Disaster Relief Team

Building upon the lessons learned from the September 2020 Almeda Fire, the Rogue Action Center (RAC) and our community partners are launching the Disaster Relief Team (DRT) to empower communities to have the support, knowledge, and resources to recover from past disasters and prepare for any future disasters. The DRT is building the infrastructure to bring critical supplies and infrastructure to a disaster area and rapidly deploy mutual aid support to affected communities in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Mutual aid is based on a voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit. 

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Mutual Aid direct relief work 

Physical needs such as collection/distribution of funding, resources, and information Resource navigation through building/holding relationships, deep listening, bridging people to resources 

Participating in decision making bodies and processes to advocate for community needs/priorities (with community members), create more responsive systems and disrupt barriers in systems 

Ongoing learning and adaptation 

Ongoing outreach and organizing with fire impacted communities 

Gather and share knowledge and skills 

Community building 

Valuing people's lived experience & stories as a tool for transformation 

Shifting Power and Policy Through Community Organizing 

Skills building community workshops 

Convening working groups & gatherings 

 

Guiding Values 

- A recognition that existing power structures are rooted in systems of 

oppression and pose barriers to access/participation and are often 

unresponsive in a crisis 

- Community networks are agile and can respond/pivot quickly 

- A deep trust in community knowledge and wisdom 

- Commitment to equity 

- The belief that solutions rooted in relationships with people most 

impacted will benefit the whole community 

- Recognition that this is a movement and must be rooted in deep 

partnerships