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Disaster Resilience, Equity, & The Next Four Years of FEMA: What Lawyers Should Know

About This Program

Interested in learning more about disaster preparedness and recovery?

This program is part of the 2022 Disaster Resilience Awareness Month, a collaborative effort to spread awareness about disaster-related challenges, offer resources, and highlight the important role legal professionals play in disaster preparedness and recovery efforts.

Communities across the country continue to face the impact of climate change, especially destructive weather events such as wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and severe floods. As we think about what the next few years will bring and what we need to do to prepare, how can the legal community ensure that communities remain resilient and that recovery is accessible and equitable for all survivors?

In 2021, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA, published its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan outlining the strategies the agency will implement to prepare for and respond to tomorrow’s disasters. Under the new plan, FEMA seeks to instill equity as a foundation for emergency management and work towards a more climate-resilient nation.

Join us to explore the implications of this strategic plan, what led to significant changes such as removing barriers to FEMA programs to reach under-resourced communities, and how FEMA’s changes are being implemented.

Program Materials

Faculty

  • Stephanie Duke, Staff Attorney and Alumni Equal Justice Works Disaster Resilience Fellow, Disability Rights Texas
  • Amanda Poland, Program Specialist with the Individuals and Households Program, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  • Jonathan Reynolds, Heirs Property Staff Attorney, Louisiana Appleseed

Moderator

  • Jeanne Ortiz-Ortiz, Co-Vice-Director, American Bar Association YLD Disaster Legal Services Program and Pro Bono & Strategic Initiatives Manager, Pro Bono Net

Sponsors

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