The intervention that I developed for my final project was called Resisting Wildfires with Community in the Navajo Nation. Wildfires put Native Americans at risk for harm over 20% more often than the next highest risk demographic group, with a total of 42.2% of Native Americans living in high-risk areas (Muyskens et al., 2022). The Navajo Nation was selected as the priority population for this intervention because it is currently the largest and most populous nation in the US (Romero, 2021). In 2022, the entire state of New Mexico was deemed to be at extreme fire risk (Navarro, 2022). Due to concerns over size of the population, the portion of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico will be of primary focus.
Themes throughout the intervention include community, heritage, purpose, initiative, and safety. Because Native Americans are resistant to change from outside their identity group (LaFever, 2011), messaging will come from leaders within the community. To market the intervention, a radio ad for the first community meeting will be aired on KTNN, the radio station of the Navajo Nation. This radio ad will also direct people to an issue of The Navajo Times, a periodical produced by the Nation, that describes what the intervention aims to do and how community participation can shape it.
The intervention itself has principles of Community-Based Participatory Research incorporated into it. Initially, the goal of the intervention is to get community members to engage with community partners, the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department alongside the Navajo Nation Department of Fire and Safety, in order to better understand what practices can help resist wildfires and represent their interests in the discussion.
The intervention has objectives on each level of the CDC's Social Ecological Model. On an individual level, a fire safety plan will be developed. Additionally, individuals will be prompted to find purpose, which will build resilience within them. On an interpersonal level, working together with purpose will be utilized in order to build stronger social networks. On a community level, school and community policies will be shaped by the community members. Lastly, community members will engage with local and state leaders to affect zoning laws, construction practices, and to build a more productive society. More specifics on interventions at each level would be determined as the community engages in the development of the intervention.
References
LaFever, M. (2011). Empowering Native Americans: Communication, planning, and dialogue for eco-tourism in Gallup, New Mexico. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 4(2), 127â145. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2011.556829.
Muyskens, J., Ba Tran, A., Ahmed, N., & Phillips, A. (2022). Demographic distribution of wildfire risk. Washington Post. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com...ildfire-risk-map-us/.
Navarro, A. (2022). Wildfire, grassland fire risk. Accuweather. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://www.accuweather.com/en...34c53648994ffa168b9d
Romero, S. (2021, May 21). Navajo Nation becomes largest tribe in U.S.. after pandemic enrollment surge. The New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/0...okee-population.html.
Comments (0)