Southern Brooklyn Community Organizations Active in Disaster (Southern Brooklyn COAD) has had a busy past few months working to build a community-driven disaster preparedness, response, and recovery network in Southern Brooklyn. In addition to geographically mapping COAD member locations to inform the community of which organizations are tapped into our community emergency network (we recently released our Community Disaster Resource Maps), we also conducted an in-depth resource surveying process to learn more about what resources and services COAD members may be able to offer in a disaster. This information was compiled into one useful directory we refer to as our “Member Resource Book.”

The creation of our Member Resource Book is the result of a community organizing and resource surveying process facilitated by the NonProfit HelpDesk of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island and funded by the New York State Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery that brought together 40 nonprofit, faith-based, and community-based organizations that serve Sea Gate, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Gravesend, and Bensonhurst to form the Southern Brooklyn COAD, a coalition working together to make sure that Southern Brooklyn is prepared for emergencies and disasters and that the region is best able to coordinate recovery after a disaster. Our resource survey was developed from similar work done by the Staten Island COAD through the Staten Island NFP Association and its Program Director, Laura Del Prete.

The Member Resource Book compiles and lists each organization participating in the COAD, the best ways to contact key people at each organization, and includes charts displaying which types of resources and services members may be able to provide in a disaster. The charts are broken down by service category (eg. social services, shelter, food & nutrition distribution), each of which includes a highly detailed list of specific resources – everything from case assistance, translation services, and donations management, to perishable food storage, vehicles for transportation, and showers/personal hygiene stations. The book also includes information on local government and civic bodies, citywide government agencies, other nonprofit organizations that are active in disaster recovery, volunteer groups, and more.

The book is designed to encourage and facilitate coordination of resource and service provision after a disaster among the nonprofit, faith-based, and community-based organizations that make up our membership. For example, if one organization receives 1,000 bottles of water from a donor, but does not have the space to distribute them, they can reference the book to see that another nearby organization has self-identified itself as a potential distribution location. Members can refer to the book to see who the most relevant partner is to reach out to for collaboration and can also use it to help direct local residents to additional needed resources and services.

The book is being distributed to our local COAD member organizations, community boards, and our citywide response partners.

The Southern Brooklyn COAD followed up its recent “How To Survive An Active Shooter” training with a free “Stop The Bleed” bleeding control certificate course on Thursday, August 30, at the Coney Island Library. The course was provided in collaboration with Maimonides Medical Center. Participants learned how to recognize the signs of life threatening bleeding, how to treat the source of bleeding based on its location on the body, and how to apply a tourniquet and pack a wound/apply pressure in order to stop dangerous bleeding. The course empowers every day citizens with the knowledge and tools to be a first-first responder, before emergency medical services arrive, to save their own life or the life of a friend, family member, or any other person who has suffered a catastrophic injury.

The course teaches the ABCs of bleeding control:

• A – Alert – call 9-1-1
• B – Bleeding – find the bleeding injury
• C – Compress – apply pressure to stop the bleeding

Following the presentation, attendees had the chance to practice for themselves applying a tourniquet and packing and applying pressure to a wound.

For more information on how to “Stop The Bleed”, visit www.bleedingcontrol.org.

The Southern Brooklyn COAD partnered with Matthew Siefer of Radius Investigations and Guardian Security Training to provide a free “How To Survive An Active Shooter” training for the community on August 9, 2018. The presentation was particularly focused on how we can come together as a community to not only fight back against an active shooter and remain vigilant in paying attention to warning signs, but also to provide a loving and nurturing environment in which we support individuals so that they never reach the point where they see mass violence as an option.

Participants learned the fundamentals of when and how to RUN, when and how to HIDE, and when and how to FIGHT, as well as how to recognize potential warning signs.

For more information on how to be prepared for an active shooter incident, visit www.ready.gov/active-shooter.

If you would like to learn more about the presenter and the additional paid active shooter courses they offer visit www.gstny.com/anti-crime-active-shooter-seminars.

Last week, the Southern Brooklyn COAD concluded its three-week capacity building series for nonprofits. Expert consultants presented workshops to help nonprofits learn the fundamentals of grant writing, program evaluation, and fundraising. We believe that an organization that is strong and capable year round will find it easier to remain strong and capable and recover from an emergency or disaster. People came from all across the city (and some even from New Jersey) to attend the workshops and they ended up being a blast!

Our “The Power of Grant Writing” workshop was facilitated by Dave Owen, Jeffrey Lischin, and Dianna Pell of Owen Consulting and it taught participants how to find and cultivate prospective grant makers and how to put together a compelling and effective grant proposal.

Our “Program Evaluation 101” workshop was facilitated by Favio German and Allison Quigney of Public Works Partners and it gave participants a comprehensive overview of program evaluation and how it can benefit one’s organization.

Our “Fundraising Made Simple” workshop was facilitated by Edward Leibman of Hudson Ferris and it taught participants how to find major donors and how to utilize effective messaging tools to tell their stories. Attendees even had the opportunity to take part in a mock solicitation with an actor hired to represent a potential donor!

Thank you to everyone who came out to our workshop series!