Cultural Ambassadors for Disasters

Richard Ponce de Leon with the Tennessee Langauge Center and Heidi Mariscal with Nashvilles Emergency Management Office discuss the Cultural Ambassadors for Disasters program. The program places ambassadors in immigrant areas in the event of a disaster to help residents of the area understand what is happening. 

Transcript

Audio file

Cultural Ambassadors program_mixdown.mp3

Transcript

00:00:04 Susan Robertson

Hi and welcome to In touch with Tennessee.

00:00:07 Susan Robertson

A podcast of the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service.

00:00:12 Susan Robertson

Joining us today are guests Richard Ponce de Leon with our Tennessee Language Center and Heidi Mariscal with the Nashville Office of Emergency Management to talk about the partnership on the Cultural Ambassadors for Disasters program.

00:00:31 Susan Robertson

Thank you both for being here.

00:00:34 Heidi Mariscal

Thank you for having us.

00:00:36 Susan Robertson

Heidi, what is the cultural ambassadors program?

00:00:40 Heidi Mariscal

Well it it's a fairly new program and what it is.

00:00:47 Heidi Mariscal

it was born out of some issues that we have experienced over the past few years when it comes to disasters in communication.

00:00:59 Heidi Mariscal

So for the most part it is a group of volunteer ambassadors who would become ongoing liaisons between the community going through the disaster, along with all of the government personnel and

00:01:19 Heidi Mariscal

other agencies that would help the community and the hundreds of members of our immigrant new American communities.

00:01:28 Heidi Mariscal

And what these ambassadors will do is we will educate them and inform them on different disaster preparedness and recovery topics so that they can take that information and give it back to their group that they would represent as being an ambassador.

00:01:49 Susan Robertson

So you said it's a fairly new

00:01:52 Susan Robertson

Program, when was it formed?

00:01:55 Heidi Mariscal

We launched it in

00:01:58 Heidi Mariscal

September of 2022, we had our first meeting then

00:02:03 Heidi Mariscal

We've been going strong ever since.

00:02:06 Susan Robertson

And you mentioned it was...

00:02:08 Susan Robertson

I'm sorry, Richard.

00:02:10 Susan Robertson

Were you going to say something?

00:02:12 Richard Ponce de Leon

The catalyst for the creation of the program was actually.

00:02:17 Richard Ponce de Leon

Miss Karen Weber from the Nashville mayor's office. She's the one that started with the idea while she was discussing

00:02:25 Richard Ponce de Leon

She was having a conversation with a colleague at the mayor's office, and she mentioned the fact that there was a need for better disaster communications with minority populations, and she was told about the Tennessee language Center as a possible resource to work on that.

00:02:46 Richard Ponce de Leon

And that's how we got started basically.

00:02:49 Susan Robertson

OK, you know and you mentioned Heidi some of the

00:02:54 Susan Robertson

disasters, I guess that Nashville has seen within the last several years, if you could maybe talk about a couple of incidents that happened that maybe led to the break in communication with your new residents in Nashville.

00:03:11 Heidi Mariscal

Yeah. So back in 2020 and 2021, obviously, we had the tornado in the north part of Davidson County and at the same time, we had COVID happen and there were.

00:03:28 Heidi Mariscal

Communication issues identified for both of those, but it actually in.

00:03:35 Heidi Mariscal

More recent than that, in March of ‘21 when we had the flooding around 7 Mile Creek, that's when we realized because that was an area that

00:03:47 Heidi Mariscal

was 

00:03:51 Heidi Mariscal

In the main area that was impact they had a huge amount of immigrant and refugees and new Americans, and so that really brought it to perspective on needing to take care of this as soon as possible.

00:04:07 Susan Robertson

OK. And how many

00:04:09 Susan Robertson

ambassadors are involved in your program now?

00:04:13 Heidi Mariscal

Right now, we have approximately 14 and that is fluid because we're always adding new ambassadors.

00:04:24 Susan Robertson

Right, right. And is this?

00:04:28 Susan Robertson

This Nashville city area, the kind of the downtown area or is it spread throughout Davidson County?

00:04:35 Heidi Mariscal

Now it would be for all of Nashville and Davidson County.

00:04:38 Susan Robertson

OK.

00:04:39 Susan Robertson

OK.

00:04:40 Susan Robertson

So Richard, you explained how the Tennessee Language Center became involved.

00:04:45 Susan Robertson

What exactly is the center’s role and and your role with the program?

00:04:52 Richard Ponce de Leon

So our role, the role of TLC is to leverage our cultural and linguistic expertise so that we can act as high dimension as an interface between the office of Emergency Management and our immigrant, refugee and New Americans.

00:05:11 Richard Ponce de Leon

And communities and this goes beyond translating messages into other languages, although that is a key part.

00:05:20 Richard Ponce de Leon

But we also need to adapt those messages so that they make sense in a different cultural context and we can aim them at the right members.

00:05:31 Richard Ponce de Leon

Of the immigrant and refugee and new American households.

00:05:36 Richard Ponce de Leon

And we have to take into account cultural practices and taboos, use the right communication tools and many other things.

00:05:46 Richard Ponce de Leon

For which we have the know-how, let's say in helping others how to navigate that and on the flip side our goal is to also leverage the cultural expertise of the Community and getting them involved in the planning and execution of.

00:06:05 Richard Ponce de Leon

The program, and especially bringing their feedback back to the OEM's community input and participation, is key for the success of our program and that's where we are kind of acting like a a bridge between the OEM's and our immigrant communities.

00:06:25 Richard Ponce de Leon

And vice versa.

00:06:27 Susan Robertson

Oh, OK, OK.

00:06:29 Susan Robertson

So is this, I know

00:06:31 Susan Robertson

 you mentioned translation.

00:06:34 Susan Robertson

Is this a printed materials you know verbally face to face during the course of the disaster, or really both?

00:06:47 Richard Ponce de Leon

Both are yes.

00:06:48 Heidi Mariscal

Go ahead, Richard.

00:06:50 Richard Ponce de Leon

Both are involved and so even before we get to that.

00:06:59 Susan Robertson

OK.

00:07:03 Richard Ponce de Leon

With the help of the OEM, we design A training series.

00:07:10 Richard Ponce de Leon

so that the ambassadors themselves can give their input on which persons could be contacted.

00:07:19 Richard Ponce de Leon

What would be the best way of contacting them, etc.

00:07:23 Richard Ponce de Leon

So that part of our work is determining what kind of messages we want to

00:07:30 Richard Ponce de Leon

Disseminate and how so we could have printed.

00:07:37 Richard Ponce de Leon

Messages that can be placed in community centers, churches and other areas where area communities congregate, but also social media is very important.

00:07:51 Richard Ponce de Leon

And leveraging that and the fact that there are different, for instance.

00:07:57 Richard Ponce de Leon

Facebook websites that provide news to the Hispanic community and to other communities in the area.

00:08:05 Richard Ponce de Leon

So with them we can work also on emergency alerts that are written or also to maybe have videos explaining what

00:08:18 Richard Ponce de Leon

A tornado is what a flood is I?

00:08:21 Richard Ponce de Leon

As I was telling you before our conversation, Susan, I come from a place the city of Lima, which basically has no seasons, no tornadoes and floods.

00:08:32 Richard Ponce de Leon

For me are uh as an as an immigrant, are brand new, so we try to use many to determine.

00:08:41 Richard Ponce de Leon

Which ways our immigrant, refugee and American communities from where they get their information and try to have messages that can reach them in an appropriate manner through those different media?

00:08:58 Susan Robertson

OK.

00:08:59 Susan Robertson

And did you have anything to add to that, Heidi?

00:09:03 Heidi Mariscal

I mean this program is amazing.

00:09:05 Heidi Mariscal

So I can talk forever, but.

00:09:06 Heidi Mariscal

I know we're pushed for time

00:09:07 Heidi Mariscal

On it, but kind of like what Richard said is that communication is a key part of this program, but that's not the only part of the program.

00:09:20 Heidi Mariscal

You know we're creating this as a.

00:09:22 Heidi Mariscal

A two-way street, we want to get information to the ambassador.

00:09:29 Heidi Mariscal

And these ambassadors, they're trusted persons in their community.

00:09:34 Heidi Mariscal

So the community, they feel comfortable getting information from those ambassadors and that's how we select and allow these ambassadors because some communities don't trust the government.

00:09:46 Heidi Mariscal

Some communities don't want to hear it from us.

00:09:49 Heidi Mariscal

They want to hear it from those that they trust within their own, you know, circle.

00:09:53 Heidi Mariscal

So that's one.

00:09:56 Heidi Mariscal

part of the program.

00:09:57 Heidi Mariscal

But the other part of the program is.

00:10:01 Heidi Mariscal

Making sure that those ambassadors, when they get information from their community, they have a direct link into the office of Emergency Management and in turn the Emergency Operations Center, which would be activated or opened up for a disaster or an emergency situation and they would be able to bring their.

00:10:21 Heidi Mariscal

Concerns or issues directly to the office of Emergency Management and we would be able to address that through whatever means we need to address it at the time or before or after whatever the case may be.

00:10:32 Heidi Mariscal

So it's a two-way street

00:10:34 Heidi Mariscal

you know we're,

00:10:35 Heidi Mariscal

Richard and I are teaching them different things.

00:10:38 Heidi Mariscal

You know, what's the difference between a tornado watch and tornado warning?

00:10:42 Heidi Mariscal

What do the tornado sirens mean?

00:10:44 Heidi Mariscal

If they hear these sirens that in some countries they may sound like, you know, bomb sirens or something along those lines, so.

00:10:55 Heidi Mariscal

It's important that they understand these events, these actions, these activities and and everything else, but also the communication.

00:11:04 Heidi Mariscal

That's where Richard comes in.

00:11:06 Heidi Mariscal

He's like, OK, this is how we need to do this.

00:11:08 Heidi Mariscal

This is how we.

00:11:09 Heidi Mariscal

Need to do that.

00:11:11 Heidi Mariscal

Because if you take a message and you play that telephone game like we all probably did when we were kids, you know, see how the message changes going through different hands, you know, it's going to change.

00:11:24 Heidi Mariscal

So having that raining and that experience and

00:11:30 Heidi Mariscal

In all of that associated with communication is going to be important because when we put information out a certain way, the point of that message needs to get across to that community, kind of like, OK, we need to evacuate this area for this reason.

00:11:46 Heidi Mariscal

At this time and this is how we need to do it, instead of just saying run so you know there's a learning curve on both sides and the cultural community side and the government side.

00:12:01 Heidi Mariscal

So that's why I'm so excited.

00:12:02 Heidi Mariscal

It's just it's a two way.

00:12:03 Heidi Mariscal

Street and and there's.

00:12:04 Heidi Mariscal

A lot involved with it.

00:12:06 Susan Robertson

Right. Well, yeah, that.

00:12:08 Susan Robertson

Kind of goes into my next question is.

00:12:10 Susan Robertson

How do you see

00:12:11 Susan Robertson

This program evolving or you know how would you like to grow it?

00:12:17 Heidi Mariscal

Oh I how much time do we have? From my perspective

00:12:27 Heidi Mariscal

I would love for this to be to a point where all the different communities out there.

00:12:36 Heidi Mariscal

They know exactly who to go to for the information and to get the proper information, and it would be second nature to them so they know, OK, I need to contact Bob because he's getting this information directly from the Emergency Management Office.

00:12:53 Heidi Mariscal

We want everyone to be able to know that information and to trust those.

00:12:57 Heidi Mariscal

ambassadors that they're getting the information that they need also for the ambassadors to know, OK, well, if we have this problem, we have this cultural problem going on during this emergency.

00:13:10 Heidi Mariscal

We want them to be able to.

00:13:11 Heidi Mariscal

Trust us to bring that information to us so that we.

00:13:14 Heidi Mariscal

Can address it.

00:13:15 Heidi Mariscal

So we want this, like Richard said, bridge the gap between all these different cultural communities and the government, because there should be nothing in the way of disaster preparedness or disaster response.

00:13:31 Susan Robertson

Right. And Richard, what about you? How do you see the the program growing or maybe how do you see you know TLC's role in the program growing?

00:13:42 Richard Ponce de Leon

So we have had kind of.

00:13:46 Richard Ponce de Leon

An analysis period where we have had meetings with some people in the community, some representing community organizations, and we have gotten their feedback about.

00:14:01 Richard Ponce de Leon

How we could improve the programs like they we presented a draft version, let's say of what the training program would look like and what a communications plan for disasters could look like.

00:14:16 Richard Ponce de Leon

And we had some meetings and got their feedback.

00:14:18 Richard Ponce de Leon

So the next stage will be to analyze all of this information and to make the necessary adjustments so that the program is meaningful and provides useful information for the Community.

00:14:38 Richard Ponce de Leon

And we hope to get more volunteer ambassadors involved and.

00:14:46 Richard Ponce de Leon

This program could become a pilot that could be replicated in other areas of our state and I think it would be ideal to have that kind of.

00:15:03 Richard Ponce de Leon

To have that kind of program, considering the amount of immigrants that we are seeing across the state, not only Middle Tennessee, but also in other areas to have them or to have other municipal or county governments replicate the program, that's a goal

00:15:20 Richard Ponce de Leon

That I I would, I would feel, I would feel very satisfied if, like there was a a Tennessee wide program to help immigrant communities be prepared and respond to disasters.

00:15:38 Susan Robertson

OK.

00:15:39 Susan Robertson

So you mentioned wanting to, you know, maybe.

00:15:44 Susan Robertson

Increase the level of involvement and ambassadors, the number of ambassadors.

00:15:49 Susan Robertson

How does someone become an ambassador?

00:15:53 Heidi Mariscal

Well, I mean, they can reach out to either Richard or myself by e-mail or phone or whatever and and we can have that conversation with them and get it started.

00:15:57 Susan Robertson

OK.

00:16:03 Richard Ponce de Leon

OK, alright, so far we basically have been reaching out to people in the community that we know and they in turn have reached out to more people.

00:16:16 Richard Ponce de Leon

So we have been growing kind of by word of mouth, but of course we would.

00:16:22 Richard Ponce de Leon

Like other people that maybe have not heard about us before to reach out to us so that they can become part of this.

00:16:31 Susan Robertson

OK.

00:16:32 Susan Robertson

Anything else that our listeners might need to know about the cultural ambassadors for disasters program?

00:16:40 Heidi Mariscal

I don't think so.

00:16:41 Heidi Mariscal

I mean I I just want to reiterate, I don't know if we if we talked enough about this in the beginning, but.

00:16:48 Heidi Mariscal

Nashville in Middle Tennessee has one of the highest immigration rates in the country, with many of our multicultural communities doubling since 2000.

00:16:59 Susan Robertson

Right.

00:17:01 Heidi Mariscal

And you know, according to the Nashville's Office of the mayor, 12% of the city's population was born outside of the U.S. (United States) and nearly half of that entered the country within the last 20 years. Metro Nashville Public Schools has identified more than 28,000 students in grades K through 12

00:17:13 Susan Robertson

Oh goodness yeah.

00:17:20 Heidi Mariscal

 who come from homes where English is not the primary language, and in 2020 Metro National Public Schools English language.

00:17:32 Heidi Mariscal

Lori and office counted 140 different languages spoken

00:17:37 Heidi Mariscal

Around the student population. So.

00:17:40 Heidi Mariscal

That right there, I mean those are some big numbers and we need to make sure that we address it and that we have all this communication taken care of.

00:17:54 Richard Ponce de Leon

And on the side of TLC in particular, as part of the Institute for Public Service, our ultimate goal is to serve all Tennesseans, and now that includes people that might have a limited command of English or No English.

00:18:14 Richard Ponce de Leon

and come from a different culture, so I think we're furthering the goal of serving all Tennesseans by starting.

00:18:26 Richard Ponce de Leon

And taking these first steps to incorporate those populations that have not been well served in the past so that they not only have access to this information, but

00:18:41 Richard Ponce de Leon

They also feel like they are part of our state and that they are listened to and they and that they are taken into account.

00:18:52 Richard Ponce de Leon

And so I believe.

00:18:55 Richard Ponce de Leon

That is what I like the most about our program and I again, I hope that in other areas, other policymakers see a little bit of what we're doing and find ways of finding

00:19:15 Richard Ponce de Leon

Other ways of incorporating our new American communities.

00:19:22 Susan Robertson

Well, thank you both for.

00:19:23 Susan Robertson

Joining us today.

00:19:25 Richard Ponce de Leon

Thank you very much, Susan

00:19:27 Susan Robertson

Very interesting to learn about this important program and thank you listeners.

00:19:32 Susan Robertson

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