June 13, 2025 11:00 AM
Title: Not Just for the Fire: Grassroots Resilience and Structural Barriers to Equitable Emergency Management
Committee members: David Bernell, Erika Wolters, Brent Steel
Abstract: This study examines the accessibility, equity, and implementation of emergency management grant programs, focusing on the extent to which they empower communities to tailor preparedness measures to local needs, as described in FEMA’s Whole Community Approach policy. This research analyzes how the convergence of problem identification, emerging policy solutions, and political alignment can spark successful policy development or reform. Focusing on the 2020 Oregon Labor Day Wildfires as a major disaster that prompted policy change, this research employed eight semi-structured interviews with policy stakeholders and grant recipients to explain disaster management policy reform in Oregon and how it emerged. The findings revealed that administrative, political and structural barriers to equitable grant implementation, particularly for rural, marginalized, and under-resourced communities, inhibited access to resources to enhance community preparedness and resilience. The creation of the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) Office of Resilience and Emergency Management (OREM) illustrates how policy entrepreneurs can seize fleeting windows of opportunity to institutionalize equity-driven approaches. However, while innovative programs like the Resilience Hubs and Network Grant aim to decentralize emergency management practices and localize preparedness, their success is uneven and often hindered by bureaucratic constraints, limited local capacity, and political disincentives for proactive preparedness. Ultimately, this research explains both the promise and limitations of existing management systems and calls for policy measures that prioritize accessibility, flexibility, and grassroots participation. Ultimately, this research exposes both the promise and limitations of existing emergency management systems and calls for grant models that prioritize accessibility, flexibility, and grassroots participation.