Goal is to match residents with resources in long term
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
Officials in three local counties are mustering human resources to establish a long-term flood recovery committee that will help match residents who suffered damage with available local assistance.
The Southeast Long-Term Recovery Committee will host a planning meeting Saturday at 10 a.m. at Burlington High School, 400 McCanna Parkway.
David Maack, Racine County’s emergency management director, said his office and its counterparts in Kenosha and Walworth counties have extended invitations to community leaders to attend.
Maack said the goal is to develop resources – locally and beyond – to help meet the unmet needs of local residents affected by the flood of mid-July.
“We want to make sure that nobody falls through the cracks,” he said.
He anticipates attracting committee members from area churches, non-profit social service agencies, service organizations and businesses.
“The committee is going to have to identify the resources out there,” he said.
Those resources, he continued, could include work crews that assist with construction and repair work, faith-based agencies that provide counseling and support, and case managers.
The county set up a similar committee following flooding in 2008, but that group was able to tap into resources provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Maack said. At that time, funds were used to hire a case manager and issue grants.
Because the area was rejected for FEMA assistance this time around, the resources provided residents will have to come from community-based organizations.
Maack said the committee will be in place as long as needed – which could be a year or more.
If you go…
What: Southeast Long-term Recovery Committee planning meeting
Where: Saturday 10 a.m. at Burlington High School, 400 McCanna Parkway, Burlington.
The goal: Emergency management officials are looking for community leaders to step forward and assist in the planning for the committee, which will be tasked with developing and matching resources with area residents affected by the flooding of mid-July.
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