All-America City projects: Windsor, Colo., recovers from an EF3 tornado by organizing the community
June 8, 2009 at 5:00 am by Wayne Garcia
The EF3 tornado that hit Windsor in May 2008 (photo:examiner.com)
With the National Civic League’s 2009 All-America City Awards conference convening in Tampa in just nine days, I’m posting information about the various city projects that are nominated for recognition.
To recap again, 30 cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-18 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.
AAC nominee Windsor, Colo., nominated its Teen Advisory Board and two projects related to a disaster last year, when an EF3 tornado struck the town, killing one and leaving a 35-mile swath of destruction:
Windsor, Colorado
Northern Colorado Tornado Long Term Recovery Team (Individual)
On May 22, 2008, the town of Windsor, Colorado was struck by an EF 3 tornado. Following the initial emergency response, the question was asked: how can the community organize to monitor the recovery process? This sparked the proposal for a long term recovery committee that would include a collaboration of volunteers, nonprofit organizations, government, and the private sector to assist residents as they put their lives back together. The Long Term Recovery Team (LTRT) was formed, with the mission to strengthen area-wide disaster coordination by sharing information, assisting individuals and families that have specific unmet needs, and by providing a coordinated effort to bring available resources together to aid in the recovery of northern Colorado residents affected by the storms. To date, the LTRT has responded in the following ways: four community meetings, two door-to-door formal needs assessments, 603 crisis counseling contacts, 10,691 pieces of informative material distributed, several storm related presentations, several food and holiday food distributions, monitored home rebuilding in hardest hit areas, 65 families mentored through case management, landscaping assistance and projected distribution of over $150,000 in financial assistance.
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
