People's voices and communities concerns get lost in translation. Sometimes the translation error is a literal language miscommunication, sometimes it is like the game telephone I use to play as a kid. I began exploring this belief my freshman year of college in a Community Engagement Lab course. The hands on nature appealed to my style of learning but at the time I had no interest in becoming a researcher. At the time, I planned to finish undergrad then go to law school and eventually run for public office. I believed that the best way to overcome my experiences with ‘otherness’ was to embed myself in the U.S electoral system. In my Community Engagement Lab course I began to find a different pathway to helping people who have been ‘othered’ by dominant dogmas. I worked with the SW Oklahoma City (OKC) community, the community is predominately spanish-speaking and not native Oklahomans. The research was sparked by mounting concerns about weather preparedness within SW OKC. The fatality rate associated with tornadic weather in SW OKC was significantly higher than in other areas. After going into the community we discovered 3 overarching policy failures. First, the National Weather Center was only broadcasting alerts in English. Second, because the area is predominately composed of rented homes, renters are unable to install storm shelters because they fundamentally change the structure which goes against city ordinances. The final problem was that Oklahoma’s Good Samaritan Act only protected individuals and businesses who sheltered those in need after a State of Emergency had been declared by the Governor. In most cases, a state of emergency is only declared after a tornado has ravaged an area. After consulting the community through general surveys, survivor interviews, and stakeholder input, we were able to correct all of the above mentioned policy errors and bring public storm shelters into the community.
(Student in PSC 3220 Spring 2014 worked with the Red Cross, Telemundo and Oklahoma Policy Institute to develop knowledge about communication and resources in the Spanish speaking community during severe weather events in central Oklahoma)
