Equity
Tetra Tech advances equitable emergency management and disaster recovery services by integrating equity at the forefront of each project.
Tetra Tech provides comprehensive and inclusive equity-focused planning services in all phases of emergency management and disaster recovery. Centering diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in emergency management approaches is critical to improving mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery processes—reducing risk and building community resilience.
We have decades of experience in emergency management, resilience, whole community engagement, and physical and programmatic accessibility. We support our clients to understand the interconnected nature of communities and how their social categories overlap with risk. Tetra Tech can guide local, state, and federal governments and private entities through the complexity of meeting funding requirements. We also assist clients analyze, update, and build inclusive policies, plans, and programs that successfully integrate equity into the emergency management structure.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Assessment Tool
Tetra Tech’s DEIA Assessment tool can be used on various programs and is designed to analyze policies, plans, and programs, documenting best practices and areas for improvement on any project. Use of the evidence-based tool helps organizations get a better understanding of how they can strengthen existing and future programs using an equitable emergency response framework, incorporating stakeholders to address the whole community’s needs.
- Public health, healthcare, and mass care
- Climate change and disaster recovery
- Safety, security, and active threat response
- Public information and warning and communication strategies
- Mitigation plans
- Hazardous materials release
- Transportation
Emergency Management Services
Tetra Tech addresses the needs of the whole community in all phases of emergency management. Our expertise spans multiple disciplines. Some of the services we provide include:
Policy
Tetra Tech can assess, strategize, and operationalize policies that are tailor-made to the unique features of communities and projects.
- Overall access and functional needs gap analysis
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 compliance
- Support to meet federally funded grants equitable planning requirements
- Community engagement strategies
Communications
Tetra Tech engages communities and provides strategic communications planning to address their emergency management needs. We identify and engage with key stakeholders and incorporate whole community input, taking into account existing communications capabilities and preferences.
- Gap analysis of communication goals
- Language access compliance
- Accessible and inclusive communication strategies
We provide templates and products in multiple modalities:
- DEIA-centered emergency management plan
- Alert and warning capability assessment
- Language access analysis and strategy
- Equitable vaccination access strategy
- Inclusive and equitable exercise design and after-action reporting
Planning
Tetra Tech updates existing plans to comply with U.S. state and federal mandates. We integrate the perspective of community stakeholders and identify community resources to support access and functional needs (AFN) planning, including developing AFN-focused strategies and integrating AFN planning into emergency support function (ESF) annexes.
- Evacuation planning (facility-level, community, mass evacuation)
- Medical countermeasure (MCM)
- Mass care and medical shelters
- Community reception and decontamination centers
- Identification of vulnerable populations and historically marginalized communities
- Hazard mitigation equity planning
Program Design and Programmatic Accessibility
Tetra Tech helps clients recognize the resources readily available within their communities and fosters inclusive and integrated strategies that yield prepared and resilient communities. We understand and apply principles of universal design, customize training toolkits, and provide in-person and computer-based training.
- Etiquette for interacting with people with disabilities and AFN
- Incorporation of a need-focused AFN framework into active shooter and other incident response and recovery trainings, such as the CMIST Framework
- Customized AFN-focused exercises and/or integration of whole community and AFN considerations into existing and new exercise programs
- Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) compliance
- Accessible Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Stop the Bleed course delivery
Equitable Community Engagement
Tetra Tech helps our clients engage the whole community throughout the planning, response, and recovery process by facilitating a strategic approach unique to each community’s strengths and challenges. We incorporate the diverse needs of the entire community into emergency management and resilience projects by identifying organizations and individuals active in the community, facilitating connection-building and input from key community stakeholders, and providing recommended equitable community engagement strategies.
- Community input for planning projects
- Community-based group facilitation
- Customized outreach strategy development
Connect with us. Reach out to our disaster and emergency management experts.