1. Institute for Building Technology and Safety
Avoiding Disaster through Community Revitalization & Resilience: Opportunities & Challenges
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Track/Session: 3.15
Patrick Howell
Institute for Building Technology and Safety

2. The Institute for building technology and safety
IBTS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
Provides daily operations and disaster recovery assistance for 130+ small communities across the U.S.
Guided by a Board of Directors consisting of representatives from:
3 min as may be some discussion (though not invited) 2

3. WHAT WE DO State & Federal Programs Local Government Solutions
Education &
Training
Grant Writing and Management
Technology
Services
Energy Solutions
Leadership
Quality
Assurance
Disaster Preparedness & Recovery

4. Why Small and mid-sized cities?
Local governments on the front lines of disaster resilience.
Tasked with providing day-to-day life safety and quality of life.
Responsible for first 72 hours of response after a disaster event.
Resilience planning and action often constrained by lack of resources and capital.
Leaving smaller communities out of the resilience movement can exasperate the urban/rural divide. 4

5. The business case for resilience
Tremendous Economic Losses for Small Businesses After Disaster
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation estimates losses for:
Small Businesses (< 500 employees): $3,000 per day
Midsize Business: $23,000 per day
Large Businesses: (> 1,000 employees): $84,000 per hour*
Majority of small business will not survive a major disaster
FEMA estimates 40-60% of small businesses will never reoper their doors following a disaster.**
90% of small companies fail within a year unless they can resume operations within 5 days.** * **

6. Building community resilience
Prevent loss of life and damage to property.
Improve social resilience by addressing vulnerable population
Prepare citizens and businesses to absorb shocks and recovery quickly
Create evidence-based action plans
Assess Risks
Communicate
Mitigate
Inclusive Planning

7. Building community resilience - resources
CRAFT – Community Resilience Assessment Framework and Tools
A platform for small communities to assess, and in turn, strengthen their social, economic, and governance resilience.
Grant Management (New NFBPA Member-Benefit)
Needs Assessments and Funding Identification
Proposal Development
Grant Management
Compliance and Reporting

8. Building community resilience - resources
IBTS OnHAND 8

9. Norristown, pa case study
Small Cities Resilience Competition (IBTS and NLC)
Public, private, and civil society stakeholders
Process
Baseline Assessment
Project Impact Analysis
Recommendations for Implementation
Resilience Planning Workshop
Financial Education
Action Plan 9

10. Lessons learned from norristown
Resilience action in small and medium-sized communities is possible and obtainable.
Identify a “resilience champion” to interact with stakeholders.
Weave resilience themes into existing capital improvement programs, economic incentives, and social services.
Internal communication and collaboration is key.
Economic and social vulnerabilities can be addressed simultaneously with physical and governance resilience improvements.
2 min 10

11. Louisiana Case study
Post-Katrina legislation required Uniform Building Codes be implemented in each parish
State utilized Public-Nonprofit Partnership to ease the burden of implementation
LA scores on Insurance Institute for Building and Home Safety’s Rate-the-States Index:
2005: 4 out of 100
2015: 82 out of 100 11

12. Regional shared services in la12

13. Patrick Howell, Community Resilience Program Manager Research Place Ashburn, VA
facebook/ibts.org
IBTS_org
Institute for Building Technology and Safety