Lesson Overview

This lesson looks at the Tribal mitigation planning process and covers five planning process topics:

• Hazard Mitigation and Mitigation Planning
• Getting Started
• Build the Planning Team
• Engage the Public
• Integrate the Planning Process

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Differentiate between mitigation and preparedness.
• Identify the role of the planning team in hazard mitigation planning.
• Identify the methods of gathering feedback from the public for the mitigation plan.
• Recall the process of gathering information and documentation essential for a successful mitigation plan.

Hazard mitigation is the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters. Mitigation means acting NOW to prevent hazards from becoming disasters.

Sustained activity: Mitigation is an ongoing process that is focused on long-term solutions.

In this definition, there are a few important parts:

• Sustained action refers to ongoing and consistent policies, such as building codes and land use regulations.
• Reducing or eliminating long-term risk is referring to protecting people and structures from the impacts of future disasters.

These are hazard mitigation examples because they are long-term or sustained solutions to reducing risk:

• Retrofitting a critical facility
• Enforcing building codes
• Planning land use
• Clearing defensible space
• Drainage projects
• Tornado shelters
• Acquiring and removing homes, or relocating homes that have repeatedly flooded
• Instituting zoning ordinances that require fire-resistant roofing material in wildfire hazard areas
• Relocating entire reservations out of the tsunami zone, like the Quinault Tribe in Washington

These non-hazard mitigation examples are great ways to prepare for a disaster, but they are not long-term or sustained:

• Purchasing a police command vehicle
• Planning for or conducting a response exercise

Mitigation helps:

• Prevent injury and loss of life by reducing exposure to risk from natural hazards.
• Prevent damage to existing and future Tribal assets.
• Prevent damage to a Tribe’s unique economic, cultural, and environmental assets.
• Reduce costs of disaster response/recovery by minimizing down time and speeding up recovery after a disaster.
• Reduce first responders’ exposure to risk.
• Support what is important to the Tribe, whether it is an investment in infrastructure protection, natural and cultural resource protection, open space preservation, or economic resiliency.

According to the National Institute of Building Science’s Mitigation Saves: 2018 Interim Report, federally funded mitigation grants, on average, can save the Nation $6 in future disaster costs for every $1 spent on hazard mitigation. The National Institute of Building Science also found that every $1 invested in building codes saves $11 in avoided losses.

The calculated Benefit-Cost Ratios (BCRs) vary by hazard, but overall, there is a positive return on investment for these kinds of mitigation projects.

• Taking the extraordinary step of calculating how much damage had been averted in communities that have adopted modern building codes, FEMA found that, since the first edition of the International Codes (I-Codes) in 2000, communities that have adopted them have saved approximately $1.6B in average annualized losses, saving the Nation $32B over that 20-year period in avoided building and contents losses.
• The study also found that currently 65 percent of jurisdictions having authority have not adopted modern building codes, only 50 percent of cumulative post-2000 construction adhered to the I-Codes, and 30 percent of new construction is occurring in communities with no codes at all or codes that are more than 20 years outdated.
• Not all Tribal Nations adopt and enforce building codes. Tribal Nations that do have been included in the Building Codes Save study. For example, the Seminole Tribe adopted the Florida Building Code so that development in those areas has enhanced wind protection and contributes to the overall losses avoided in FL. The Lummi Nation in Washington State, a CRS community, adopts freeboard into their local ordinances which reduces damages during floods and contributes to the losses avoided. These tribal areas, and others that adopt building codes, are included in the Building Codes Save study.”

• If all new buildings across the U.S. were built to modern editions of the I-Codes, the country would save more than $600 billion by 2060.

• The cost of strengthening a new home against natural hazards is minimal compared with overall construction costs. For example, hurricane safeguards add $4,500 to the cost of a $300,000 home but avert $48,000 in damage over 30 years.

• Unless communities update their standards, around 4.2 million homes will be built between 2016 and 2040 in communities with archaic building codes unless states and localities update their standards. That represents 30% of the 13.9 million buildings to be constructed in that period.

What do you think the difference is between mitigation and preparation?

• Structural retrofits, green infrastructure, and fuel reduction are examples of mitigation.
• Emergency notification, preparedness kits, and command vehicles are examples of preparedness.
• Education and outreach efforts can be either—it depends on what you are educating and reaching out about.

Remember, mitigation is an ongoing process that is focused on long-term solutions, while preparedness seeks to rectify the short-term effects of hazards. Mitigation is in it for the long haul, and seeks to permanently reduce the risk from hazards.

Engage the whole community to understand risk

The planning process incorporates the participation of a wide range of partners and the public – the whole community – in the planning process. This creates an open and inclusive process that provides transparency and legitimacy to the decisions made during plan development. An inclusive mitigation planning process also facilitates the establishment of partnerships that will be critical to recovery should a disaster occur.

Come up with solutions to reduce risk

These mitigation policies and actions are identified based on an assessment of hazards, vulnerabilities, and risks.

Create an action plan to implement the solutions

The purpose of mitigation planning is to identify policies and actions that can be implemented over the long term to reduce risk and future losses.

Benefits include:

• Aligning risk reduction with other Tribal or community objectives, and focusing resources on the greatest risks
• Building partnerships for risk reduction involving government, organizations, businesses, and the community
• Identifying cost-effective actions to reduce risk
• Increasing education and awareness around hazards and risk

A successful planning process involves bringing Tribal members and other partners together to discuss their knowledge, their perception of risk, and how to meet their needs as part of the process.

This inclusive process works within the traditions, culture, and methods most suitable to a Tribal government, so that participants better understand the unique vulnerabilities to the Tribal planning area and can develop relevant mitigation actions.

Below are essential pieces of legislation that provide the basis for mitigation planning.

Robert T. Stafford Disaster and Emergency Assistance Act as amended by the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000

• Requires State, Tribal, and local governments to develop and adopt FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plans as a condition for receiving certain types of non-emergency disaster assistance, including Public Assistance Permanent Work and Hazard Mitigation Assistance funding.

Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013

• Allows federally recognized Tribes to obtain their own major disaster declarations.
• Allows Tribes to apply for disaster assistance independent of a State seeking a declaration.

The Tribal Plan Review Guide (or “the Guide”) is the official interpretation of the Tribal Mitigation Planning Requirements, found at Code of Federal Regulations, Title 44, Section 201.7. The Guide focuses on requirements and simplifies the review process using:

• A consistent, streamlined format
• More clarity regarding the requirements
• Fewer redundancies

The Guide supersedes the 2010 Tribal Multi-Hazard Mitigation Planning Guidance, but there are no changes to the underlying regulations. The Guide lays out the requirements, and assists Tribes in understanding these requirements. It is also a resource for FEMA plan reviewers.

Note: 44 CFR Section 201.7 and the Tribal Mitigation Plan Review Guide apply to federally recognized Tribes (including Alaska Native Villages). Non-federally recognized Tribes do not have the option of applying directly to FEMA for assistance. FEMA treats non-federally recognized Tribes like other local entities under 44 CFR Section 201.6 and the Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide.

Now that we have gone over what hazard mitigation and mitigation planning are, we’ll talk about getting your planning process up and running. Before building the plan, it is important to remember that the mitigation plan belongs to your Tribal community. While FEMA has the authority to approve plans, there is no required format. You get to build a planning process and a plan that works with your history, culture, governance, and partners.

When writing your mitigation plan, keep the following in mind:

• Develop the plan to serve the community. To have value, your plan must represent the current needs and values of the community and be useful to Tribal officials and partners.
   
• Remember the Guiding Principles in the Guide:
• Nation to Nation
• Foster cooperation and understanding
• Focus on mitigation strategy
• Consider intent while reviewing the plan
• Planning process is important
• This is the Tribe’s plan

Single or Multi-Jurisdictional

One of the first decisions to make is how you will organize the process. Will you create the plan with just your own Tribe – a single jurisdiction or sovereign nation? Or will you create a plan together with other Tribes, cities, and/or counties – a multi-jurisdiction? Jurisdiction refers to a government entity.

It is important to keep in mind that in a multi-jurisdictional plan, each participating jurisdiction must adopt the plan to achieve grant eligibility. The final plan must clearly list the jurisdictions that participated in the plan and that are seeking plan approval.

You can change your approach with each update. For example, if you participated in a multi-jurisdictional plan for your first plan, you can later adjust to work as a single jurisdiction.

Single jurisdiction plans may offer the following advantages:

• Offers autonomy and control over how you set up your planning process.
• Focuses on your Tribe’s specific and unique needs.
• Works for both large and small Tribes.
• Offers improved internal coordination.

Multi-jurisdictional plans may offer the following advantages:

• Improves communication and provides an opportunity to coordinate with nearby communities, Tribal or not. Partnerships and networks created during the planning process will be helpful during response and recovery in the event of a disaster.
• Allows you to leverage existing plans and partnerships and available resources and capabilities. For example:
• Enables comprehensive mitigation approaches to reduce risks that affect multiple jurisdictions
• Enables cost and capability sharing
• Avoids duplication of efforts

While offering several benefits, a multi-jurisdictional planning process is not an easier approach and can present the following challenges:

• Involves coordinating among multiple jurisdictions that may have different capabilities, priorities, and histories working together, from plan development through adoption.
• Potentially reduces your control over the process.
• May result in less detailed assessment of risks or less specific mitigation actions.

If participating with other jurisdictions, make sure your Tribal members have an opportunity to provide input. Multi-jurisdictional plans need coordination and accountability from each jurisdiction. Specific partners from each participating jurisdiction need to be identified, and engagement activities need to be designed to reach the public across the planning area.

There are some specific requirements for multi-jurisdictional planning. Each tribe seeking plan approval must:

• Participate in the planning process

The plan should explain how each participating jurisdiction (who, what, when) shared in the overall planning process at the larger scale with all the jurisdictions, as well as describe how the overall planning team representatives worked with jurisdiction-specific personnel/staff/etc. to make decisions for the specific Tribal community. A multi-jurisdictional plan should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the jurisdictional representatives on the multi-jurisdictional planning team and local jurisdictional supporting planning participants.

• Assess its unique risks
   
• Identify specific mitigation activities
   
• Provide the public with an opportunity to comment
   
• Adopt the plan

For multi-jurisdictional plans, it is important that the participating jurisdictions coordinate the timing of plan adoption so that the plan is adopted by each jurisdiction around the same time, as much as practicable. With multi-jurisdictional plans, the first participating jurisdiction (usually the lead jurisdiction, but not always) to adopt the plan starts the plan update cycle clock and determines the plan’s expiration date, which all participating jurisdictions will follow.

This course is focused on standard mitigation plans. However, a Tribal government that already has an approved standard Tribal mitigation plan (under 44 CFR 201.7) could receive approval of an enhanced plan (under 44 CFR 201.5) and increased funding by demonstrating through a narrative and examples:

• Integration with other Tribal planning initiatives:
• Sectors: Emergency Mgt., Economic Development, Land Use Development, Housing, Health and Social Services, Infrastructure, Natural and Cultural Resources.
• FEMA programs – HMA grant programs (PDM, HMGP, FMA), FMAG, and other FEMA programs that advance mitigation – THIRA, PA (406).
• Tribal mitigation capabilities: Tribe-wide mitigation councils, provides non-Federal match for HMGP, offers training and workshops, building design standards and enforcement, mitigation is part of post-disaster recovery, etc.
• HMA grants management performance.

The regulatory requirements for approval of an enhanced mitigation plan are quite challenging, and if you are interested in enhanced status you should contact your Regional Tribal Liaison or Regional Community Planner to discuss it. There are special procedures required for an Enhanced plan submittal and review. For more information, review Section 3 and Appendix B of the Tribal Mitigation Plan Review Guide.

Role of the Planning Team:

• Engaging Tribal members and the public to seek participation and input.
• Identifying risks to and vulnerabilities of the Tribal community through the risk assessment.
• Developing Tribe-specific solutions for the identified risks.
• Being champions for resilience and the plan. Your planning team should generate interest and promote risk reduction.

Who will be on your planning team?

The planning team represents organizations with the expertise and authority to implement the mitigation strategy that will be developed through the planning process. Here are things to consider when deciding who to ask to be a part of the planning team.

Look for expertise in:

• People, culture, and social conditions
• Built and natural environments
• Hazards and disaster history
• Relevant government and community functions

Look for responsible people who can dedicate the time to develop and implement the plan, including:

• Implementing programs and activities.
• Making decisions on policies and resources.
• Dedicating time for mitigation planning activities. These activities are not a once and done. They are an ongoing commitment to the mitigation planning effort that should be built into one’s work schedule.

Note: When building the planning team, you can start with existing organizations or committees in the community. For mitigation plan updates, reconvene the team from the previous planning process along with any additional individuals or organizations.

Identifying potential planning team members may be straightforward, but persuading individuals with competing priorities to invest time and energy in the mitigation planning process can be challenging. Incorporating local leaders in the planning team is often met with success as they can provide guidance and direction for the plan amongst competing priorities. Here are some kinds of partners you should consider including in the planning team:

• Tribal officials, elders, or other decision-makers. They may be agency/department heads but could be elected. Think about natural resources, public health, housing, utilities, land use and transportation
• Business leaders
• Cultural partners, especially who those who can provide information on and context for sacred and cultural sites
• Educational institutions
• Non-Profits, including those involved in disaster preparedness, community advocacy, or emergency response
• Regional, State, and Federal partners that can lend data, expertise, or technical assistance

There are many potential partner organizations and agencies that can contribute to the mitigation planning process. At a minimum, you must extend participation to neighboring communities, Tribal and regional agencies involved in hazard mitigation activities, and agencies that have the authority to regulate development.

You should also include people or organizations that can:

• Help implement the plan
• Provide data
• Provide context on your Tribe or expected hazards
• Potentially provide funds

These partners may have similar interests or experiences in natural hazards. The mitigation planning process allows them to discuss these topics and to come up with solutions. For example, you may want to include your public works office. They may have historic knowledge of hazards, and might be the responsible agency for implementing an infrastructure project. They can bring information and expertise that strengthens the plan.

• Elected leaders of the community have the responsibility to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the Tribe, and are usually the ones who will guide the Tribe through the adoption and implementation process.
   
• It’s important to keep elected officials informed about the planning process from the earliest beginnings, and continue to keep them updated throughout the process.
   
• This will help build and maintain support for the plan over its lifetime.

In the exercise packet, use the “Planning Team Worksheet” and start building your planning team. You do not need to identify someone from each group. The worksheet is intended to help you think about who to ask to join the planning team. Consider including people that are knowledgeable of the Tribe’s natural hazard risks and mitigation capabilities.

The planning team will need to hold a series of meetings or work sessions during the planning process. The first meeting of the planning team, or the plan kickoff meeting, should focus on introducing team members, describing the overall purpose of the plan, defining the team’s responsibilities, validating the project scope and schedule, and brainstorming who else should be involved in the planning process.

Initial tasks include:

• Review the current mitigation plan (if you have one)
• Determine plan scope and schedule
• Gather data, plans, reports, and studies
• Develop an outreach strategy

Tips for meetings and engagement:

• It may be helpful to hold planning team meetings at a restaurant or to schedule the meeting at lunchtime and provide food to ensure a good level of attendance/participation.
• Planning team meetings can be working sessions or opportunities to review developed content, but it’s important to keep the planning team working together to build the plan.
• Partner and public engagement events – You can go to your partners and the public, or they can come to you. Remember that you must provide opportunities for participation in the planning process while the plan is being developed and prior to plan approval. Another aspect of the schedule is the review period(s). To maintain continuous grant eligibility, build in time for FEMA’s review of the plan before adoption by the Tribe.

For plan updates, you should:

• Locate your previous plan review from FEMA

It is important to start from your previous plan review from FEMA. This may be a “crosswalk” that has recommended revisions or a “Plan Review Tool.” If it is the Plan Review Tool, there will be a section with “Opportunities for Improvement” that you should use as you get started.

• Use FEMA’s recommendations to strengthen your plan

Review the comments and feedback from the last review and use them as the starting point to strengthen your plan.

• Incorporate any changes from the last 5 years

If your plan is an update, you should have been monitoring and evaluating the plan throughout the last 5 years; go back to those annual monitoring meetings or reports and incorporate changes you identified, like changes in leadership, in disaster activity, investments in mitigation, changes in development, and changes in regulations. In general, think about what went well with your past plan and what did not. Use those lessons to strengthen your planning process.

The kickoff meeting is a good time for the planning team to agree on the overall scope of work and schedule for developing or updating the mitigation plan and the requirements of a hazard mitigation plan for FEMA approval.

• At this meeting, set a schedule for the duration of the project.
• By setting dates for regular check-ins and future meetings, you can help keep the project on track.
• You can also identify existing meetings that planning team members attend and include the ones that could support hazard mitigation on the schedule.
• These meetings build connections and can support internal Tribal coordination and outreach.
• Make sure that all parties involved in the process know their roles, responsibilities, and deadlines.
• Be sure to provide clear milestones to keep plan development on track.
• It is important that everyone walks away from the kickoff meeting with an understanding of the overall project purpose, schedule, and tasks, as well as the agenda and goals for future planning team meetings.
• If you received FEMA grant funding for your plan, you should also keep the grant period of performance in mind. Usually, the planning grant requires a FEMA-approved plan at the end of the period of performance.
• FEMA will review your plan within 45 days whenever possible, and there may be required revisions you have to make. It is a good idea to build in more than 45 days to allow time for review and revision so that there is no interruption of your grant eligibility.

For a sample timeline you can use to develop your plan, review Appendix B of the Tribal Planning Handbook.

Mitigation plans must incorporate accurate, current, relevant information, usually from existing data, plans, reports, and studies. It is important to gather these resources (and ask your planning team members for any resources they know of) to support the planning process. Consider the following kinds of data: 

• Tribal – data that is specific to your Tribal planning area is the best source of information for your plan. Look for land use plans, emergency plans, comprehensive plans, or other documents to form the foundation of the mitigation plan.
• State – State mitigation planning efforts can provide background information as you get started. There may be State data sources that cover the geography of your Tribal planning area.
• Federal – Federal agencies can give context about hazard events. If your tribe is a part of the National Flood Insurance Program, make sure you incorporate information on mapped floodplains and available flood hazard data. FEMA should be your first stop for flood hazard data. Other data on natural hazards may come from these agencies: Environmental Protection Agency, US Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin., Census, Dept. of Agriculture, US Geological Survey, US Forest Service, or the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Local, county, and non-profit – it can be helpful to review data in the plans of adjacent jurisdictions. Ask any non-profits your Tribe works with if they have data to contribute.

• Give your public an opportunity to be involved in the plan 
   
• Inform them by:
• Advertising mitigation meetings in newsletters
• Providing a booth at community events
• Announcing the planning process at other community meetings
• Social media

Sometimes we will use the word “public” and sometimes we’ll use “Tribal community.” In your planning process, “Tribal community” may be the same as “the public.” Or, it might be identified as those living on Tribal land or in the Tribal service area regardless of their Tribal membership. Tribal members/citizens who do not live on the Tribal lands may also want to provide input or comment on the plan. Ultimately, you need to define what “public” will mean for your plan.

The public can include:

• Tribal members
• Reservation residents (Tribal and/or non-Tribal members)
• Tribal employees
• Business owners

Public engagement strengthens your plan and makes sure your plan reflects your Tribe’s values, experience, history, culture, and input.

It can also:

• Educate your members and partners about hazards and risk
• Bring in different perspectives
• Promote transparency in the process
• Create a sense of ownership and buy-in
• Strengthen community disaster resilience

Regardless of how it is done, it is crucial to give the public a genuine opportunity to participate in the mitigation planning process. After all, the plan is intended to protect their lives and property, and they may have ideas on how to do that.

There are a wide variety of potential outreach options that you should think about using to get the word out about the mitigation planning process. Use what works best for your community, and what is known to be tried and true. One approach is to bring information about the planning process to existing community events where lots of people will be passing through. Another is to put out information in a widely distributed newsletter or other form of publication. Social media can also be used to quickly get the word out for those who follow your Tribe.

• Community events
• Open houses/public workshops
• Interviews
• News media
• Presentations to governing bodies
• Questionnaires/surveys
• Roundtables/forums
• Social media
• Websites

Involve the public throughout the planning process, not just at the end when you have a draft written. If your Tribe has a policy in place for the public review of documents prior to adoption, follow it and incorporate it into the plan development schedule.

• Determine outreach objectives and schedule. Identify what type of input you need from partners and the public, and when you will ask for that input.
• Develop clear and consistent messages that align with community values. Consider your Tribe’s goals and values and how they align with reducing the impacts of future hazards and disasters. Then, personalize talking points for discussions with different audiences and develop messages that appeal to them.
• Conduct outreach early and often, using as many formats and venues as is practical. This will help bring a broader cross section of the community and partners into the planning process.
• Document, evaluate, and incorporate feedback received through outreach activities, such as completed questionnaires and surveys, comments at meetings, and comments on plan. Tell the people you engage with how the planning team will use the feedback to develop the plan.
• Celebrate success! Publicize accomplishments such as receipt of grant funding for mitigation activities or completion of an approvable plan to raise awareness of risk and of hazard mitigation efforts.

Reflection:

You might have multiple outreach strategies, such as one for partners and one for community members. Do you have someone in charge of social media? They could help facilitate outreach and provide guidance on your outreach strategy.  

The final topic for the planning process is integration. This means to coordinate the mitigation planning process with other plans, processes, and decisions.

Think about it this way: your Tribe may already have planning efforts that have force of law behind them. It’s a good idea to make sure that the mitigation plan works with those processes to help create a safe community. Coordinating these efforts can help get more out of all your efforts by using common data, coordinating efforts, preventing conflicting priorities, and bringing more people together around risk reduction.

You know your resources best, but here are some potential kinds of planning efforts, initiatives, and programs that you might want to integrate with the mitigation planning process:

• Plans such as:
• Comprehensive or general plan
• Housing plan
• Climate adaptation plan
• Capital improvement plan
• Pre-disaster recovery plan
• Transportation plan
• Processes such as:
• Economic development initiatives
• The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
• Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA)
• Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning

For each one, consider questions like:

• Can this planning process provide data or insights that can help the mitigation plan and avoid doing the work twice?
• Are there people who participate in this planning process or program who should also contribute to the mitigation plan?
• Does this plan determine where or how things are built? Would coordinating it help keep people or investments out of harm’s way?

Here are a few examples in greater detail of planning efforts, initiatives, and programs that you might want to integrate with the mitigation planning process:

Climate Adaptation Plan

• Climate adaptation plans help Tribes anticipate, plan for, and adapt to future climate conditions.
• A Climate Adaptation Plan may have data or insights that can be used in the mitigation plan, especially for the discussion of the future probability of hazard events. If it identifies projects, those can be considered for inclusion in the mitigation strategy.

Economic Development Strategy

• The Economic Development Strategy helps create and maintain a vibrant economy by guiding the economic growth and development in the Tribe.
• By coordinating economic development and hazard mitigation, you can look to grow the economy in places less vulnerable to hazards and to increase disaster resistance in the places most essential for the economy. Investments in mitigation can be important to the business community since they can reduce downtime and lost income during disaster events.

Emergency Operations Plan

• The Emergency Operations Plan governs how the Tribe will respond to an emergency or disaster event.
• While the Emergency Operations Plan focuses on the response to an emergency or disaster event, it also often outlines hazards or kinds of events that are of concern to the Tribe. This can be a starting point for your risk assessment. In addition, those involved in developing the Emergency Operations Plan are usually already well-versed in the Tribe’s hazards and vulnerabilities. That knowledge can make a better risk assessment and can identify where mitigation is needed. Working with the emergency manager and Tribal Emergency Response Team can also make sure that mitigation is a part of post-disaster efforts.

Indian Housing Plan

• The Indian Housing Plan is an annual prerequisite to receive the Indian Housing Block Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It covers the housing activities the Tribe plans to undertake.
• The Indian Housing Plan includes planned housing activities for the coming year. The mitigation plan can consider how any planned housing projects can be made more disaster-resistant, both in location and construction type.

Reflection: What kinds of plans do you already have?

It’s important to document the planning process as you go. The plan should also serve as the written record or documentation of the planning process. Documentation of the planning process is very important, as it provides the transparency and legitimacy of the decision-making during the planning process. Additionally, it helps those involved to understand who was included in the previous planning process and what the planning process entailed.

This includes:

• Who was involved in the process?
• How was the plan prepared?
• How was the public involved?

Documentation examples:

• Sign-in sheets for all planning meetings
• Public or project meeting summaries and minutes
• Table of events and the major issues covered
• Narrative of how actions were selected and prioritized
• Email invitations to stakeholders/neighboring jurisdictions
• Newspaper publicity and articles
• E-newsletter blasts
• Social media postings
• Community surveys and supporting documentation.
• PowerPoint slides
• Table or spreadsheet of how each jurisdiction participated in a multi-jurisdictional plan

In this lesson, you have learned how to describe how to organize the hazard mitigation planning process and engage community members.

Planning Process Summary

• Mitigation is the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters.
• Mitigation planning attempts to strengthen community disaster resilience.
• When establishing the planning area, clearly identify the boundaries of land holdings in the Tribal planning area.
• Identify a wide array of stakeholders and parties to assist and support the mitigation plan.
• There are helpful tips for outreach that help broaden the foundation of the mitigation strategy.