TITLE
Recommendation to receive and file the California State University, Long Beach, Graduate Social Work students report on their disaster preparedness study in the Empowerment Zone Application Area.
DISCUSSION
In the spring of 2005, a group of California State University, Long Beach, Graduate Social Work students were introduced to the idea of revisiting the 1998 Empowerment Zone Application Area, a majority of which is in the 6th District. The student group interviewed residents and community organizations to get a sense of existing community needs and the effectiveness of services being offered. As part of the effort, the students assisted residents by distributing disaster preparedness pamphlets that were produced by the City of Long Beach. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the class initiated a community gathering in the Empowerment Zone Application Area to gain insight into the community is awareness of the City's disaster preparedness plans. The class surmised that many of the residents in the Empowerment Zone Application Area had limited resources and this fact paralleled persons in those areas of New Orleans that were hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. The student group would like to continue the project by helping to facilitate disaster preparedness and by conducting a door-to--door survey in the Empowerment Zone Application Area. Through the project, the student group has been learning about the existing knowledge and level of preparedness for a natural disaster in the study area. The student group would like the opportunity to briefly present their community-based research and developing findings to the City Council.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
COUNCILWOMAN LAURA RICHARDSON
SIXTH DISTRICT