Communicating Risk in Your Community

My Public Health Communication Campaign was focused on a new course provided by NOAA's Office for Coastal Management called "Three Steps to Better Risk Communication". This course will be a blended learning opportunity with a mix of synchronous virtual classroom sessions, and asynchronous work (discussion posts, completion of a risk communication strategy). The course is designed for professionals needing to communicate risk to their communities. We will address the community level of the Social-Ecological Model by considering communication strategies that impact the social and physical environments.

My campaign targeted professional coastal decision makers (e.g., city planners, land-use planners, communication specialist, city council members). These are typically the roles that participate in our training opportunities. Additionally, even though risk and vulnerability are ubiquitous, the target audience typically represent coastal communities. These communities frequently face a multitude of issues (e.g., flooding, storms, heat waves, fires, droughts).

I created a tri-fold brochure, a quick reference infographic, and a PSA (see attached). The tri-fold brochure provides the most detailed information for the target population. It highlights key definitions for them to become familiar with, and letting them know their community is not alone when it comes to risk and vulnerabilities. The brochure also highlights the course and resources that can be found on NOAA's Digital Coast Academy. The quick reference infographic is designed to be a type of rack card and implements micro-learning strategies. The front of the card highlights mental models typically experienced during risk communication and ways to overcome some of the bias. The back of the card provides best practices to implement when communicating risk. The PSA is mainly a thought piece. In the PSA, questions are presented to provoke the audience to consider whether their community is addressing risk.

Please note these materials were created solely for the purpose of the Summer 2019 PHC6937 course and do not represent NOAA's Office for Coastal Management.