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What Are Vulnerable Populations


•The Emergency 
Management National 
Response Framework says 
“special needs” populations 
may have additional needs 
before, during and after an 
incident in functional areas, 
such as:
–Maintaining 
independence
–Communication
–Transportation
–Supervision
–Medical care






They are often constrained by:

•Poverty
•Physical or mental 
disability
•Health issues
•Low English proficiency
•Transportation 
disadvantage
•Age


and especially by combinations 

of these.


Elderly woman in room in chair with walker in front of her.
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Starting Points forThis Work


•Emergency communication planning too often 
is left for last, more so for people marginalized 
from mainstream communication 
•Pervasive Whole Community Preparedness is 
“by the people, for the people” –agencies 
can’t do it alone. 
•“Trust builds speed.” (Lt. Gen. Honorè, ret.)
•Various agencies (public health,transportation, 
emergency management) can lead and any 
can participate.




Tools Are Used to Build a Network


•Many plans for comprehensive 
preparedness have been designed to 
connect authorities, agencies and 
providers. 
•An operational safety network gets closer 
to pervasive preparedness because it 
connects authorities, agencies and 
providers with people in their terms (their 
villages).




People Have Their Own Connections 


•People live in self-defined villages with others they 
perceive to be like them in meaningful ways. 
Credibility and trust start here.


•“Marginalized” doesn’t mean that people –even 
especially vulnerable ones --aren’t connected. To 
reach most of the people most of the time requires 
agencies to expand theirmargins and make 
connections.




Impossible or at least hugely expensive?
How can it be done?


It’s all about collaboration

Existing agencies-local and state government agencies, 
community based (CBOs), faith-based (FBOs) and non-
government or non-profit organizations (NPOs) are already in 
the field working with many vulnerable populations.

The Toolkit is a step-by-step process of getting into existing 
networks or setting up a communication network with 
other organizations that will help reach vulnerable 
populations 



What the Toolkit is –and isn’t


•The toolkit doesn’t focus on activities or specific 
messages for emergency planning, response and 
recovery. 
•It lays out a process for building the collaborative 
partnershipsnecessary to communicate “X” messages 
and implement “Y” activities. 




Three interlocking circles: Vulnerable populations, transportation, and emergency management. Community based organizations (CBOs), Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) and Non-profit organizations (NPOs) are positioned between Vulnerable Populations and Transportation and Emergency Management. TCRP A-33 Report 150 is at the intersection of the three circles. 

Four Steps + Tools To Do Them


•Executive Summary
•Introduction
•Chapter 1: Gather 
Information
–Tools
–Additional Information



•Chapter 2: Build or 
Add to a Network
–Tools
–Additional Information






•Chapter 3: 
Communicate 
Through the Network
–Tools
–Additional Information



•Chapter 4: Sustain the 
Network
–Tools 
–Additional Information



•Conclusion, Glossary



TCRP A-33 Communications with Vulnerable Populations: A Transportation and Emergency Management Toolkit


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What the Process + Tools Can 
Help Agencies Do


•Build a network of trusted individuals 
representing different population groups
•Seek out connected organizations, as well as 
untitled leaders
•Use “each one reach one” to achieve critical 
mass
•Conduct “exercises” of the network in non-
emergency situations
•Respect the power of the functional message, 
messenger, and media




Making This Work


TCRP A-33 Communications with Vulnerable Populations: A Transportation and Emergency Management Toolkit


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On a day-to-day basis, people that have full communications and 
mobility capabilities do not think about the people who may not.

•Inclusive planning is essential. 
–Include representatives of and advocates for diverse groups of 
vulnerable people (not stand-ins!) in planning and exercises. 
Network members will help find volunteers! 
–Volunteers with service animals, mobility devices (from walkers to 
scooters), who have limited English skills, are deaf/ hard of 
hearing, blind / with limited vision, and with moderate cognitive 
disabilities will provide much more realistic trials and clearance 
times and will help figure out “what is missing” before the 
emergency. 



•All successful planning for emergencies is local.




Some Barriers 
to Toolkit Implementation


•Issues of who “owns” the process in 
communities
•Resources: time, money, people
•Transit recognition that communications 
planning is a necessary “asset” 
•Reluctance of community at large to face 
issues of poverty
•Ability of local agencies to transfer national 
experience, guidance, tools to their localized 
efforts (because all effective emergency 
planning is local) 




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THE WAY AHEAD



For More Information


•Website address
•Deborah Matherly, Co-Principal Investigator, 
The Louis Berger Group, Inc. 
dmatherly@louisberger.com
•Jane Mobley, Co-Principal Investigator, Jane 
Mobley Associates jmobley@janemobley.com