2019 Accomplishments

RDH Workgroup Meetings: The RDH convened ten evening meetings on our regular meeting date of the 4^th Thursday of the month. Providing dinner at each meeting encouraged discussion and community building.

Disaster Supplies for NERT and RDH were purchased with $10,000 in City funding sponsored by former Supervisor Jeff Sheehy. Most supplies are stored in a secure room at Diamond Heights Village. An air conditioner was purchased and is stored in the Emergency Supplies closet in the Parish Hall. With the new unit, St. Aidan’s can officially open as a designated cooling center.

District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman Funding Award: RDH was awarded $20,000 for disaster supplies, trainings and other assistance for the neighborhood.

Fire Safety and Emergency Preparedness Fair: On Feb. 13, RDH and St. Aidan’s hosted an afternoon of presentations by City agencies on how to prepare for and survive fires and other emergencies. The event was coordinated by the Community Youth Center of SF.

Disaster Prep Guides: Greg Carey created five concise brochures: Evacuation Planning, Food Safety During Disasters, Heat Emergencies, Sanitation During Disasters, and Sheltering During Disasters. Greg provided trainings for each brochure at workgroup meetings. To encourage discussion, Greg created Disaster Trivia questions for each topic.

Workgroup presentations: In addition to the trainings for disaster guides, presentations included SF SAFE by Adam Cuadra, Principles of Healthy Foods to Eat in an Emergency by Jill Borofka and the Miraloma Block Champion Program by Guido Van Rijn.

Psychological First Aid Training was provided on Oct. 24 by Jill Borofka and Tre Russell.

 Fire Pit Fire Danger Removed in Glen Canyon Park: Due to RDH advocacy, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Dept. removed a large fire pit in Glen Canyon Park and installed locked covers on the 6 fire pits behind the Silver Tree building in the park. The fire pits were formerly used for illegal nighttime bon fire parties. Fires are not allowed in City parks.

Diamond Heights Holiday Party December 14: RDH organized the 7^th annual party with holiday craft making, caroling led by Scrumbly Koldewyn, a festive buffet, Disaster Trivia and a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. Over 120 people attended the event.

2018 Accomplishments

RDH Workgroup Meetings: The RDH convened eight evening meetings on our regular meeting date of the 4^th Thursday of the month. Providing dinner at each meeting encouraged discussion and community building.

Psychological First Aid Training, February 15: 29 people were trained in a program sponsored by Resilient San Francisco and the SF Dept. of Public Health.

District 8 Participatory Budgeting Award May: RDH was awarded $20,000 for disaster supplies and assistance developing a template for preparedness for housing developments. RDH came in 5^th among 22 proposals that were voted on by residents of District 8.

Exercise/Drill for Heat Wave Relief Center, May 24: RDH led 20 workgroup members in a simulation of opening a Heat Wave Relief Center using Instant ICS. Each member portrayed a role in the activation.

Neighborhood Evacuation Planning June 2018: Due to concerns that a fire could start in a neighborhood park on a windy day that could spread quickly to Diamond Heights, Glen Park, Noe Valley and Miraloma Park, RDH started planning for neighborhood evacuation.

Fire Evacuation Flyer: RDH developed a flyer to let people know of potential fire danger and the need for immediate evacuation. The flyer contained tips on receiving emergency alerts, identifying neighbors in advance who may need assistance, what supplies to add to a “Go Bag” and remembering to plan for pets in an evacuation. A paper flyer was distributed by volunteers to 2,000 homes in Diamond Heights. Another 500 flyers were distributed by email to housing developments that preferred electronic flyers.

SF Chronicle Article: “Could a wildfire sweep into San Francisco? Residents seek assurance as state burns,” Sept. 6: Due to RDH advocacy, the SF Chronicle published an article on the potential for a major fire to start in a neighborhood park that could impact nearby homes.

Fire Safety in Neighborhood Parks and Evacuation Meeting, Sept. 8. A standing room only group of attendees called on representatives from the SFFD, SFPD, SF Recreation and Park Department and SF Department of Emergency Services for more fire mitigation in our City parks. The meeting was convened by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, RDH and the DHCA.

Stop the Bleed Training, September 27: RDH hosted the training. 35 attendees received certificates for completing the training.

RDH Table at Where in the World is Christopher Park Festival, October 13th: RDH volunteers distributed preparedness materials, disaster trivia questions and super hero band-aids at this Neighborfest event.

RDH Brochures: Greg Carey, created guides for Fire Evacuation Planning, Sheltering During Disasters, Food Safety During Disasters and Sanitation During Disasters for distribution.

Ruth Asawa School for the Arts Meeting, Nov. 8: RDH met with Barnaby Payne, Principal, to discuss mutual projects between students and the neighborhood.

Diamond Heights Holiday Party December 15: RDH organized the 6^th annual party with holiday craft making, caroling, a festive buffet, a visit from Santa, free raffle for disaster kits and hand crank radios and a presentation on RDH and NERT. Over 150 people attended the event.

Background

In 2008, a group of leaders in the Diamond Heights community came together to explore ways to advance the disaster resilience of their community and took the name The Diamond Heights Disaster Ready Workgroup. While convening at St. Aidan’s Church, the group partnered with organizations such as the Red Cross and SF CARD (Community Agencies Responding to Disaster), and designed and implemented a plan that gave them a deeper level of preparedness and capacity to succeed in times of stress.

In the summer of 2012, the Neighborhood Empowerment Network (NEN) was invited to present its Empowered Communities Program (ECP), which leverages the most current disaster resilience development data and advances FEMA’s Whole Community Approach. As a result of this orientation, and the acquisition of funding from the CDC Foundation and FEMA, the Diamond Heights Community agreed to move forward with a deployment of the NEN’s ECP and became known as Resilient Diamond Heights.

Leadership

Betsy Eddy

Diamond Heights Community Association

Jill Borofka

Diamond Heights Community Member

Greg Carey

Diamond Heights NERT

Ed Sheffner

Diamond Heights Community Member

Cynthia Woo

Diamond Heights Community Member

Kathy O’Loughlin

Diamond Heights Community Member

Tre Russell Allen

Neighborhood Empowerment Network 

Resilient Diamond Heights

Anchor Institution

The Resilient Diamond Heights Steering Committee and Work Group meet at Saint Aidan’s Episcopal Church. The Church has agreed to be an Information Support Center during a major disaster. The building is equipped with cooling, heating and emergency supplies should the HUB activate its Support Center.

Diamond Heights Hub Boundary Map

Vision

Diamond Heights is an active and dynamic community where individuals, families, organizations, and businesses deliver exceptional goods and services, all the while providing opportunities to catalyze the economic, spiritual, and cultural potential of the neighborhood. During times of stress, our community will collectively respond with confidence and compassion.

Goals

Individual

Provide streamlined access to information that supports an individual’s ability to make smart decisions regarding mitigation, preparedness and response activities.

Organizational

Support HUB Member organizations efforts to develop higher levels of interoperability among nearby stakeholder organizations and residents.

Community

Ensure that neighborhood stakeholder organizations and their external resilience partners are able to communicate among themselves and residents before, during and after a disaster in a culturally competent way.

Hub Member Development

Resilient Diamond Heights conducts an annual HUB Table-top exercise to assess their capacity, connection, and resources. 

Managed Housing Disaster Plan

• Create a disaster plan. SF CARD staff will create a disaster mission statement, disaster plan and emergency procedures guide. Based on SF CARD expertise and templates, SF CARD will support the organization’s development of a modern emergency response plan.
• Conduct an Incident Command System (ICS) Training for housing management staff. ICS is an emergency management system to prepare staff for supporting the health and well-being of residents. Attendees will participate in a table-top exercise built around an earthquake scenario.
• Conduct a personal preparedness training. This training will prepare Vista Del Monte staff and residents for natural and man-made disasters.