Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Call For Emergency Action To Restore Dietary Diversity And Protect Global Food Systems In Times Of Covid-19 And Beyond: Results From A Cross-Sectional Study In 38 Countries, Maha Hoteit, Reem Hoteit, Ayoub Aljawaldeh, Kathleen Van Royen, Sara Pabian, Paulien Decorte, Isabelle Cuykx, Lauranna Teunissen, Charlotte De Backer, Ina Bergheim, Raphaela Staltner, Amanda Devine, Ros Sambell, Ruth Wallace, Sabika S. Allehdan, Tariq A. Alalwan, Mariam A. Al-Mannai, Gaëlle Ouvrein, Karolien Poels, Heidi Vandebosch, Katrien Maldoy, Christophe Matthys, Tim Smits, Jules Vrinten, Ann Desmet, Nelleke Teughels, Maggie Geuens, Iris Vermeir, Viktor Proesmans, Liselot Hudders, Marcia D. De Barcellos, Cristina Ostermann, Ana L. Brock, Cynthia Favieiro, Rafaela Trizotto, Isadora Stangherlin, Anthonieta L. Mafra, Marco A. C. Varella, Jaroslava V. Valentova, Maryanne L. Fisher, Melanie Maceacheron, Katherine White, Rishad Habib, David S. Dobson, Berta Schnettler, Ligia Orellana, Edgardo Miranda-Zapata, Angela W. Y. Chang, Wen Jiao, Matthew T. Liu, Klaus G. Grunert, Rikke N. Christensen, Lucia Reisch, Meike Janssen, Victoria Abril-Ulloa, Lorena Encalada, Iman Kamel, Annukka Vainio, Mari Niva, Laura Salmivaara, Johanna Mäkelä, Kaisa Torkkeli, Robert Mai, Pamela K. Risch, Efthymios Altsitsiadis, Angelos Stamos, Andreas Antronikidis, Maeve Henchion, Sinead Mccarthy, Mary Mccarthy, Alessandra Micalizzi, Peter J. Schulz, Manuela Farisnosi, Hidenori Komatsu, Nobuyuki Tanaka, Hiromi Kubota, Reema Tayyem, Narmeen J. Al-Awwad, Nahla Al-Bayyari, Mohammed O. Ibrahim, Fadwa Hammouh, Somaia Dashti, Basma Dashti, Dhuha Alkharaif, Amani Alshatti, Maryam Al Mazedi, Rania Mansour, Elissa Naim, Hussein Mortada, Yareni Y. G. Gomez, Kelly Geyskens, Caroline Goukens, Rajshri Roy, Victoria Egli, Lisa T. Morenga, Mostafa Waly, Radwan Qasrawi, Motasem Hamdan, Rania A. Sier, Diala A. A. Halawa, Hazem Agha, María R. L. Domínguez, Lita Palomares, Grazyna Wasowicz, Hiba Bawadi, Manal Othman, Jaafar Pakari, Allam A. Farha, Rasha Abu-El-Ruz, Dacinia C. Petrescu, Ruxandra M. P. Mag, Felix Arion, Stefan C. Vesa, Majid M. Alkhalaf, Khlood Bookari, Jamila Arrish, Zackaria Rahim, Roy Kheng, Yandisa Ngqangashe, Zandile J. R. Mchiza, Marcela Gonzalez-Gross, Lisset Pantoja-Arévalo, Eva Gesteiro, Yolanda Ríos, Peter Yiga, Patrick Ogwok, Denis Ocen, Michael Bamuwamye, Haleama A. Sabbah, Zainab Taha, Leila C. Ismail, Ayesha Aldhaheri, Elisa Pineda, Marisa Miraldo, Dawn L. Holford, Hilde Van Den Bulck, The Corona Cooking Survey Study Group

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the fragility of the global food system, sending shockwaves across countries' societies and economy. This has presented formidable challenges to sustaining a healthy and resilient lifestyle. The objective of this study is to examine the food consumption patterns and assess diet diversity indicators, primarily focusing on the food consumption score (FCS), among households in 38 countries both before and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study with 37 207 participants (mean age: 36.70 ± 14.79, with 77 % women) was conducted in 38 countries through an online survey administered …

The Public's Perception Of An Earthquake Early Warning System: A Study On Factors Influencing Continuance Intention, Marion Lara L. Tan, Lauren J. Vinnell, Alvin Patrick M. Valentin, Raj Prasanna, Julia S. Becker

Quantitative Methods and Information Technology Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the perceptions of the New Zealand public towards the Android Earthquake Alert (AEA) system, a public-facing earthquake early warning system. Specifically, it examines the public’s continuance intention towards the AEA system and the influencing factors of satisfaction, confirmation, perceived usefulness, and perceived trust. To gather insights into the public’s perceptions regarding the AEA system, this study distributed online surveys following two separate earthquake alert events on 12 October and 22 October 2021. A total of 524 and 671 participants responded to the two events’ surveys, providing valuable data for analysis and exploration. Structural Equation Modelling of the …

City Of Willowick, Ohio Fire And Ems Department Feasibility Study, Bernard Becker

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The City of Willowick, Ohio, (Mayor and City Council), commissioned Cleveland State University, Center for Emergency Preparedness to conduct this “Willowick Fire and EMS Department Feasibility” study. The summary of findings and recommendations highlights some of the major issues, which require discussion.

The main focus of this study is on efficient and sustainable staffing for the Willowick Fire and EMS Department; however, there are a number of factors which must be addressed to meet the National Fire Protection Association and Insurance Service Office “best practices,” ones which public safety entities strive to achieve. In addition, this study will provide staffing …

Intelligence Versus Inferno: How Artificial Intelligence Can Be Used To Monitor And Manage Wildfires In Europe, Maxwell Feldman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Escalating wildfire occurrences in Europe, particularly in the southern Mediterranean region, are presenting significant challenges to socioeconomic, environmental, and ecosystem services. The increasing frequency and severity of these wildfires are straining resources and emphasizing the need for a better understanding of the relationship between suppression capacity and fire behavior in wildfire management. The following research addresses the urgent need for more proactive, knowledge-based, and technologically driven fire management strategies, throughout all four stages of wildfire response – fuel and land management, fire preparedness, fire suppression, and post-fire management. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly significant in climate change adaptation, especially …

Desapariciones De Migrantes En La Frontera: Un Análisis De Factores Influyentes, Reyna Krystal Blakeman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La migración latinoamericana a los Estados Unidos ha sido prevalente durante casi un siglo. Con una cantidad cada vez mayor de migrantes cruzando la frontera, las medidas de la Patrulla Fronteriza se vuelven más estrictas mientras pasan los años. Pero las consecuencias de estas regulaciones han sido fatales para los migrantes, y han resultado en un aumento en la cantidad de muertes y desapariciones de migrantes. Sin embargo, se ha realizado poca investigación sobre el tema de las desapariciones de migrantes, lo que resulta en que los desafíos que enfrentan los migrantes al cruzar la frontera sean ignorados por los …

Lean Six Sigma Body Of Knowledge For Healthcare Industry Administrators: Implementation Of Lessons Learned In Applied Engineering, Mohammed Ali

Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this paper is to propose a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) course curriculum for healthcare administration and management majors. It identifies the relevant opportunities and challenges for the application of LSS within the healthcare industry. The paper also discusses the cultural changes necessary to provide an appropriate climate for its long-term success. This work contains a comprehensive description of the body of knowledge in LSS, which were successful in applied engineering. Additionally, the paper describes how LSS may be applied in the hospital setting to improve processes in patient-care services. Upon successful completion of the course, the healthcare …

An Exploratory Study On The Association Between Community Resilience And Disaster Preparedness In The Rio Grande Valley, Dean Kyne

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

(1) Background: Severe weather events have impacted over 100 million Americans in the past two years, highlighting the importance of individual disaster preparedness in building community resilience. This study aims to investigate the factors influencing individuals’ perceived disaster resiliency and preparedness in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

(2) Methods: Data were collected from 846 respondents using the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit (CART) Assessment Survey instrument. The study employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the association between disaster preparedness and community resilience.

(3) Results: The findings of the study revealed a significant association between disaster preparedness and perceived community resilience. …

Emotional Distress During Covid-19 By Mental Health Conditions And Economic Vulnerability: Retrospective Analysis Of Survey-Linked Twitter Data With A Semisupervised Machine Learning Algorithm, Michiko Ueda-Ballmer, Kohei Watanabe, Hajime Sueki, Davor Mondom

Center for Policy Design and Governance

The brief provides a summary of "Emotional Distress During COVID-19 by Mental Health Conditions and Economic Vulnerability: Retrospective Analysis of Survey-Linked Twitter Data With a Semisupervised Machine Learning Algorithm," co-authored by Michiko Ueda-Ballmer, Kohei Watanabe, and Hajime Sueki and published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Critical Factors And Individual Decision Making In Earthquake And Tsunami Preparedness Among Coastal Communities Inoregon U.S.A., Shelley Olds

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Earthquakes and tsunamis are natural hazards that cause considerable loss of life, destruction of property and infrastructure, and economic damage. Preparedness is critical in regions of significant earthquake and tsunami risk. A key challenge for organizations that manage hazard preparedness and response is mobilizing earthquake preparedness among individuals and families. This dissertation provides an examination of individual earthquake and tsunami preparedness from both a global and regional perspective. It comprises two publications that explore various aspects of disaster preparedness.

Chapter One provides an overview of global seismic and tsunami hazards, along with potential impacts, and addresses the challenges in promoting …

Leadership In Collaborative Emergency Management For Compound Hurricane-Pandemic Threats: Insights From Practitioners' Experiences, Norah Alshayhan, Saige Hill, Marina Saitgalina, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

Emergency management is a key government function for mitigating risks and reducing the impacts of disasters. Emergency management leaders play a critical role in preparing for and responding to disasters whose impacts are exacerbated by a pandemic. Using the example of the compound threat of hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic, this qualitative research uses insights from emergency management professionals to describe collaborative approaches and leadership skills that help balance the needs for stability and flexibility. Data collected using focus groups and one-on-one interviews with emergency management professionals highlight that collaboration involved existing and new partners in a changing and uncertain …

Rainy Day Funds In The Mountain West, Fy22, Issac Hernandez-Alcaraz, Maryam Raja, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Elections & Governance

This fact sheet examines data from “Record State Budget Reserves Buffer Against Mounting Fiscal Threats,” a 2023 Pew Charitable Trusts report on rainy day fund balances of U.S. states. Data includes information on the strength of rainy day funds and total balances for each Mountain West state: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

The Shared Ethical Framework To Allocate Scarce Medical Resources: A Lesson From Covid-19, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Govind C. Persad

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic has helped to clarify the fair and equitable allocation of scarce medical resources, both within and among countries. The ethical allocation of such resources entails a three-step process: (1) elucidating the fundamental ethical values for allocation, (2) using these values to delineate priority tiers for scarce resources, and (3) implementing the prioritisation to faithfully realise the fundamental values. Myriad reports and assessments have elucidated five core substantive values for ethical allocation: maximising benefits and minimising harms, mitigating unfair disadvantage, equal moral concern, reciprocity, and instrumental value. These values are universal. None of the values are sufficient alone, …

Why Are Post-Conflict Countries More Inequitable?, Claire Cole

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Why is there continuing socio-economic inequity in post-conflict countries? Post-conflict governments are too weak to prosper and function cleanly, resorting to making deals with and allowing multinational corporations inside its system, resulting in governmental capture. Multinational corporations contribute to the disparity of wealth in post-conflict zones, often ignoring the community and partnering with the government. There is a question of whether Western and European countries actually have a humanitarian interest or self-interest in post-conflict countries. This research includes a comparative study that aims to show how foreign investment shifts during conflict, where each country scores on transparency and corruption; where …

Poverty, Flooding & Grassroots Organizing: An Analysis Of The War On Poverty & The 1977 Flood In Central Appalachia, Brooklyn Lile

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

There is a long history of environmental exploitation and disastrous flooding in Central Appalachia. The region has long been plagued by exploitative practices such as strip mining and mountaintop removal which have stripped vegetation from land, leading to more disastrous floods and more frequent floods. With repeated floods comes a vicious cycle of substantial damage and destruction, as well as inadequate time and resources for full recovery before the next flood strikes. Consequently, floods and poverty have been cyclical, interlinked, and inseparable. Thus, this paper explores the relationship between poverty, flooding, and relief by analyzing the connections between the War …

Building Before: Community Resiliency As Emergency Management, Alexandria Rinne

Honors Theses

This project seeks to address gaps in emergency preparedness education related to tornado response. Through an examination of current research about best practices for tornado emergency management response and an examination of the needs of FEMA Regions 7 and 8, the author has identified key strategies and stakeholders to increase positive outcome through building community engagement and resiliency. Three presentations were created for delivery to key community stakeholders—local government officials; non-governmental organizations, social networks, and associations; and individual private citizens. The project offers an overview of background research and provides presentation slide decks, scripts, and discussion guides, all created with …

Refugees Living With Dementia: Assessing The Barriers To Healthcare Access In Crisis-Affected Populations In Lebanon And Switzerland, And The Role Humanitarian Actors Have On Addressing Them, Pedro Gomez

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As life expectancies increase in many places around the world, the prevalence of aging populations has increased. Consequently, increased numbers of people globally, especially in developing countries, have been diagnosed with conditions associated with old age. Dementia, a group of conditions associated with impaired cognitive functions, is among these. Notwithstanding, many developing countries have done poorly with regards to diagnosing and treating dementia, with some cultures not even having a word to describe the condition. (ADI 2022). The lack of a diagnosis and knowledge about dementia for some refugee communities has led to healthcare challenges in their host countries (Corfield …

Connectivity And Racial Equity In Responding To Covid-19 Impacts In The Chicago Regional Food System, Rowan Obach, Tania Schusler, Paulina Vaca, Sydney Durkin, Ma'raj Sheikh

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The COVID-19 outbreak led to major disruptions in food systems across the globe. In the United States’ Chicago region, the outbreak created immediate concerns around increased hunger, food insecurity, supply chain disruptions, and loss of local livelihoods. This was especially evident in communities of color, which faced disproportionate impacts from the pandemic. In March 2020, the Chicago Food Policy Action Council (CFPAC) coordinated a Rapid Response Effort that convened people in working groups related to emergency food assistance, local food producers, small businesses, and food system workers to address urgent needs that arose due to the pandemic. Each working group …

Communicating About Extreme Heat: Results From Card Sorting And Think Aloud Interviews With Experts From Differing Domains, Jeannette Sutton, Nicholas Waugh, Savannah Olivas

Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity Faculty Scholarship

Climate trends indicate that extreme heat events are becoming more common and more severe over time, requiring improved strategies to communicate heat risk and protective actions. However, there exists a disconnect in heat-related communication from experts, who commonly include heat related jargon (i.e., technical language), to decision makers and the general public. The use of jargon has been shown to reduce meaningful engagement with and understanding of messages written by experts. Translating technical language into comprehensible messages that encourage decision makers to take action has been identified as a priority to enable impact-based decision support. Knowing what concepts and terms …

Caja De Herramientas: Desarrollando Resiliencia En El Sistema Alimentario, Neishaly Serrano-Cortés, Claire Whitehouse, David Conner, Robinson Rodríguez-Pérez Phd, Naomi Cunningham, Travis Reynolds Ph.D., Kerry Daigle, Valery Desravins, Jane Kolodinsky

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

En esta caja de herramientas encontrarán guías y estudios sobre evaluación y desarrollo de la resiliencia de los sistemas agroalimentarios. La meta de este trabajo es que personas de la comunidad, líderes y profesionales puedan utilizar este material para que a través de la colaboración se pueda catalizar un cambio positivo en los sistemas agroalimentarios de sus regiones. Además, con el fin de lograr que este material educativo sea accesible se ha desarrollado tanto en manuscrito como videos, en los idiomas del inglés y español.

En el Capítulo 1, se explora el concepto de resiliencia, el marco de los capitales …

Food Resilience Toolkit, Neishaly Serrano-Cortés, Claire Whitehouse, David Conner, Robinson Rodríguez-Pérez Phd, Naomi M. Cunningham, Travis Reynolds Ph.D., Kerry Daigle, Valery Desravins, Jane Kolodinsky

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This toolkit is intended to help community leaders and technical support professionals assess and build food system resilience in their regions. The toolkit is available in English and Spanish and in written and video format. In the introduction, we explore the concept of resilience and the Community Capitals framework and suggest possible indicators of food system resilience. In Chapter 2, we outline four tools for assessing community advantages and challenges and developing plans to address them. These tools are: asset mapping, focus groups, nominal groups, and strategic planning. While many research techniques can be deployed for resilience building, we have …

Covid-19 Education Response Mapping Study: Building Resilience In Lao Pdr: Readiness, Response, And Recovery, Yung Nietschke, Anna Dabrowski, Maya Conway, Chaula Yoga Pradhika

International Education Research

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has caused unprecedented levels of disruption to education systems worldwide. Across the Asia region, it is estimated that around 760 million children were impacted by school closures at the height of the pandemic. Government response strategies have varied across the region, with some countries imposing prolonged school lockdowns while others have had short, repeated closure periods. As countries begin to reopen schools and continue to prepare for subsequent waves of COVID[1]19 infection, there is a need to develop the greater capability of education systems to safeguard learning and address persistent barriers to learning equality …

Covid-19 Education Response Mapping Study: Building Resilience In The Philippines: Readiness, Response, And Recovery, Anna Dabrowski, Maya Conway, Yung Nietschke, Amy Berry, Chaula Yoga Pradhika

International Education Research

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has caused unprecedented levels of disruption to education systems worldwide. Across the Asia region, it is estimated that around 760 million children were impacted by school closures at the height of the pandemic. Government response strategies have varied across the region, with some countries imposing prolonged school lockdowns while others have had short, repeated closure periods. As countries begin to reopen schools and prepare for subsequent waves of COVID-19 infection, there is a need to develop a higher capability of education systems to safeguard learning and address persistent barriers to learning equality by harnessing …

Covid-19 Education Response Mapping Study: Building Resilience In The Kyrgyz Republic: Readiness, Response, And Recovery, Yung Nietschke, Anna Dabrowski, Maya Conway, Chaula Yoga Pradhika

International Education Research

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has caused unprecedented levels of disruption to education systems worldwide. Across the Asia region, it is estimated that around 760 million children were impacted by school closures at the height of the pandemic. Government response strategies have varied across the region, with some countries imposing prolonged school lockdowns while others have had short, repeated closure periods. As countries begin to reopen schools and continue to prepare for subsequent waves of COVID-19 infection, there is a need to develop the greater capability of education systems to safeguard learning and address persistent barriers to learning equality …

Covid-19 Education Response Mapping Study In Asia: Executive Summary, Yung Nietschke, Anna Dabrowski, Maya Conway, Chaula Yoga Pradhika

International Education Research

This document provides a summary of research exploring the systems, policies, and school-level practices that have supported learning continuity in Asia during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a review of policy documents on COVID-19 responses in Asia and a deep dive analysis of system and school-level responses in the Philippines and the Kyrgyz Republic, the findings from this study provide policymakers and education stakeholders with evidence of promising practices that could be leveraged to support learning recovery and education system resilience. In addition, a policy review was conducted on the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), which focused …

The Shortfalls Of Vulnerability Indexes For Public Health Decision-Making In The Face Of Emergent Crises: The Case Of Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake In Virginia, Lydia Cleveland Sa, Erika Frydenlund

VMASC Publications

Equitable and effective vaccine uptake is a key issue in addressing COVID-19. To achieve this, we must comprehensively characterize the context-specific socio-behavioral and structural determinants of vaccine uptake. However, to quickly focus public health interventions, state agencies and planners often rely on already existing indexes of "vulnerability." Many such "vulnerability indexes" exist and become benchmarks for targeting interventions in wide ranging scenarios, but they vary considerably in the factors and themes that they cover. Some are even uncritical of the use of the word "vulnerable," which should take on different meanings in different contexts. The objective of this study is …

Evacuation Behavior Of Households Facing Compound Hurricane-Pandemic Threats, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Jennifer L. Whytlaw, Nicole Hutton, Taiwo Olanrewaju-Lasisi, Bridget Giles, Kaleen Lawsure, Joshua Behr, Rafael Diaz, George Mcleod

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

This study examines households' prospective evacuation behavior during a hurricane-pandemic compound threat. Data from a 2020 survey of coastal Virginia households help answer two questions: (1) What factors associated with the threat and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and hurricanes influence prospective evacuation behavior of households during a compound hurricane-pandemic event? (2) What are the equity implications for emergency management policies and practices to support evacuation and sheltering during a compound hurricane-pandemic event? Households in the sample were split between those who stated they would evacuate away from the at-risk region and who would stay. Greater household vulnerability to hurricanes …

Communicating Hazard Location Through Text And Map In Earthquake Early Warnings: A Mixed Methods Study, Jeannette Sutton, Michele M. Wood, Nicholas A. Waugh, Savanah Crouch

Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of presenting hazard location in different formats on key warning message outcomes—understanding, personalizing, believing, deciding, and milling. We conducted two studies using experiment and focus group methods. In the experiment, we compared a standard ShakeAlert earthquake early warning message, which merely implied location, to three enhanced messages that communicated information about the earthquake epicenter via text, map, or a combined text-and-map format. Focus groups explored reactions to warning messages accompanied by different types of maps. Overall, the standard ShakeAlert message was associated with worse message outcomes compared to messages that …

Climate Security Insights From The Covid-19 Response, Mark P. Nevitt

Faculty Articles

The climate change crisis and COVID-19 crisis are both complex collective action problems. Neither the coronavirus nor greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions respect political borders. Both impose an opportunity cost that penalizes inaction. They are also increasingly understood as nontraditional, novel security threats. Indeed, COVID-19’s human cost is staggering, with American lives lost vastly exceeding those lost in recent armed conflicts. And climate change is both a threat accelerant and a catalyst for conflict—a characterization reinforced in several climate-security reports. To counter COVID-19, the President embraced martial language, stating that he will employ a “wartime footing” to “defeat the virus.” Perhaps …

Qualitative Analysis Of The Lived Experience Of Tornado Survivors And Factors Affecting Community Resilience: A Case Study Of An Ef3 Tornado In Jacksonville, Alabama, Chongming Wang, Erin Rider, Scott Manning, Jacob Fast, Tanveer Islam

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Residents in the Southeast region of the United States are frequently threatened by tornadoes. Previous research indicates that it is important to study the experience of tornado victims to better understand individual risk perception, preparedness, protective action, response, and recovery strategies that contribute to overall community resilience. In this study, we employ an oral-history approach and analyze the lived experience of survivors of an EF3 (on the enhanced Fujita scale) tornado in Jacksonville, Alabama. Using snowball sampling, we conducted in-depth interviews of 25 residents of Jacksonville, Alabama, who experienced the EF3 tornado on 19 March 2018. The recorded interviews were …

A Model Of Build Back Better Utilization: Long-Term Recovery Groups And Post-Disaster Housing Recovery, Eduardo Landaeta, Jesse Richman

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Housing recovery, especially for vulnerable populations, can be a challenging process. Questions regarding whether to rebuild damaged housing and whether to restore it to its previous state or to build back better must be answered. In the United States, Long-Term Recovery Groups (LTRGs) play a crucial role in channeling assistance to vulnerable community members as they embark on housing recovery. However, the experiences of LTRGs have been understudied. To address this gap, the study utilizes interviews with a diverse range of LTRG members and develops an agent-based model following the Overview, Design concepts, and Details (ODD) protocol. The results highlight …