Building Resilience in Travis County

Introduction of Strategy
Almost ten years back, the Austin History Center launched a new permanent exhibit on African American history in Travis County that has since inspired local activism, awareness, and community self-empowerment (Castillo, 2018). This strategy builds upon the success of the Austin History Center projects, which include the vast resources contained in the Austin History Center’s African American Community Archivist (2019). Building resilience through the arts, culture, and community pride will be the solution-focused approach to addressing persistent disparities in Travis County, Texas.
Vulnerabilities
A needs assessment of the African American community in Travis County reveals several areas of vulnerability this strategy aims to address by coordinating with existing ongoing initiatives and organizations.
Physical and Mental Health Disparities
Physical and mental health disparities are among the top vulnerabilities for the African American community in Travis County. Research reveals several major disparities in mental and physical health that render the African American community of Travis County less able to withstand the health-related effects of multiple types of emergencies. Poorer mental and physical health status means increased vulnerability to disaster, and less access to services—plus lower quality of said services—also means decreased resilience.
Menon (2019) found that African Americans are twenty percent more likely to experience serious mental health issues versus the general population, pointing to poverty as a key factor in precipitating mental illness. Not only are African Americans in Travis County more likely to experience serious mental health issues, but are also less likely to seek mental health services—only 25 percent of African Americans seek such services compared with 40 percent of their white counterparts (Menon, 2019). Addressing mental health service awareness and accessibility is therefore a key concern of the proposed strategy. Race-related physical health disparities are also a major vulnerability in Travis County. For example, African Americans are more likely to have HIV and diabetes than any other ethnic group (Vallejo-Aguilar, 2017). African Americans also have a disproportionately high rate of cardiovascular diseases (Vallejo-Aguilar, 2017). Rountree (2019) points out a severe vulnerability with African American women dying from pregnancy complications at a rate two to four times as high as for white women. Lack of education, inaccessible or unaffordable healthcare services, lack of awareness, and lack of access to lifestyle needs are specific vulnerabilities that can be addressed using a comprehensive resilience-building strategy like this one.
Wealth Disparity and Poverty
Wealth disparity is another major vulnerability for the African American community in Travis County. Without the appropriate fiscal resources, and lacking the robustness of a firm small business financial foundation, African American individuals, families, and companies are at a much greater risk of losing everything in the wake of a disaster. In fact, past records prove the current vulnerabilities in the African American community. According to a Prosperity Now (2019) report, the economic recessions of the early 2000s, “had a long-lasting impact particularly on African American” families, who have yet to recover due to a number of structural inequities (p. 2). Debt, low income, low property values in African American neighborhoods, low rate of savings, low educational attainment, and low entrepreneurial/small business ownership are the specific wealth gap-related vulnerabilities this strategy seeks to address.
Social Justice
Reflecting nationwide trends, Travis County African Americans “experienced significantly longer periods of confinement in jail and were jailed at a much higher rate than white people,” (“New report points to racism and longer confinement of African Americans in Travis County Jail,” 2017, p. 1). Emergencies frequently entail law enforcement and criminal justice responses, and the African American community remains particularly vulnerable to discrimination and lack of access to proper legal counsel to address its needs or ensure resilience. Craver (2017) points out the systemic issues in criminal justice such as the way poverty impacts the ability for African Americans to fund bail and bond, and the lack of awareness or access to effective legal counsel. Social justice concerns in Travis County affect families and children, too, with African American children being eight times as likely to be removed from their homes by Child Protective Services (CPS) than white children, with similar findings for number of CPS reports and investigations (Chang, 2018). These and other justice concerns propel the current community empowerment initiative.
Community Profile
Context of Vulnerability
Because of the aforementioned vulnerabilities in mental and physical health, wealth, and social justice, the African American community of Travis County is more vulnerable to all types of disasters and emergencies than any other segment of the society. As the Prosperity Now (2019) report indicates, economic disaster hits African Americans harder than their counterparts because of the lack of a safety net or the means by which to rebuild after financial loss. The same would be true in any natural or criminological disaster, after which African American communities like Clarksville may have a much harder time coping. Dilapidation, inadequate infrastructure improvements, lack of access to strong communication or transportation networks, lack of access to robust insurance, and lack of access to healthcare services needed in the wake of any disaster are only a few of the many concerns that this initiative intends to ameliorate. When the African American community in Travis County has the multimedia tools necessary for enhancing community pride, it is projected that improvements to infrastructure and the quality of social services will ensue.
Community Vulnerability Assessment (CVA)
This CVA reveals economic, political, and cultural challenges, barriers, and opportunities. The CVA was conducted using a range of resources both online and within the Travis County community archives. It has been determined that specific vulnerabilities include wealth disparity, disparities in access to healthcare, and disparities in access to social justice, all of which combine and contribute to increased rates of exposure to disaster of all types. Similarly, the African American community continues to experience sensitivity characteristics, but these vulnerabilities can be reduced via community self-empowerment.
Limitations
One of the limitations of this CVA includes the lack of original qualitative or quantitative research. However, a number of reliable sources were used to compile evidence used in the CVA, including evidence from local and state government agencies, universities, and reputable journalistic sources. Another limitation in the methods used to gather evidence would be the need to integrate disparate types of information to create a comprehensive community profile in order to provide the most cost-effective intervention strategy. This limitation can be overcome by paying closer attention to strategic alliances with supportive organizations and ongoing initiatives.
Coordination with Ongoing Initiatives
The proposal to improve African American community resilience via cultural pride and self-empowerment strategies is supported well by current and ongoing initiatives with similar goals and outcomes. For almost 20 years, the Central Texas African American Family Support Conference has sponsored mental health initiatives and “brings together mental health consumers and professionals” to address core vulnerabilities in Travis County (Menon, 2019, p. 1). Working with the mental health professionals dedicated to improving African American resilience in Travis County will help coordinate services and mental health awareness campaigns to increase the quality of services and increase rates of access of those services. Similarly, coordination with this and similar mental health initiatives will provide the means by which to design preventative strategies that increase resilience, such as providing families with resources that help improve the CPS response to African American families or which help African Americans enjoy better parks, recreation, and leisure services in their communities.
This proposal also synchronizes well with the ongoing initiatives at the Austin History Center. The African American Community Archivist (2019) provides a wealth of multimedia sources that have already stimulated community pride. Working with the Austin History museum on new initiatives such as street festivals to raise money for local African American businesses and schools, this proposal seeks to build resilience from within. The perspectives of local historical archivists can help emergency management professionals to design creative ongoing resilience-building initiatives.
Justification
This strategy is based on enhancing resilience through self-empowerment and community pride. The success of community empowerment initiatives to spark activism and grassroots change inspires the current strategy. For example, several Austin-based grassroots organizations including local attorneys and organizations like Measure Austin are already addressing vulnerabilities in criminal justice inequities that can improve the community’s resilience in the face of any emergency (“New report points to racism and longer confinement of African Americans in Travis County Jail, 2017). The Austin History Center exhibits use photographs and other visual imagery to remind the community of its resilience—the means by which African Americans have overcome the scourge of slavery and racism. Empowerment through initiatives like these help stimulate interest in building small businesses, promoting community cohesion, and ensuring a supportive environment in which neighbor helps neighbor and in which black businesses also support each other to combat wealth disparities. Providing incentives for African American professionals to remain in Austin or Travis County as opposed to leaving for greener pastures will also be a key component of this straegy.
However, there are already some apparent concerns about the effectiveness of an empowerment/community pride strategy for building resilience. For one, surveys and quantitative research has already shown that African Americans are “spreading out over the city,” pressed by financially constraints (Davis, 2018, p. 1). A dispersed black community presents peculiar problems when aiming to use a self-empowerment strategy. Feeling “less welcome” in Austin translates to less, not more, community pride (Davis, 2018, p. 1). However, the success of the 2004 American Quality of Life Initiative inspires the current strategy to press forward, working with community organizers and business leaders to reduce vulnerabilities using comprehensive methods to improve pride and resilience.
Conclusions
Long-term resilience depends on community-wide and cross-disciplinary strategies to reduce vulnerabilities. Already there are parallel initiatives in place throughout Travis County that will help emergency management and emergency services professionals properly coordinate resources. It will be essential to work closely with existing organizations in order to create the most cost-effective means of reducing specific vulnerabilities and for increasing resilience. Both the public and private sector need to be on board with implementing these strategies in order for them to have measurable and meaningful outcomes. Strengthening community pride and promoting self-empowerment is something that benefits all residents of Travis County, improving quality of life and making Austin and its environs a safer, more welcoming community for everyone.
References
Austin History Center (2019). African American Community Archivist. Retrieved from https://library.austintexas.gov/ahc/african-american-community-archivist
Castillo, J. (2018). Exhibit on African Americans in Travis County tells stories, reveals gaps. Statesman. 27 Sept, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.statesman.com/article/20120925/NEWS/309259130
Chang, J. (2018). Black children in Travis County 8 times more likely to be removed by CPS than white children. Statesman. 25 Oct, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.statesman.com/news/20181020/black-children-in-travis-county-8-times-more-likely-to-be-removed-by-cps-than-white-children
Craver, J. (2017). African-Americans spend more time in Travis County jail for same offenses as whites. Austin Monitor. 14 Jul 2017. Retrieved from https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2017/07/african-americans-spend-time-travis-county-jail-offenses-whites/
Davis, C. (2018). African-Americans are moving to Austin again, but many don’t feel welcome. KXAN. 15 Jan, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/african-americans-are-moving-to-austin-again-but-many-dont-feel-welcome/
Menon, S. (2019). Conference aims to help more African-Americans get mental health care. KUT. 25 Feb, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.kut.org/post/conference-aims-help-more-african-americans-get-mental-health-care
“New report points to racism and longer confinement of African Americans in Travis County Jail,” (2017). Grassroots Leadership. 13 July, 2017. Retrieved from https://grassrootsleadership.org/releases/2017/07/new-report-points-racism-and-longer-confinement-african-americans-travis-county
Prosperity Now (2019). Racial wealth divide in Austin. Retrieved from https://www.austincf.org/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/Reports/Racial Wealth Divide Profile Austin_February 2019_ Final3.pdf
Rountree, M.A. (2019). Achieving health equity: Improving the maternal postpartum access and outcomes of Black/African American women in Travis County  (2020). University of Texas at Austin, Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Retrieved from https://socialwork.utexas.edu/projects/achieving-health-equity-improving-the-maternal-postpartum-access-and-outcomes-of-black-african-american-women-in-travis-county/
Vallejo-Aguilar, D. (2017). Health trends in Travis County. Extension Education in Travis County, Texas A&M. 5 July, 2017. Retrieved from https://travis-tx.tamu.edu/2017/07/05/health-trends-travis-county/