APA Seeking Disaster Recovery Guinea Pig

The past year has been a tough one for a number of communities throughout the Midwest. Floods have ravaged communities, creating a large swath of destruction that many are still digging out of. A number of organizations have reached out to lend a helping hand for disaster recovery through various forms of assistance. Now, the American Planning Association (APA) is doing the same, but more on a national level.

Through a competitive process, the selected community will receive specialized technical assistance from a Recovery Planning Assistance Team (RPAT), a subsection of APA’s Community Planning Assistance Teams (CPAT). Funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the project will help “evaluate and test a Disaster Recovery Guidebook for Planning Practitioners”. This guidebook will then be refined and provided to other communities to aid in efforts to plan for recovery from major and catastrophic disasters using a number of tools.

It is highly likely that APA will be looking for a metropolitan-sized community to conduct this activity. However, it is a good idea to keep an eye out for the final copy of the Disaster Recovery Guidebook for Planning Practitioners. The resulting guidebook should be an invaluable resource to turn to assist in recovery efforts.

For more on the Disaster Recovery Technical Assistance Opportunity, check out APA’s webpage.