“If you want to support your community during grey skies, you have to make connections when skies are still blue”

In observance of National Preparedness Month, Equal Justice Works recently heard from 2023 Fellows Nickole Durbin-Felix and Kevin Sarlo about their work as Disaster Resilience Program Fellows helping communities in Florida recover from Hurricane Ian.  

As hurricane season progresses, we encourage everyone to review resources on disaster preparedness, such as the American Red Cross page on hurricane safety, “Make a Plan” by Ready.gov, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s page on National Preparedness Month. 

Nickole Durbin-Felix 

At LatinoJustice PRLDEF, we are working on providing educational outreach events to create a more resilient community and raise awareness of their rights after a disaster. Additionally, our organization works on transforming harmful systems, empowering our communities, fighting for racial justice, and building systemic impact litigation efforts that address disaster related issues, including access to clean, renewable energy. 

What does an average day working with your clients look like? 

I spend my time meeting and building relationships with local and national organizations to prepare our communities for future disasters. The goals of these meetings include creating new educational materials and planning outreach efforts. 

What have you accomplished or learned so far? 

We’ve had great success in our outreach and education events, attending many disaster expos in the counties we serve in Florida and really immersing ourselves in our community. We also built a successful social media campaign that developed into our L.E.A.R.N. webinar series, which reached a wide audience. In this series, we discussed preparedness, common issues that arise for households, and how to navigate those challenges. 

What are you most excited about continuing your project? 

In the future, we hope to work on continued engagement and collaborations with allies on resolving the energy crisis and building sustainability. With an increased focus on energy justice and energy democracy, we believe our communities will be better prepared to face the next natural disaster and help alleviate barriers to equitable relief after a disaster. 

What would you like people to consider during Disaster Preparedness Month? 

It is important to consider is making sure that our communities- especially those that speak languages other than English- know about resources before a disaster. Disasters can be overwhelming but knowing that help is available in their own language can provide some peace of mind. 

Kevin Sarlo 

I assist clients with their continuing recovery from Hurricane Ian by  resolving legal issues stemming from the storm and preventing these issues from reoccurring when the next disaster strikes. 

What does an average day working with your clients look like? 

An average day can be many things: working out of our office, doing community outreach at a partner organization’s location, or giving an educational presentation to community members. 

What have you accomplished or learned so far? 

Focusing on disaster recovery and resilience has brought me into contact with many different areas of law (such as construction and insurance law) and many different community partners (like local social services and long-term recovery groups). My legal knowledge is growing, and so, too, is the network of people I can refer clients to when the legal system does not meet their needs. 

What are you most excited about continuing your project? 

Hurricane Ian was not the first hurricane to hit Southwest Florida, and it won’t be the last, so the knowledge I earned from participating in this program needs to be compiled and distributed among our regional offices, community partners, and the larger community. Along with other members of Florida Rural Legal Services’ Disaster Team, I am assembling an “attack outline” for legal aid attorneys responding to natural disasters in Florida and an informational booklet translated into English, Spanish and Haitian Creole for the public. 

What would you like people to consider during Disaster Preparedness Month? 

One of my mentors told me, “If you’re handing out your business card during a storm, you’re too late.” If you want to support your community during grey skies, you have to make connections when skies are still blue. 

To read about the Disaster Resilience Program, click here. To learn more about the other Fellows working to provide legal aid to communities in the aftermath of disasters, click here.