What Corporate Citizens Should Know about Post-Tornado Joplin

FEMA has been to America’s most shell-shocked communities. In the critical hours and days following a presidentially declared natural disaster, roads are impassable, communications are down, residents aren’t sure what to do, and area business owners/operators feel unsure about what the future holds for them.

When FEMA arrived in Joplin, Missouri, following the F5 tornado last May, the sound of chainsaws and generators greeted the people who came to help. According to Joplin Area Chamber President Rob O’Brian, Joplin residents didn’t wait for outside assistance; they got busy themselves, clearing debris from their homes and roads and helping out their neighbors.  The flurry of activity in Joplin prompted FEMA officials to ask O’Brian, “Does everyone in Joplin own a chainsaw?”

This act of self-sufficiency, this can-do attitude, is characteristic of Joplin, a city of 50,000 residents originally founded in the 1860s as a lead and zinc mining town. City Manager Mark Rohr described it as a culture of “do for yourself and do for others, but do what you think is right.” Perhaps underscoring this sentiment in post-tornado Joplin is the belief about how the city, which hosts about 250,000 regional workers daily, should rebuild: by focusing on maintaining and growing better jobs, and giving people a reason to stay.

“Residents will stay when they know three things,” said O’Brian. “They’ll stay when they know the schools will re-open, and Joplin did that on time. They’ll stay when they know they can rebuild their homes, and so far 51% of the rebuilding permits have been issued. And they’ll stay when they know they’ll be able to find a job and earn a paycheck.”

What the residents of Joplin want most in recovery is a very realistic vision – an economically and socially sound city. 

The latter aspect is the Joplin Area Chamber’s priority, O’Brian recently told a national business delegation comprising the U.S. Chamber BCLC, Discovery Communications, Shell Oil Company, Speedco, Toyota, and UPS. Out of the 530 businesses in Joplin that were destroyed or heavily damaged, 420 have reopened. This includes the local Walmart, which reopened before Thanksgiving.  In addition, a number of employers large and small, including Walmart, Speedco, and St. John’s Mercy hospital, kept people on payroll even during the closure and rebuilding phases.

According to Jane Cage, an area business owner who chairs the citizens’ volunteer recovery committee, what the residents of Joplin want most in recovery is a “very realistic vision” – an economically and socially sound city.

The citizens’ desire met with enthusiastic agreement from Joplin government, business, and civic leaders on January 19^th, when the Citizen Action Recovery Team (CART) plan was unanimously approved (read more on the CART plan here and here).

So what does this mean to corporate citizens who want to be involved in recovery projects?

Erin Dieterich and Jennifer Button of Discovery Communications said they decided to join the national business delegation trip, convened by BCLC, because “Discovery wanted to find a way to give back to Joplin as part of their Discovery Impact Volunteer initiatives and were excited to connect with a broad range of charity, business and government partners to better understand the community’s needs.”

In a press conference during the delegation trip, Ken Sternad of the UPS Foundation noted that disasters are all about logistics, speed and efficiency, and transportation. “At UPS, we love logistics, so it [disaster recovery] is a perfect spot for us to use our expertise and resources." Sternad believes that the recovery work done in Joplin could serve as lessons learned to help other communities in the future.

Shell Oil Company had already started planning the Shell Rotella SuperRig event to take place in Joplin in May, which the company knew would involve a volunteer project and a check presentation. Being on the ground to meet with the leaders and citizens involved in the recovery process is helping Shell decide exactly how the event’s activities will take shape.

Through the delegation’s meetings with the city government and business leaders, as well as various local nonprofit organizations, a few key areas of social investment opportunities emerged. These include:

• Resources – both volunteer and financial – for the ramp-up in housing construction
• Mental health and post-crisis counseling for youth and adults alike
• Assistance to make the tornado memorial, the arts and entertainment center, and the expansion of the trail system a reality
• Participation in Joplin’s goal to create “the best high school in the nation,” which school officials think will be replicable in  other cities, disaster-stricken or not

The national business sector can play a significant role in helping the area build back stronger than before.

The Joplin Chamber’s O’Brian believes the national business sector can play a significant role in helping the area build back stronger than before. “There are needs for financial, technical, and training resources which national and regional firms can bring to the table.  I encourage their participation, particularly remembering that we need assistance supporting schools, housing, and jobs,” O’Brian said.

To learn more about the delegation trip or areas of social investment in Joplin, contact Gerald McSwiggan, disaster manager for BCLC.

* * * * *

Pictured above: President Gary Pulsipher of St. John's Mercy Hospital addressing the BCLC business delegation in front of the destroyed former hospital building. Within 90 minutes, hospital staff evacuated 200 patients to safety.