Enhance what you’re already doing.

Bring teams together and get buy-in from executive leadership.

This work sits at the intersection of two teams that traditionally haven’t worked together: emergency management and financial empowerment. That collaboration is mutually beneficial and often unlocks relationships with additional city, county, and nonprofit partners already serving residents.

1. Name a point person on each side. Typically the financial empowerment team or FEC owns the content, while emergency management owns the disaster calendar and the readiness channels you’ll want to use.
2. Pitch this work as an add-on, that will enhance and expand on existing workstreams, not a new program. Busy colleagues and leadership will say yes more readily to folding a financial lens into outreach that’s already happening than to standing up something new. Frame the ask around work already underway.
3. Speak to each team’s own goals. Show emergency management how this advances the resilience outcomes they’re already accountable for; show financial empowerment how the disaster angle broadens their reach and gives everyday services new urgency.
4. Loop leadership in early on to facilitate collaboration. Walk decision-makers through this toolkit or a one-pager, and say exactly what you need: permission to use city or county channels, a bit of staff time, or leadership support to name the project as a priority and smooth collaboration across teams. An endorsement from an elected official can also help carry the message to media and the public.

Fold messaging into existing channels and communications.

Promote financial emergency preparedness through existing channels and messages your city or county already puts out.

• Emergency management teams can add financial preparedness steps to trainings, presentations, public service announcements, and seasonal awareness campaigns. With existing disaster readiness campaigns and websites, you should add a financial readiness post, section, or page to what’s already live.
• Financial empowerment teams can surface the emergency preparedness angle with existing clients and promote their everyday services by naming the emergency significance. For example, financial empowerment teams can use the Financial Counselor Cheat Sheet during a counseling session, or add a line about emergency readiness to the appointment reminders and newsletters that already go out.
• Elected officials and city leadership can include financial preparedness alongside traditional disaster prep in communications during awareness periods (e.g., hurricane season, ahead of winter storms, etc).

Most residents aren’t ready to act the first time they hear about preparedness. They’re still forming awareness, so promotion across a range of channels can help normalize financial preparedness and make it feel like something people like them do. Place messaging where residents already are:

• Physical community locations: flyers at libraries, senior centers, recreation programs, community centers, transit centers, and bus stops remain effective ways to reach residents.
• Government and elected officials’ social media accounts.
• Local radio.
• Utility bill inserts.

Message when preparedness is already on residents’ minds.

Take advantage of moments when residents are in a planning mindset and preparedness feels more timely rather than abstract:

• Disaster seasons (hurricane, wildfire, winter storm, tornado) are the easiest opportunity to integrate financial readiness messaging into your existing outreach.
• Tax season is a natural window because residents are already gathering documents and thinking ahead. Many have refund dollars in hand, which makes it feel more feasible to open a banking account or set aside some emergency savings.
• Back-to-school and the new year are “fresh start” moments when people are often thinking about goals and open to new actions.

Extend your reach through trusted messengers.

Who delivers the message can matter as much as what it says, and a source that a resident already trusts carries credibility.

Local organizations are essential for reaching the residents who need this information most. Give partners a ready-to-send asset from this toolkit and ask for a specific placement, like a mention in their next newsletter or a flyer at their front desk. Partners to consider include:

• Nonprofits and community-based organizations
• Faith-based organizations
• Individual financial empowerment staff and counselors often have their own social media accounts or email lists.
• Neighborhood associations/block clubs
• Schools
• Credit unions and banks

Residents themselves are often the most powerful messengers – people who’ve lived through disasters or benefited directly from the programs you’re promoting. Consider capturing testimonials to include in future messaging.