The State of Louisiana received more than 30 inches of rain in August 2016, resulting in historic flooding with more than 100,000 citizens displaced. Within days, 20 parishes were declared federal disaster areas. More than 100,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. The State of Louisiana’s Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), administers programs funded by FEMA, and through the Division of Administration’s Office of Community Development Disaster Recovery Unit (OCD-DRU) administers programs funded by HUD Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) for disaster recovery. McKissack, as part of the Program Management team, provided the following services:

• A Subject Matter Expert that provided guidance throughout the process drawing on our extensive FEMA Disaster Recovery Program knowledge and experience.
• Program Design staff were involved in the set up and implementation of the program, designing the steps and processes needed to move the program forward and write policies and procedures.
• Outreach staff coordinated with FEMA and GOHSEP and other state agencies, parishes, local governments and other stakeholders for appropriate venues and opportunities to conduct outreach and accept applications for assistance and provided mobile application intake services.
• Case Representatives provided call center services for impacted citizens to communicate program information, completed call-in applications online, for and provide program information and answers to applicants.