Providing Long-Term Services after Major Disasters

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Abstract

Nonprofit organizations are a crucial link in our nation’s emergency preparedness and disaster response efforts, but their role is not always well integrated into disaster planning. After both Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, nonprofits provided immediate and longer-term assistance to help people cope with devastating life changes and the emotional aftermath, but the importance of long-term services is not well understood or even acknowledged by victims and policymakers alike. This brief highlights the lessons learned from the Urban Institute’s assessment of the American Red Cross September 11th Recovery Program, which provided grants to community-based organizations to provide longer-term case management, mental health services, and other services to facilitate recovery to eligible individuals.

Introduction

Nonprofit organizations are a crucial link in our nation’s emergency preparedness and disaster response efforts, but their role is not always well-integrated into disaster planning. During Hurricane Katrina, faithbased and community organizations were among the first responders, helping to rescue, feed, and shelter victims of the storm. After 9/11, nonprofits provided both immediate and longer-term assistance to help people cope with devastating life changes and the emotional aftermath. Although disaster response is often perceived as the first actions taken after a crisis, in reality it encompasses a continuum of services that addresses various needs that may stretch over months and even years. The importance of longer-term services after major disasters is not well-understood or even acknowledged by victims and policymakers alike. Yet accounts of the long-term physical, mental, and emotional effects of disasters such as Katrina and 9/11 suggest the need for long-term services after an immediate crisis has passed¹.

This brief highlights the lessons learned from an assessment of the American Red Cross September 11th Recovery Program (SRP), conducted by the Urban Institute. Although the Red Cross is best known for its rescue and relief efforts immediately after disasters, it departed from this model in large part because of the substantial charitable donations received in the wake of 9/11. A portion of the 9/11 funds was designated for a new program called the Recovery Grants Program (RGP) to help people directly affected by the events of 9/11 with their longer-term recovery needs. In particular, the funds gave grants to community-based organizations to provide case management, mental health services, and other services to facilitate recovery to eligible individuals.

To study the SRP and RGP, the Urban Institute conducted a telephone survey of 1,501 individuals who received SRP services from the Red Cross, telephone interviews with 66 community-based nonprofits that received RGP grants² and site visits to 12 of these organizations, and a web-based and telephone survey of 347 clients who received services from these community-based providers. The lessons learned from this program provide important guidance for strengthening the nation’s emergency response system.

¹See Julia Cass, “For Many of Katrina’s Young Victims, the Scars Are More than Skin Deep,” Washington Post, 13 June 2006;
Ellen Barry, “Lost in the Dust of 9/11” Los Angeles Times, 14 October 2006;
Greg Sargent, “Zero for Heroes,” New York Magazine, 27 October 2003; and
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Impact of September 11 Attacks on Workers in the Vicinity of the World Trade Center—New York,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 9 September 2002.

²These organizations received funds under the initial two rounds of RGP grants, which were awarded in December 2004.

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The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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