Summary

Our research aims to provide insight into how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government officials support historically impacted communities through a hazard. Prior research has found that lack of communication and pre-existing mistrust between communities and agencies creates longer recovery times for impacted groups. Our study describes the ways in which various groups are talking about support to identify commonalities in communication methods between NGOs and agencies. Other federal agencies can learn how NGOs broadcast critical information to help communities in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from an event. Additionally, this research will help identify which NGOs are the most active in providing aid within impacted communities .

Our Year 10 proposal will further the mission of the grant and continue the work from research conducted during Years 6 – 9. In past years, we focused on investigating support for historically impacted groups as they prepared for the next disaster and administered a survey to over 5,000 NGOs and local government officials. We also conducted a content analysis from websites and other communications media tied to local NGOs and governments corresponding to local hazards.

In Year 10, we will continue to use machine learning strategies to identify 10,000 NGOs poised to provide support surrounding such hazards (Group A) in the nation. Here, we will determine which organizations are situated in vulnerable locations, which are working with historically impacted populations, and which represent a combination of both. Next, we will select two natural disasters (i.e., Tropical Storm Ophelia and Hurricane Helene) and identify the organizations (Group B) supporting impacted communities throughout the event. From there, we will conduct a content analysis based on text and images drawn from the public websites and other communications media associated with organizations in Group B. Identification of organizations that aid a community will allow federal and local agencies to target the most active organizations and collaborate to meet community needs most efficiently and effectively. The web and other communications media content will also indicate the extent to which organizations are addressing preparedness, response, and recovery. We will create policy recommendations for the next steps and share our findings through a public forum for participation from community members and government agencies.

Investigators