The Disaster Assistance Improvement Program (DAIP) offers a search tool by ZIP code for areas designated for Individual Assistance. The website also offers a “Find Assistance” tool where the user can answer an anonymous questionnaire to receive a personalized list of possible assistance.

Ready.gov’s Ready Campaign created a variety of informative advertisements and public service announcements for use in donated media space. Their collection of Preparedness Videos includes Alerts, Build-a-Kit videos, Communication Plans videos, and Preparedness videos for pets, persons with disabilities, military families, and the elderly. Selected videos are also available in Spanish.

The FEMA Public Assistance Fact Sheet offers information on the FEMA Public Assistance Program, including the local codes, standards, and ability of relocation during disaster. The sheet answers basic questions on applicant eligibility and the benefits of hazard mitigation.

While much attention is given to healthy family care of children, non-parental care is talked about far less. This October 16 webinar from the Annie E. Casey Foundation will be directed toward kin caregivers and professionals who work with kin caregivers. Presenters will focus on the ways in which kinship care can be different from nonrelative care and on helping relatives navigate children’s emotions around their parents in a healthy way. For more information on Annie E. Casey Foundation resources for kinship families and professionals, visit the webinar registration page or the foundation’s website.

Historically, low-income students have been identified in schools by receipt of the federal free or reduced lunch program, but this measure is becoming irrelevant and misleading as more districts offer “community eligible” free lunches to all students. As a result, some states have begun to identify low-income students by family participation in programs like TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, and foster care. The post’s authors at the Brookings Institution applaud these methodological changes because they will yield more accurate data on the achievements of disadvantaged students without including non low-income students who may be receiving free or reduced price lunch. This post highlights practices and data from states, such as Delaware, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Tennessee, as well as the District of Columbia, as exemplary initiatives of linked data measure systems.

In response to several proposed federal changes to safety net program requirements, the Urban Institute developed a Well Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS) and published a report on the status of individual and family health and well-being. The data serves as a baseline against which to measure deviations as a result of potential policy change. Despite a low unemployment rate and growing labor market, the first round of WBNS data from 2017 shows that nearly 40 percent of adults had trouble meeting at least one basic need, a number which may increase due to proposed safety net changes. Hispanic, black, female, young, ill, and less educated demographics are the most likely to face hardships. The survey will continue to measure potential effects of policy changes and highlight areas of programmatic need.

This blog post from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) discusses interoperability, data integration, and data-informed decision-making, which are essential elements in the delivery of effective human service programs. ACF has committed to an Interoperability Action Plan with the goal of expanding data sharing initiatives within ACF and beyond. The action plan supports and strengthens the ReImagine HHS focus on aligning programs and “Putting People in the Center of HHS Programs.” The plan takes a fresh approach on serving individuals and families to examine existing and service delivery models.

The 2016 FEMA Youth Preparedness Catalog compiles programs and possible partnerships to get involved with or to support, along with providing curricula and resources for developing youth preparedness programs. These youth-tailored programs range across national, state, and local areas.

Low-income families and communities suffer a greater extent than others from disasters; with limited resources, few options are available to them to prepare for and recover from disasters. The results of a catastrophic event are not only physical, but they can also leave persons already with little means unable to afford temporary shelter, and lacking financial resources to rebuild or time to file for and await emergency assistance. This issue brief from MDRC highlights promising practices of emergency preparedness, disaster recovery, and community rebuilding which are lessons learned from the rebuilding process following previous catastrophic events.