Preassessment of Community-Based Organization Preparedness in Two Sectors, Human Services and Faith Based: New York City, 2016

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) 2019-09, Vol.109 (S4), p.S290-S296
• Main Authors: Rivera, Luis, Pagaoa, Melissa, Molinari, Noelle-Angelique, Morgenthau, Beth Maldin, LeBlanc, Tanya Telfair
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AJPH Open-Themed Research; Bivariate analysis; Charities; Cities; Civil Defense - organization & administration; Collaboration; Communications systems; Community; Community Health; Community organizations; Councils; Disaster Planning; Disasters; Emergency communications systems; Emergency management; Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems; Emergency preparedness; Emergency response; Environment; Faith; Faith-Based Organizations - economics; Faith-Based Organizations - organization & administration; Government; Health Policy; Human services; Humans; Indicators; Internet; Needs Assessment; New York City; Nonprofit organizations; Organizations; Planning; Polls & surveys; Prevention; Public health; Public Health Practice; Religion; Religious behavior; Religious beliefs; Religious organizations; Respondents; Social Work - economics; Social Work - organization & administration; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305141

To determine the level of preparedness among New York City community-based organizations by using a needs assessment. We distributed online surveys to 582 human services and 6017 faith-based organizations in New York City from March 17, 2016 through May 11, 2016. We calculated minimal indicators of preparedness to determine the proportion of organizations with preparedness indicators. We used bivariate analyses to examine associations between agency characteristics and minimal preparedness indicators. Among the 210 human service sector respondents, 61.9% reported emergency management plans and 51.9% emergency communications systems in place. Among the 223 faith-based respondents, 23.9% reported emergency management plans and 92.4% emergency communications systems in place. Only 10.0% of human services and 18.8% of faith-based organizations reported having funds allocated for emergency response. Only 2.9% of human services sector and 39.5% of faith-based sector respondents reported practicing emergency communication alerts. New York City human service and faith-based sector organizations are striving to address emergency preparedness concerns, although notable gaps are evident. Our results can inform the development of metrics for community-based organizational readiness.