In Service: Ideas to Help Gov't Agencies Affect Positive Change

With tropical storms and hurricanes dominating the news—and many of our day-to-day lives—it’s important to think about flood insurance. Hurricane Harvey dumped over 50 inches of rain onto Texas in a short span of time. Hurricane Irma brought rain and storm surge levels that put much of the lower part of the state underwater. You don’t have to look far to see why flood insurance is so vital.

CDBG-DR funds serve as a lifeline to survivors of catastrophic events. These programs have measurably improved the quality of life for so many impacted citizens, particularly our most vulnerable residents. Following the wake of the hurricanes that have hit both Texas and Florida, CDBG-DR programs are more crucial than ever, working with disaster relief and aiding people in need of housing, infrastructure, and economic development.

I often take the accomplishments of our team for granted when I know that faster should be possible. It’s not a dissatisfaction with our people or our systems, but an unwillingness to accept that disaster recovery, by nature, takes years when impacted communities need help now.

More and more states and municipalities are wising up when it comes to disaster recovery contractors. More often, governments are in search of safeguards to protect themselves from contractors making big promises and delivering very little follow through. They’re finding these contractors offer low rates but no commitment to the deliverables that matter.

Two years ago, President Obama launched the National Disaster Resilience Competition for leaders in communities affected by disaster who are working to increase the security of their neighborhoods and people. The nearly $1 billion competition allowed disaster-torn communities to vie for recovery funds and has the thought of “resilience” on everyone’s mind.

Recently, I started the conversation on HORNE’s Culture Matters blog about our commitment to improve our culture, which focused on defining my own career/life integration while maintaining my client service expectations. We spend a lot of time and money at HORNE on improving our culture. It’s an investment that focuses on improving career/life integration, personal flexibility, workplace diversity, and continuous feedback. We believe these investments are necessary to win the war for talent in the changing business environment. Today,let’s focus on the impact of diversity.

Government agencies, let’s ask ourselves a question - how exactly are we investing in recovery? You partner with FEMA and local responders to coordinate simulated responses for everything from hurricane evacuations to a zombie apocalypse, but how are we bringing our communities back to normal after the first responders leave? How will our homes be repaired? Who rebuilds our schools? And, the lingering question - how do we pay for it?