Case Study
This case study summarizes an ongoing multi-phase project focused on Texas small business disaster resiliency which the Institute is working on as part of a public-private partnership.
The goal of this project is to help small businesses, and the communities they are part of, to enhance resilience for all of Texas. 99% of Texas businesses are small businesses, and nationwide, 40% of small businesses impacted by a disaster never reopen. Small businesses are key members of their communities and have the potential to act as force multipliers if they are disaster ready. To increase small business resiliency, we developed BeforeDuringAfter.com, a web platform that provides access to authoritative information and tools to help small businesses prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. The site is organized by the most basic building blocks of the disaster cycle, with preparedness resources in Before, real-time response information in During, and recovery resources in After.
We started by researching all aspects of disasters, including the disaster management cycle, relevant government agencies and private organizations providing support, and types of disasters. Overall, we found that there was an abundant amount of information available from a variety of sources, including resources for getting ready for disaster, entities providing information about current disaster events, and various recovery resources, all targeted specifically for small businesses. However, we know that small businesses are typically short on time, making sifting through all the available information an overwhelming task.
This knowledge led us to create several toolsets aimed at adding structure and sequence to existing information, with the main goal of connecting small businesses to incredible resources from trusted experts that already exist.
Site Design
For users accessing the platform during a disaster, fast loading times are crucial. Because of that, we designed the site with limited full-color photography to ensure quicker loading times. Additionally, in the event of a disaster or power outage, users are likely to access the site from a mobile phone rather than a computer or laptop, so we made sure the platform is mobile-friendly. To help preserve precious battery life, we designed the site in dark mode to use as little battery as possible.
As a member of the Geography and Environmental Studies Department, we know that location matters. To ensure that users have access to as localized information as possible, we added location services to the platform. Once users allow their location to be used, or manually select it from a drop-down, then the information seen in the During section is automatically filtered to that location. Information is available for all 254 counties in the state and for over 1,000 cities.
Overall, students collected over 10,000 unique links that have gone into building the platform. Though there is a lot of information and complexity in the site, we designed it to be simple and easy to use.
Toolsets
BeforeDuringAfter.com offers tools to help businesses Get ready before disaster, Be informed during disaster, and Recover after disaster.
Before
The primary tool in the Before section is the Readiness Roadmap, which has three main steps: Be informed, Make a plan, and Build a kit. This structure purposefully mirrors the steps on TexasReady.gov, the main readiness resource in the state for individuals and families.
Because disaster planning is a complex task, we aimed to give small businesses easy wins at the start, so the first step of the Roadmap is simply to Get and distribute alerts. This step includes an alert signup tool that we developed to compile all community alert signups for the selected location. We believe this is the most comprehensive alert list available.
The remainder of the Readiness Roadmap takes small businesses through other important readiness steps. Rather than trying to be the disaster expert, we focused on connecting businesses to the experts, such as the US Chamber Foundation and FEMA.
During
The only tool in the During section is the Emergency Information Hub. Localized, authoritative information during a disaster can be difficult to find and overwhelming to sort through. The Hub addresses this by offering one centralized location to find critical and timely disaster information. It includes five main categories of information: Updates, Weather, Utilities, Transportation, and Aid.
This tool is where the majority of the 10,000+ unique links are used, particularly in the Updates tab. For every city and county in the state, students collected websites and account information for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (X) for relevant local entities, such as offices of emergency management. We also collected websites and social media accounts for relevant state and federal entities, school districts, and local news affiliates. By embedding Facebook feeds directly into our site, we removed the need for users to have their own Facebook account, and we cut out the noise of social media to only show the original posts. Though there is a ton of information in the Updates tab alone, filters and clear labeling make it simple to quickly get informed about your community.
The remaining tabs in the Emergency Information Hub offer up-to-date weather information from the National Weather Service, contact information and outage maps as applicable for electric, gas, and water providers, embedded traffic maps from TxDOT and Waze, and disaster aid information.
After
The Recovery Timeline is the main tool in the After section. Structured similarly to the Readiness Roadmap, this Recovery Timeline takes small businesses through the most important steps in disaster recovery. It is organized by three major timeframes: as soon as possible, within one week, and within two months. These timeframes were designed to give small businesses an idea of the urgency of given tasks. For example, the first steps after a disaster are to ensure the safety of employees, assess damage, and gather critical records, which are essential to beginning the recovery process.
Other steps in the Recovery Timeline include insurance, communications, and future planning. Disaster management is a cycle as the BeforeDuringAfter logo depicts, so the Timeline ends by sending small businesses back to the Readiness Roadmap so they can use the experience from the last disaster to start planning for the next one.
Throughout this project, the Institute has demonstrated the platform to a variety of audiences to gain feedback and identify potential collaborators. In addition to the initial partnership between Texas Mutual Insurance, Texas Search and Rescue, and the Institute, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and the Onestar Foundation have joined as coalition members, and Wells Fargo has offered financial support. The support of these organizations speaks to the value of the platform and its potential to greatly impact Texas. We are incredibly grateful for their partnership and support.
After almost three years of work, BeforeDuringAfter.com launched in June 2024 and we are already working on site enhancements.
The Institute for Government Innovation is an on-campus consulting group completing applied research projects covering a diversity of topics and producing project deliverables designed to meet our clients’ needs. We provide high value, innovative solutions and provide our student employees with the opportunity to gain real world experience to complement their academic learning boosting their career success. This project exemplifies a consistent element of many of our projects—collecting large amounts of data, analyzing it, and presenting it in very accessible formats.