RECOVERY PLANNING TOOLS

Suites of planning products are used to ensure appropriate technical support and planning consistency, allowing parish and sector planning views as well as a comprehensive platform from which to view regional and statewide projects. Those tools include:

Self-Help Guide - The Self-Help Guide was produced and rolled out in Louisiana for use in Louisiana’s disaster recovery and later for nationwide disaster recovery response. It is designed to assist those communities that have planning capacity and capability to recover from the disasters’ impact. “Self-Help” communities can benefit from the experience and best practices captured from 12 previously successful long-term recovery pilot initiatives and incorporated into the Self Help Guide.

Recovery Value Tool - Communities face many challenges following a disaster, including determining where recovery resources are to be best invested. The Recovery Value Tool guides federal, state and community planning teams in determining the recovery value of project ideas as they are identified by the community by using a systematic evaluation methodology to categorize projects as high, moderate or low recovery value. A fourth category, community interest projects, may not have a significant recovery value but may be of important interest to the community. Recognizing that tough choices must be made during the rebuilding effort, the Tool facilitates planning and implementation activities for those high recovery value projects that can have a catalytic effect on a community’s recovery. The Recovery Value Tool was created with the input of federal partners and developed from the experience and best practices captured from 12 previously successful long-term recovery pilot initiatives. It is currently being implemented across Louisiana, and will also be adopted for future disaster response in other areas of the country.

Parish Recovery Planning Tool (RPT)- The Parish Recovery Planning Tool provides a transparent and collaborative forum for recovery planning and implementation. The site allows federal and state agencies, local parish governments, the general public and displaced Louisianans access to the planning process. The site identifies current project candidates for recovery, including Stafford-eligible projects, provides the option to sort them by parish or by sector, and offers a list of available funding resources. The Parish RPT is an on-going tool that will benefit parish, regional and state planning for years to come.

The Strategic Recovery Timeline (SRT) is a project management tool that clarifies the complex relationships and inter-dependencies between the multitude of recovery activities, decision points, program deadlines and parish recovery projects. Developed by the Louisiana LTCR team, the SRT enables users to make timely decisions and illustrates responsibility for particular recovery-related activities. The SRT shows the sequence of events and decisions that need to occur before others. It also facilitates scenario analysis where decision-making, sequencing, duration of activities and inter-dependencies can be modified to show the potential impact of changes resulting from legislative, agency or other stakeholder actions. Because it facilitates analysis and recovery decision-making by clearly showing critical paths and milestones that impact the “windows of recovery opportunity,” the SRT is a critical component of LTCR planning activities. An SRT is being completed for five of the most heavily devastated parishes (Cameron, Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines and St. Bernard).  The SRT will be continually updated to incorporate new information and changes regarding recovery activities.