Public health and hazard resiliency will be featured at the 2014 Community Capitals Framework Institute, Nov. 5-7 at UNL. Presenters include:
• Sonia Jordan, Regional Coordinator for Region VII of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She provides technical assistance and support to both existing and emerging Medical Reserves Corps (MRC) units and has responded to several incidents in the region, including the H1N1 virus in Kansas.
• Ryan Lowry, University of Nebraska Public Policy Center, will speak on how state and local groups can sustain viable preparedness programs.
• Steve Frederick of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department will provide a local perspective.
• Kurt Mantonya and Milan Wall of the Heartland Center for Leadership Development will share their current community planning efforts, partnering with the University of Nebraska, related to the recent EF4 tornado that nearly destroyed the small town of Pilger, Nebraska.
A session on drought and water management planning will include presenters from UNL, the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), and the National Integrated Drought Information System, who will share research related to recent and extreme droughts in rural and urban areas and how some local hazard plans are (or are not yet) responding.
International case studies related to drought and food security will also be presented, with A.J. Jordaan from the University of the Free State, South Africa, discussing appropriate triggers for national drought declarations and how investments in political capital are crucial.
Extension specialists and sociologists from land-grant universities such as Kansas State University, Michigan State University, and North Dakota State University will touch on the applications of the Community Capitals Framework model to community vitality and youth engagement in programs such as 4-H.
The institute is sponsored by The National Drought Mitigation Center, The Heartland Center for Leadership Development, South Dakota State University, The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), and The Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute. The workshop will open with presentations by Cornelia and Jan Flora, originators of CCF. They will give insights on how the Community Capitals got constructed, how they are applied and how they might be used in the future, including global climate change adaptation.
The institute starts at 1 p.m., Nov. 5 and ends at noon Nov. 7. The $150 registration fee includes food (and materials) during the workshop and a reception the evening of Nov. 5. Student registration is $75. Please register and consider submitting an abstract.
To register: http://go.unl.edu/ccfregistration, to submit abstracts or if you have questions, please contact Kurt Mantonya at the HCLD, by no later than Oct. 27 (kmantonya@heartlandcenter.info, 402-474-7667).
— Nicole Wall, National Drought Mitigation Center