By Volunteer David Murphy

A national American Red Cross program designed to fortify disaster-prone communities is making its mark in Southern New Jersey.  The Community Adaptation Program (CAP), which is already in place in states like California and Florida, has been operating in Atlantic County since September 2023, under the direction of Community Disaster Risk Reduction Manager Kristie Collins. The program, described by the Red Cross as an immersive collaboration with local partners, is designed to help increase access to health, hunger and housing resources in communities at risk for extreme weather and whose residents face socioeconomic challenges.

“We’ve found that communities that struggle in a disaster were often already struggling before,” Collins says. “We’re helping to build the capacity of these areas by partnering with hyper local non-profit partners prior to a disaster so when a disaster strikes, they are better able to recover.”

Over the past ten years, the average number of billion-dollar disasters has doubled. The Red Cross established the Community Adaptation Program to ensure that vital services like health and mental services, nutritious food and secure housing remain accessible even amid a climate catastrophe. While Atlantic County hasn’t suffered in the same way other areas of the country have, it’s still prone to flooding, drought, nor-easters and hurricanes. Urban areas, like Atlantic City, are particularly at risk because they are considered “food deserts” due to the lack of access to a grocery store and healthy food.

“If a disaster strikes,” says Collins, “the likelihood of underserved communities falling further into poverty is extreme.”

To address the needs of the residents, the Community Adaptation Program works with nonprofits already established in those areas, taking advantage of their expertise and local knowledge to more effectively meet the challenges facing the people there. 

“We meet with nonprofit organizations to learn what services they offer in the community in the areas of health, hunger and housing and if they have any barriers to helping more people to build capacity. We work with them to create purposeful enhancements to boost their capacity, capability and continuity to provide vital services to the community.”

Collins had been working with the Red Cross for several years in the Biomedical Services division, before discovering CAP in 2023 when it was still relatively new.

“I had never heard of the program,” she says. At the time, she recalls, there were only ten teams nationwide. She found it was perfect for her. “I couldn’t have written a better position for myself to help my community, or a local program to be involved in. It has been amazing to start this program in Atlantic County and learn from the first ten teams that were in it in the beginning.”

Kristie saw firsthand how the program could help hard-hit communities, deploying for the CAP program as a CAP liaison in response to Hurricanes Francine and Milton this past Fall.

“I was able to support our CAP teams that had been affected by these disasters by connecting the Disaster Relief Operation to our field teams to support and communicate how the enhancements and partnerships that were built prior to the disaster were directly contributing to meaningful successes during and after the disasters, significantly boosting local communities' capacity to respond.

As a participant in the response phase, Collins gained a unique understanding of how local partners contributed to the recovery, and how invested they were in being a part of it.

"I had the privilege of joining our CAP teams and their partners in local communities, assisting with the distribution of food and supplies to those in need. It was truly humbling to witness the immense love and compassion from both the partners and the community members as they came together to support the recovery efforts in their own neighborhoods," Collins said.

Her experience also taught her that each state has different needs. In parts of Mississippi, for example, she said a big focus was on mobile health clinics since some communities were an hour or more away from a hospital.

“Each county is really very different,” she recalls. “But all of the teams rely on each other to learn and grow. The CAP partners are in the neighborhoods where the needs are the highest serving those who need it the most.”

Collins is working to ensure that her team helps build up the area stronger and more equipped to deal with natural disasters than it was than they started the program.

“We’re not only building more resilient communities, but we are also connecting the dots between the nonprofits in the community. Then, when a disaster strikes, those community organizations are better organized and better connected with each other, leading to better and more efficient service delivery. They can distribute (more) supplies, feed more people, offer additional health and case management support than they could previously. That’s who they are.”

So far, Collins and her team have established partnerships with more than 21 local groups, like Mighty Writers Atlantic City, which hosts after school writing workshops and distributes food and groceries to their community; Friends of Jean Webster, which serves hot meals Monday through Friday and has a food pantry and community garden; Bangladesh Association of South Jersey which is the largest food distribution site in Atlantic City now able to offer hot meals to those in need, and Spanish Community Center, a Latino social services center just starting a small food pantry and cooking education for community members. Collins has also solidified working relationships with state organizations like the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and national organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army, all to the benefit of the people living in Atlantic County. 

In late January, Kristie and her team brought together nearly 20 local organizations they’ve established partnerships with for a Connecting the Dots Partner Luncheon at The Noyes Art Garage of Stockton University in Atlantic City where the partners had the opportunity to learn more about each other and network face to face. The CAP team has also scheduled a Mock Disaster tabletop exercise for the partners to participate in this April.

“Our mission is to transform how communities cope with disasters. We focus on building strong relationships with local organizations and individuals who provide essential services -- working together to assist in building community resilience.”