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Community Relations Liaisons: Filling a Pivotal Role in Red Cross Disaster Relief
Katie Lawson with Leigh-Anne Dennison, RedCross.org Staff
Friday, July 21, 2006 — Building on lessons from an initial pilot community relations program launched during last year’s hurricane season, the American Red Cross recently gathered employees and volunteers in Washington, D.C. to train as Community Relations Liaisons. The two-day training sought to build the capacity of the retooled and revitalized program while focusing on preparing a diverse group of individuals to support disaster operations in the field.
Building on lessons from an initial pilot community relations program launched during last year’s hurricane season, the Red Cross recently gathered employees and volunteers in Washington, D.C., to train as Community Relations Liaisons.
(Photo Credit: Leigh-Anne Dennison/American Red Cross)
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Community Relations Liaisons play a pivotal role in disaster relief operations by addressing concerns raised by diverse community members, resolving conflicts and helping to identify underserved or previously unreachable communities.
“In addition to being seasoned leaders, liaisons come from diverse backgrounds,” said Natalia Guerrido Mason, Manager of Partner Services/Client Services with the American Red Cross who helped lead the training. “Many are multilingual and possess a broad cultural acumen, making them well-suited to the role of liaison.”
Many have been recruited from a pool of existing Red Cross volunteers or staff, bringing varying levels of experience to the role. Some of the participants have worked in the field and served on operations, while a number of others are just beginning.
This training was held to increase the number of liaisons available and able to travel to disaster relief operations. Prior to this recruitment, there were approximately half a dozen liaisons prepared to deploy on an operation. For a long time, Mason was the only Community Relations staff at the national level.
A recruitment memo was circulated to Red Crossers across the country asking for nominations of potential Community Relations Liaisons. The Red Cross also turned to its partner organizations to recruit new affiliates to the program. The American Council of the Blind, the American Association of the Deaf-Blind, Through the Looking Glass, the American Association of People with Disabilities and the National Federation of the Blind and others, were invited to nominate individuals willing, available and possessing the necessary skill-sets to serve in such roles.
Natalia Guerrido Mason, Manager of Partner Services/Client Services with the American Red Cross, leads sessions and moderates the resulting discussions during Red Cross Community Relations Liaison training in the nation's capital. (Photo Credit: Leigh-Anne Dennison/American Red Cross)
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“The response was overwhelming,” said Mason. “Using this wide range of external partners along with the list of internal candidates, a diverse group of people were chosen for training, including individuals who specialize in caring for people with disabilities.”
Spanning two days, the training sessions covered a broad spectrum of topics. For individuals new to the organization, sessions introduced the Red Cross and the fundamental principles—humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality—that guide it.
An early training session gave participants a chance to learn about and define their specific roles and responsibilities in the field. Another key session involved partnerships and building networks on the ground. The main goal of this was to present examples to the trainees of the vast number of resources available in local communities and how to utilize them.
Communicating across cultures was another strong theme. Attendees received many helpful tools throughout the various training sessions to assist them. A visual language guide was distributed that would enable them to communicate at a basic level with disaster victims who don’t speak English.
Kathleen A. Pautler participates in a role-playing exercise during training. Groups of attendees assigned potential scenarios that could occur in the midst of a relief operation must discuss and then share their potential solutions. (Photo Credit:
Leigh-Anne Dennison/American Red Cross)
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Participants also witnessed a live demonstration of Language Line. Under a recently signed agreement with the Red Cross, Language Line provides a phone service that allows individuals who do not speak the same language to communicate with one another through a live translator. Using a phone with two handsets, the translator is able to perform instant interpreting while the Red Crosser and the person being served listen in. Of course, it works equally well when handing a single cell phone back and forth.
“The Red Cross is working to increase its language capacity resources,” explained Gayle Brock, Director of Diversity/Chapter Operations for the Red Cross. “While it is our goal to recruit more bilingual and even multilingual volunteers, if we don’t have someone available who knows that language, these tools help us bridge the gap. They enable us to better meet the needs of people and communities where language has been an obstacle for us.”
Sessions also addressed issues related to other diverse populations, including people with disabilities, both physical and mental, and sexual or gender orientations.
“We are an impartial and neutral organization—providing services to all who need them before, during and after a disaster,” said Brock during a session. “That means we don’t withhold services based on nationality, race, religion, politics or orientation; we focus instead on meeting their needs.”
Rosalind Osinubi (right), along with Charletta Malone (center) and Joe Hyun-Seung Yang (center), share the results of their group's discussion of scenarios during a role-playing exercise. Attendees also learned about new resources, such as Language Line that can help Red Cross workers overcome language obstacles during a relief operation.
(Photo Credit: Leigh-Anne Dennison/American Red Cross)
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By definition, one who liaises acts to reconcile differences between parties. In the stressful environment of a disaster and the often confined quarters of a shelter, emotions may run high and conflicts arise, resident-to-resident or even resident-to-staff.
“Some shelter residents may have concerns and even novice volunteers or workers may need guidance,” he said. “As liaisons, it is your role to help them work through those concerns and resolve conflicts without showing favoritism or discriminating.”
Brock admonished the trainees that they were charged with communicating that disaster shelters are a place of safety and security, not just from the risk of whatever disaster may be occurring. This was a point particularly driven home during a role-playing exercise that allowed participants in a safe, controlled environment to face, discuss and formulate appropriate responses to scenarios similar to those that could or often do well up in the sometimes chaotic environment of a disaster response operation.
Finally, while Community Relations Liaisons are not public affairs personnel who are responsible for working with news teams, it was important for them to learn about media relations. Again, as liaisons they might be called upon to mediate in a way—to work with other Red Crossers on the relief operation to balance the need of the media to tell the story of the disaster and publicize the help that is available and to retain the privacy of disaster survivors.
More than 100 individuals from across the country participated in the training, building capacity of the program from six to 140.
(Photo Credit: Leigh-Anne Dennison/American Red Cross)
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“Keep in mind that some of these people have just lost everything to a disaster,” said Ana Correa, a member of the Red Cross national media team. “This shelter is their home—it is all they have left. Even though we want to help our friends in the media tell the story, we need to maintain the sanctity of that ‘home’ for them.”
While this training focused on a few key elements critical to being a successful Community Relations Liaison, there was an underlying thread tying everything together—humanity. Even as the new liaisons learned about their roles, found out how to do this or that and received the tools and resources to do it, the lessons and discussions always circled back to the mission of the Movement: to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found; to protect life and health; to ensure respect for the human being and to promote mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation and lasting peace among all peoples.
Thanks to this recruitment and training, the number of Community Relations Liaisons who play such an important role in American Red Cross relief operations has increased from a meager six to a more robust 140 members, who are ready and eager to serve when the time comes.
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