Disaster & Emergency Planning

The University of Nebraska Public Policy Center works with local, state, and federal agencies on a variety of projects relating to disaster and emergency planning. In addition to program coordination and evaluation, and trainings in emergency and disaster preparedness, our role includes fostering links between mental health and substance abuse resources with public health systems, healthcare networks, emergency management, and first responder groups.

The PPC has performed national and statewide consultation in various areas of disaster behavioral health planning. Such activities also include training in evidence-based psychological first aid training as part of disaster behavioral health preparedness. Stakeholders from across the state and across disciplines are involved in projects focused on behavioral health; emergency planning; and disaster preparedness, planning, and response.

Recent projects include:

Emergency Operations Planning for Schools

The University of Nebraska Public Policy Center worked in partnership with the Nebraska Department of Education to evaluate their School Emergency Operations Planning (EOP) Grant. The goal of the project is to ensure that Nebraska schools have prepared Emergency Operations Plans and school staff and first responders will be able to respond to unexpected events.

Disaster Behavioral Health Project

The University of Nebraska Public Policy Center has worked continuously since 2005 carrying out disaster behavioral health activities related to public health prevention, response, and recovery related to violent events, outbreaks of infectious diseases, natural disasters, and other public health threats and emergencies with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Collaborating organizations from across disciplines and the state, such as community groups, faith groups, public and private entities, and key responders like the American Red Cross, Nebraska’s Critical Incident Stress Management Team, and Nebraska State Agencies, are involved in this endeavor. Learn more by visiting the Disaster Behavioral Health website.

Building Community Climate Resilience

The University of Nebraska Public Policy Center (NUPPC) facilitates a cross-sector team to plan for and build community climate resilience. The meetings include activities such as discussions, brainstorming, storyboarding, and assumption-exploring sessions. These meetings involve scientists, social scientists, humanists, and artists from across the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and communities across Nebraska. Findings and policy applications in the Great Plains could be translatable to other locales and settings, thus having a national and international impact.

Services

Conference & Training Facilitation

For many of our active projects, our staff plan and execute conferences, workshops, and seminars of all sizes, virtual and in-person. This includes event management, technology recommendations, graphic design, communications, and accommodations for in-person and remote-hosted events. Additionally, staff are experienced in managing all logistics for virtual and in-person events. The University of Nebraska Public Policy Center is an approved continuing education sponsor through the American Psychological Association (APA). This means we can facilitate psychologists’ access to continuing education that meets APA standards.

Grant Development & Management

We pursue and manage funding opportunities to support policy-related initiatives. Center researchers garner both public and private funding at the local, state, and national levels for applied and translational research grants. We work closely with partners to identify funding opportunities, develop grant and contract proposal narratives, create budgets and timelines, execute agreements, manage grant funds in accordance with funder requirements, and submit required fiscal and programmatic reporting.

Program Design and Evaluation

Center research staff routinely conduct program evaluations in partnership with stakeholders to define questions, plan activities, interpret results, and use findings to recommend and implement changes. We use quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods techniques appropriate to the project. Our programmatic capabilities include survey design, interviews, focus groups, mapping geographic data, overall data analysis, and report preparation.

Project Management, Strategic Planning & Consulting

Our researchers bring high-level management expertise to projects for all kinds of organizations. We bring research-based insights to executive decision-making, develop organizational structures to achieve desired results; assist with communication planning, agenda setting and creating necessary informational materials; implement research plans; and guide open communication among stakeholders. Our researchers are trained in facilitation and regularly lead stakeholders through strategic planning, problem definition, and consensus-building, as well as discovering organizational priorities, setting goals, and creating action plans.

Scholarly Research

Our approach is rooted in academic-oriented inquiry and investigation. We provide basic research products for partners such as high-quality and easy-to-understand literature reviews, white papers, and briefing papers. Our researchers come from diverse disciplines, including: Business, Economics, Family and Consumer Sciences, Law, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology.

Stakeholder Engagement & Outreach

We work with stakeholders to design and execute customized frameworks. This includes determining the breadth, length, location, and timing of facilitated events; identifying participants; collecting data from participants throughout the planning or engagement process; creating opportunities for feedback and debriefing; and producing draft and final products based on results. In addition, many of our staff consult with outside organizations and conduct professional presentations on a variety of issues.