Monica Bortolini
Chris Tagert
May 24, 2012
Why did we start the
program?
Everything was new…
 Stormwater Authority
 Floodplain Program
 DFIRM
 New CRS Community
Why did we start the program?
Help People
Stay Safe!
Raise Awareness
Influence
Behavioral Change
How did we approach the project?
Planning
Implementation
THREE PHASES
Alignment with
Community
Rating System
(CRS)
Comprehensive Plan; Phased Implementation
 Captured “everything” in the plan
 Direct mailing, display booths, event participation,
children’s activities, website improvements,
Facebook page, TV, Radio, etc.
 Conceptual level
 Created a implementation plan that included only
those items that were deemed “achievable” based
on available resources
 Activities were planned during “down” times for
SEMSWA
 All other activities were documented in a section
entitled “Conceptual Ideas for Future Plan Updates;”
to be added to the implementation plan at a point in
the future when resources are available.
Identified key messages
Risk Reduction
Emergency
Action
Know Your Hazard
Be Prepared
Preparation &
Response
Get Flood Insurance
Build Responsibly
Preserve the Floodplain
Flash Flooding
Defined outreach approach
 Defined building blocks
for the outreach plan
 Flash flooding and
Denver Metro
specific events
 Limited mailings that
would not overwhelm
the audience
 Focused on effective
messages 1st; future
CRS credit 2nd
Target Messages with Audience
Risk Reduction
Document
UDFCD
Official Notice – Flood Hazard Information
X
SEMSWA
Know your Hazard
X
X
SEMSWA
SEMSWA in XYZ Neighborhood
X
X
SEMSWA
Dam Safety
SEMSWA
SEMSWA
SEMSWA
Ways SEMSWA Can Help
Ways to Protect your Home or Business
Flood Insurance
NFIP
Filing your Flood Insurance Claim
SEMSWA
Planning and Constructing Home Improvements in the
Floodplain
SEMSWA
Construction Requirements for Homes in Floodplains
X
X
UDFCD
Preserving the natural and beneficial values of floodplains
adjacent to development projects
X
X
Preparation &
Response
Flood Smart
The Risk Is Real
X
X
SEMSWA
Preparing for and Responding to a Flood
X
X
Flash Flood
NOAA
Turn Around Don’t Drown
X
Be Prepared
Get Flood
Insurance
Build Responsibly
Preserve the
Floodplain
Fall
Spring
As Needed
Mortgage Lenders
Real Estate Agents
Dam Inundation
Neighborhoods
Distribution
Author
Know Your
Hazard
Emergency
Action
Developers
Category
SFHA Homeowners
Stay Safe
Community
Audience
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
8
X
…Future Plans for television, social media, etc.
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
Piggyback On Other Related
Meetings and/or Mailings
Create an Implementation Schedule that
Works for You
 Leveraged flood awareness week with Earth Day
 Avoided direct mailing in the spring so as to not
overlap with UDFCD’s flood awareness mailer
 Avoided sending flood related information in the
winter as the community is not engaged at that
time
 Avoided planning activities in the summer as
that’s a busy time at SEMSWA for budgeting
10
What PR department?
 With no dedicated outreach staff,
implementation was left up to the FPA
 Year 1, three goals were identified
 To achieve these three goals additional
resources would be required
11
Obtain Resources to Help
 Hired an experienced
(stormwater) outreach
professional
Generation
of Event
Specific
Materials
• Activity with boy
scouts
• Booth Banner
• Display booth
materials
Event
Coordination
• Finding and booking
event space
• Printing and displaying
materials
• Obtaining giveaways
4 Major
Areas of
Focus
Strategic
planning for
future
events
Direct
Mailing
• Coordination with
other entities
• Preparing and
distributing material
This Year’s Activities
Open House Booth:
Interactive Discussion
Direct Mailing:
Brochures
Children’s Activities:
Poster Contest
…WITH YEAR ONE A SUCCESS, NEW ACTIVITIES WILL BE ADDED
Hired Help, What Does It Cost?
 Depends on the number of activities planned for
the flood season
 Cyclical or continuous?
 Do you plan to sustain outreach all year long or
only during flood season?
 How many FTEs?
 For SEMSWA: ~1/3 of an FTE averaged over one
year, for the first year of implementation.
14
What’s The Future Plan?
 As events are repeated, each will require less
time for preparation and execution
 As those efficiencies are gained, new activities
will be added to enhance SEMSWA’s “Stay Safe”
plan
15
How does Stay Safe tie into CRS?
 At the time that the plan was conceived, the
revisions to the CRS were preliminary
 The new criteria for Public Information is a lot more
involved than previously
 SEMSWA jurisdictions will not have their 5-year
cycle visit for three more years
 Therefore we did what we thought would be most
effective for SEMSWA now and plan to revisit how it
might score within the new CRS criteria after three
years of implementation
 We’ve set realistic expectations – a community may
never have the resources necessary to fully
implement the new CRS PPI
16
Stay Safe - Conclusions
Determine what
you think will be
effective in your
jurisdiction
Make a plan,
leverage existing
resources, take
small,
manageable
steps
Commit to an
implementation
schedule, even
if you have to
scale back what
you would like
to do each year
17
Monica Bortolini
Chris Tagert
May 24, 2012