communications and toolkits to support New Yorkers understand and mitigate their risk to everyday hazards (i.e. Extreme Heat, Extreme Rainfall, Coastal Surge Flooding, etc.) in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ). Collaboration with MOCEJ has exposed me to exciting new developments in green infrastructure, land use and transportation are actively being implemented throughout the city with the objective of providing support to local economies and protecting communities through a climate equity scope. OEPR further supports climate readiness through the development of Climate Resiliency Survey that CBOs throughout NYC can fill out to help DOHMH identify hyperlocal priorities, integrate equity into developing emergency preparedness planning.

In my short time thus far, what has been indispensable to me has been the exposure to the multi-dispensary approach of skills and knowledge within OEPR and across the network of professionals I routinely engage with. I look forward to the next few months as I continue to explore and evolve in this field.