Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) Mobile Home Program has received a $25,000 grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency to build strong mobile home park communities. In addition a $5,000 state match through the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development. CVOEO has partnered with University of Vermont, Department of Community Development & Applied Economics to carry out this work.
The goal of the collaboration is to increase the resilience of mobile home park communities by empowering residents to plan for emergencies through capacity building and technical assistance.
“As a result of this project, individual families and mobile home park neighborhoods will increase their awareness of the possible hazards and vulnerabilities in their community, feel more empowered and have a sense of how to plan for an emergency. We will build social connections between neighbors within park communities, and between residents and municipal officials,” said Sarah Woodward Director of the Mobile Home Program.
In the next year partners will work with five mobile home parks across the state to develop park emergency plans, conduct resource and needs assessments, and define member roles. Building linkages and improving coordination and communication between mobile home parks and local emergency management officials is another objective. As one resident says, “You don’t know what you need to do in an emergency until it happens. Now [with training] we can be one step ahead…”
Tropical Storm Irene highlighted the vulnerabilities of mobile home parks to flooding as 17 park communities were impacted. Park mapping efforts undertaken by the University of Vermont indicate that 20% of all mobile home parks in Vermont have a portion of their land located in flood hazard areas putting many vulnerable Vermonters at risk.
“Helping communities and vulnerable populations understand issues like the proposed Waters of the United States rule and learn to adapt to the risks associated with Climate Change is of critical importance to EPA,”said Curt Spalding, Regional Administrator U.S. EPA New England. “This is why EPA is committing resources to the Emergency Planning & Exercising for Resilient Mobile Home Park Communities project, which will help ensure residents of mobile park communities in Vermont are better informed on environment and public health issues associated with the proposed Waters of the United States Rule and become better prepared and more resilient during extreme weather events.”
Jan Demers, Executive Director at CVOEO emphasized that “Mobile home park residents are frequently backed into a corner as they face extreme external pressure. This project offers a proactive, positive opportunity for groups of residents to develop their leadership skills and exercise their own plans to increase safety awareness in their communities.”
While there are many approaches to addressing hazard mitigation, including the technical and structural remedies, the proposed project seeks to invest in increasing preparedness activities and building social capital in communities that are traditionally not included in emergency planning activities.