Economic Recovery Support Function Overview July 2014

1. Economic Recovery Support Function Overview July 2014

2. What is the Economic RSF? • The mission of the Economic RSF is to integrate the expertise of the Federal government to help local, state, and tribal governments and the private sector sustain and/or rebuild businesses and employment, and develop economic opportunities that result in sustainable and economically resilient communities, after significant natural and man-made disasters. • Key role for Economic RSF is to facilitate economic recovery, not drive it.

3. Economic Recovery Concepts • Fundamental economic recovery concepts: • Investment of time, energy, and resources pre-disaster is key. • Integrating resiliency planning into economic, workforce, and community development could yield benefits pre- and post-disaster. • Primacy of private sector, as well as state/local government, in defining and implementing economic recovery. • Post-disaster economic recovery initiatives should consider and address the unique needs of the community. Some could include, but are not limited to: • Community Planning • Cash Flow • Business Resumption • Finance and Insurance • Workforce Development • Economic Development • Small Business • Marketing and Communications • Assessment and Evaluation

4. Who is included in the rsf? • Federal Partners: • Coordinating Agency • Department of Commerce/Economic Development Administration (DOC/EDA) • Primary Agencies: • Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (DHS/FEMA) • Department of Labor (DOL) • Small Business Administration (SBA) • Department of the Treasury (TREAS) • U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) • Supporting Organizations: • Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) • Department of Interior (DOI) • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) • Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) • Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

5. Who is included in the rsf? (cont.) • Federal Partners: • Additional Agencies with ad hoc engagement: • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation • Appalachian Regional Commission • Delta Regional Authority • Common State/Regional/Private Sector Partners: • Economic development organizations • Workforce development organizations • Chambers of commerce • Development authorities • Utilities • Institutions of higher education • Regional planning commissions • Councils of government • Economic Development Districts • Financial institutions • State insurance agencies • State taxation and revenue agencies • Elected officials • Planning organizations • Community development organizations • Critical infrastructure owners/operators • Other?

6. Where has the rsf been utilized? • Tennessee – 2010 - Flooding • Gulf Coast– 2010 – BP Oil Spill • Alabama -2011 – Tornadoes • New York – 2011 – Hurricane/TS • Vermont – 2011 – Hurricane/TS • Joplin, MO – 2011 – EF5 Tornado • Louisiana – 2012 – Hurricane Isaac • Nationwide- 2012 – Drought • NY/NJ – 2012 – Hurricane/TS • Oklahoma – 2013 - EF5 Tornadoes • Colorado – 2013 – Flooding • Alaska – 2014 – Flooding • Arkansas – 2014 – Tornadoes Ocean City, NJ Vermont

7. What does the rsf do for communities and states? • The RSF can execute its mission in focusing on three basic steps: • Conduct a Mission Scoping Assessment – In partnership with the state, capture the overarching issues as it relates to economic recovery • Develop a Recovery Support Strategy – In partnership with the state, document the federal capabilities available to be leveraged to support economic recovery. • Implement the Recovery Support Strategy – Undertake those initiatives identified in the Recovery Support Strategy and work with the state to facilitate the transition to steady-state operations. • RSF activities fall into three major categories: • Technical assistance – (e.g. Peer-to-Peer Tourism Workshop, procurement events) • Information sharing – (e.g. connecting the dots between disparate data sources, impact assessments) • Leveraging existing resources – (e.g. working with federal program staff to retool planned initiatives to also support immediate recovery needs)

8. How does the RSF Execute the mission? • When activated, the RSF team serves as a gap-filler, focused on facilitating information sharing (coordination), problem solving, and providing technical assistance.

9. Extending the ndrf/RSF model – Lessons Observed • If the NDRF (from a Federal perspective) is focused on supporting state/community driven recovery, how can the State/community integrate? • Possible Actions: • Align a similar structure for post-disaster recovery • Establish state-level NDRF plans with RSF annexes • Build new public/private partnerships • Adapt existing structures to interface with the Federal structure • Map existing planning and coordination efforts with the “best fit” in the NDRF • Build on existing public/private partnerships • Design Factors: • Establish a process and designate authorities to collect, aggregate, and communicate impact information • Anticipate timing challenges • Exercise leadership pre-disaster • Establish clear expectations • Expect resource limitations

10. Sustainability and Integration • Establishing an RSF-type structure for recovery has strengths • Recognizes that implementing recovery is not a command and control operation – it’s a matrix leadership model • Capitalizes on the assets, knowledge, and resources of a far broader set of organizations (not typically engaged in recovery) • Establishes efficiencies of scale that might be lost if multiple organizations pursued their own recovery strategies • Establishing an RSF-type structure for recovery has vulnerabilities • With so many partners, maintaining a cohesive leadership core can be a challenge (and political) • Partners with relatively small roles may have difficulty seeing the return on their involvement • Recovery is long term (really long term), maintaining energy and focus for the long haul can be daunting for many

11. ECONOMIC RSF CONTACT INFORMATION • Economic RSF National Coordinator • Joshua Barnes • EDA Disaster Recovery Coordinator • jbarnes@eda.gov • 202-482-2453