Page 136 - Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience

8

Working as an Ally to
Underserved Communities

the Role of Faith, Coordination, and
Partnerships in the Response to the
2001 World trade Center Attack

Maggie Jarry

Introduction

Recovery, an increasingly important concept in mental health advocacy,
is at the core of many debates in disaster work. What is recovery for one
person may be different for another, and how recovery efforts reflect or
reinforce predisaster inequities is a central area of concern for disaster
professionals. Faith communities often channel their resources, financial
and in-kind, to support the long-term recovery of disaster-affected com-
munities. Typically, they do this by forming long-term recovery commit-
tees, otherwise know as unmet needs tables. The purpose of unmet needs
tables is to consider how financial and other resources can be distributed
in such a way that it does not duplicate other resources available (via the
client or the community). In other words, the aid is need based, will lead to
recovery (e.g., independence for the client), and does not improve the pre-
disaster situation of the client or return the client, necessarily, to his or her
predisaster level of society. In the process of assisting thousands of people
from April 2002 to May 2009, participants in NYC 9/11 Unmet Needs
Roundtable in New York City had many debates regarding how these prin-
ciples and the philosophy of unmet needs tables should be applied.

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