What is the mission of New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS)?

 New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS)

EPIC partners play an important role in emergencies. Learn about a different partner each month.

What is the mission of New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS)?

NYDIS is a nonprofit federation more than 60 faith communities and faith-based organizations in New York City (NYC) that have been working together since 9/11. In 2016, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene selected NYDIS as the lead agency to collaborate with for developing an NYC Faith Sector Community Preparedness Program (FSCPP).

The overall goal of the FSCPP is to build disaster and public health resilience across the entire NYC faith sector. This includes leveraging resources provided by CDC EPIC, SAMHSA, FEMA, and the National Disaster Interfaiths Network.

What is the role of these organizations in a public health emergency?

NYDIS and the FSCPP have multiple mission objectives when activated. We strive to:

• Build resiliency through sector coordination and relationship building, religious literacy and competency in all hazards preparedness and ESF #6 planning, and trainings on topics like mental health first aid and disaster spiritual care,
• Coordinate with NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene or NYC Emergency Management to disseminate messages to the NYC faith sector, and
• Use emergency communication tools like fact sheets and HOWalert (House of Worship Alert). HOWalert is a text/voice/email messaging system with more than 2,000 enrolled decision makers from NYC congregations and faith-based non-profits.

How do you plan for emergencies?

We plan for emergencies by having the following in place:

• Continuity of Operations Plan,
• Emergency Risk Communication Plan,
• Faith Sector Risk Communication Framework,
• Faith Sector Response Framework,
• Training programs, and
• Interagency planning and coordination with emergency managers and nonprofit and faith sector partners, including building religious literacy and competency within ESF #6 plans.

What is one experience or lesson learned that you have from an emergency response?

Following Superstorm Sandy, virtually all damage assessments and situational awareness in affected communities had to be conducted through labor-intensive door knocks, phone calls, and emails. There was a strategic need to connect with faith leaders to determine the following:

• What houses of worship were damaged?
• Who could provide volunteers or push information to neighborhoods with vulnerable populations or no power?
• Which essential community services needed to get back online quickly, such as food pantries, soup kitchens, 12-step programs, daycare, etc.?

NYDIS and the FSCPP developed HOWalert in response. Today, we have the ability to push messages and retrieve and aggregate rapid assessment data. We can do this within a few hours. It used to take days or weeks to compile by hand. HOWalert increases situational awareness and builds local relief capacity citywide. Currently, 40% of NYC congregations are enrolled and more than 90% are reachable by email through the combined efforts of NYDIS and FSCPP stakeholders.

What is one piece of advice that you would give to other EPIC partners?

It is essential that governments, communities, and faith-based organizations understand that our national resilience is highly dependent on the resilience of whole communities. In a nation where more than 80% of the population identifies as an adherent of a specific faith tradition, we must do more to be competent at understanding the beliefs and practices of those populations and the distinctions between culture and religion. If the faith sector is excluded from the mitigation, preparedness, relief, and recovery phases, we are undermining resilience and putting people’s lives at risk.

The American faith sector is the backbone of the VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) movement within the National Response Framework and at a local level, is the keystone to social capital and networks. If you can’t communicate with the faith sector and leverage the leadership of its leaders, 80% of the population isn’t getting the message from the right messenger.