Beyond the Headlines: Funding Disasters in Rural Communities

About

Rural communities are not strangers to natural hazards and extreme weather events. However, smaller populations and more remote geography mean that these areas do not receive the same attention as disasters in large urban centers. Disasters are often undeclared by FEMA, so rural communities tend to receive fewer donations, less media attention and a smaller presence from outside disaster response organizations.

Rural America is diverse, complex and filled with leaders and individuals with great educations and skills. However, because disaster impacts are real regardless of community size or location, these low-attention disasters often require more ingenuity, persistence and support to generate the resources (people, training, time and materials) for successful recovery.

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy is hosting a webinar to explore how funders can help support recovery in rural communities across the U.S. Discover a variety of unique responses such as funding language/cultural-specific staff, efforts to assist survivors with accessing available government assistance and other capacity-building programs; supporting long-term recovery groups or community-led coalitions; and regional approaches to building resilience, response and recovery networks.

This webinar will help grantmakers and donors understand the unique issues of rural communities and how best to support their disaster recovery. While aimed at funders, it will also be of interest to emergency managers, academics, disaster responders and NGO staff working on the frontlines of these crises.