Vulnerable Populations

How can we empower vulnerable populations to fully participate in the prevention of and response to wildfires?

Disaster preparedness and prevention require significant amounts of financial and social resources as well as collective political action. Vulnerable populations, such as those that are low-income or non-English speakers, often lack the data and political power to fully participate in the development of programs and policies that help communities respond to wildfires. Can you develop an easy-to-use tool that allow community-based organizations and advocacy groups to gather data from multiple sources to paint a full picture of the impact of wildfires on their constituents and in their local settings? Ideally, the tool can be used by organizations to present concise information (think 1-2 page summaries) to local and state officials to secure resources for response or engage in the policy process. The impacts may include but are not limited to: smoke exposure and health concerns, economic damage (e.g. job loss), mental health concerns, food insecurity, and loss of education.

Data Source

- Purple Air 
- Office of Unemployment Insurance
- California Dept of Education DataQuest
- American Community Survey Data