Emergency management and education: Whole community resiliency through the buddy system

Erik Xavier Wood, MS; Alec Rivers; Tim Frazier, PhD

doi:10.5055/jem.0641

Authors

Erik Xavier Wood, MS https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0531-6314
Alec Rivers
Tim Frazier, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1270-5078

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.0641

Keywords:

buddy system, schools, emergency management, resiliency, whole community

Abstract

Globally, block-level vulnerability will continue to increase by the force, multiplying impacts of climate change. Therefore, innovative community policies and programs must galvanize every possible local asset to improve whole community resiliency. Today, in America, one of the most underutilized emergency management (EM) assets is the social capital contained in local education facilities. Through a focused review of a minimal amount of literature available on this topic, this study will establish a plausible context within which a high school-based community buddy system can be proposed. Findings include a multisectoral history of success with buddy support systems that raise personal and organizational resiliencies. Recommendations include the formation of a high school buddy program with vulnerable members of the community that is jointly overseen by the school and the local EM entity. All program recommendations are geared toward practical implementation and have national and international implications.

Author Biographies

Erik Xavier Wood, MS

Program Director, Adjunct Professor, Ethics, Research, GIS, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Alec Rivers

Officer and Child Development Specialist, Los Angeles Police Department, Schools Division, Los Angeles, California

Tim Frazier, PhD

Professor of the Practice and Faculty Director, School of Continuing Studies (SCS), Georgetown University, Washington, DC

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