I was immediately intrigued by Al
because here was a man who did not have
a glamorous job yet he had an incredibly
positive attitude al worked day in day
out every single day in inclement
weather and temperatures that often
exceeded 100 degrees with a positive
attitude always encouraging his
teammates
I knew Al had a story to tell so one day
I asked him al what happened and he
looked at me and he chuckled and he said
she took everything she took my house
she took my car she wiped out my savings
she even took my job I couldn’t believe
what I was hearing because after the
positive attitude I sing I would it did
not match the story he had just told me
I had to find out the rest of our story
so I asked him to tell me how he began
to put the pieces of his life back
together he smiled and he looked up and
he said Ana one day I looked up and I
saw hope did you look outside today did
you look outside yesterday did you take
a moment to appreciate the beautiful
Carolina blue sky that was above us if
so how did it make you feel did you feel
a sense of hope
what about opportunity did you look
through your windshield and think about
the possibilities that might be after a
natural disaster there is what experts
refer to as the blue sky period of a
recovery phase during this phase of
recovery mindsets move from surviving
the natural disaster to capitalizing on
the opportunities created because of the
disaster it is during this period where
leaders must move their communities
towards a safer stronger more resilient
future it is during this period of time
where strategic government and private
partnerships are formed to best leverage
a community’s resources it is during
this time where neighbors find out where
people find out who their neighbors
truly are of course after a natural
disaster
communities could wither away as the
weight of the event tears the fabric of
their very lives but this is not how
most communities choose to respond
communities lives are shattered but it
is precisely this shattering that
creates these new and innovative ways of
thinking and gives them room to grow
after Hurricane Katrina Ricci Matthews
was quoted as saying that the storm
brought about a realization the
building’s don’t make a community people
do and houses don’t make home hearts do
it is precisely this type of realization
that occur frequently during the blue
sky phase after a natural disaster now
while we pause today for a few moments
to think about a different perspective
associated with natural disasters we do
not for a moment lose sight of the
ongoing human suffering that has
occurred in our world over the last few
weeks as we’ve been impacted time and
time again by natural disasters rather
we pause for a few moments intentionally
today so that we might awaken ourselves
and be ready to move when within our own
spheres of influences we can make a
difference Katrina a lovely female an
intriguing name but when Katrina struck
the Gulf Coast in 2005 she was anything
but lovely she left behind in her wake
more than 125 billion dollars worth of
damage almost 2,000 precious lives were
lost and overnight the unemployment rate
in this state effectively doubled Harvey
Irma
Harvey shocked the Texas Gulf Coast as
it went from a tropical storm to a
category 4 hurricane in just two days
the worst hurricane Texas has seen in
more than 50 years hurricane Irma
decimated the beautiful state of Florida
destroying more than 90 percent of the
housing stock in the Florida Keys but
these statistics and calculations do
very little to accurately convey what
our neighbors experienced in the weeks
months and years after a natural
disaster
our neighbors awaken to a world which
was previously unthinkable but now has
become their undeniable reality experts
estimate that it will cut cost more than
290 billion dollars in decades to
recover from these two storms alone how
will they do it how will these
communities rebound these communities
recovery will best be defined as a
series of concurrent activities and
interdependent events that will
propelled these communities towards
their future but the decisions made and
the priorities set early on in these
recovery periods will have a cascading
impact on the success of these recovery
programs these communities must move
forward both to rebound to its physical
and economic state of well-being but
also to prepare for the future
they must rebuild in safer stronger and
smarter ways to best position themselves
for the future disaster resilience has
become a matter of federal policy
because these communities call upon our
federal government in times of need so
federal programs administered by FEMA
HUD the Small Business Administration
and the Department of Health and Human
Services have turned from helping a
community restore itself and recover to
focusing on a more resilient path
forward one such example is the state of
Florida now while Florida suffered
tremendous devastation from omma
experts have already estimated that the
damage could have been much worse
but Florida focused on the over the last
decade on strengthening its building
codes forcing its engineers to have a
focus on resiliency construction
requiring construction materials to be
stronger and safer in preparation for
future threats
thus the damage left by Armagh in Tampa
and Naples was less significant than
possibly it could have been another such
example is the city of Galveston
in 2008 Hurricane Ike devastated the
city of Galveston
these two homes that you see behind me
while the exterior damage doesn’t look
that bad they both were completely
flooded these families lost absolutely
everything
so in faced with the decision of whether
or not to rebuild the community leaders
pause for a moment during the blue sky
period and decided to rebuild in a
different way for these two families
they rebuilt homes with a more
sustainable future they elevated these
homes they required resiliency
engineering and stronger materials to be
used for these homes last month this
beautiful community found itself once
again in the crosshairs of Hurricane
Harvey would the motivations with the
intentions would the goals of the City
of Galveston work when faced with a
threat such as Harvey it worked during
the blue sky period after Hurricane Ike
yielded resilience for these homes and
these families while they evacuated for
Harvey they returned to their houses
their personal belongings and their
lives still intact once the housing
sector is restored after a disaster then
the leaders must focus on the local
economy we all know that the economic
devastation is not covered as much as
the housing loss and infrastructure
damage after a natural disaster but the
economic devastation is real and often
felt for the longest time after a
natural disaster the tax base is heavily
infected cells revenue declines jobs are
lost wages decline and experts estimate
that between 50 and 40 15 and 40 percent
of the businesses impacted by a natural
disaster never reopen they simply cannot
bring back their business that was once
there so leaders are forced to think in
new ways they are forced to look at
their community’s economy and evaluate
whether or not it should should be
brought back to the way it was or should
they train their workforce in new ways
should they develop new skills should
they focus too
new partnerships better preparing their
community for their new reality one such
example is the development of broadband
infrastructure through disaster recovery
programs we all are aware that disasters
often hit the most impoverished in rural
areas it’s a cruel fact in disaster
recovery and now because of disaster
recovery programs the federal government
is encouraging the installation of
broadband infrastructure within these
communities narrowing the digital divide
creating a new world of opportunity for
these communities which was previously
unthinkable now their access to new
online courses job training and new jobs
are readily available within their own
homes now they have access to the world
which pre-disaster they could not even
fathom in one state a disaster recovery
program invested millions of dollars in
the state’s medical and nursing school
not only did this state capitalize on
increased applications and availability
for medical professionals it also
created state-of-the-art technology and
facilities this investment not only
rebuilt this medical school and this
nursing school it created a new future
for medical professionals within this
state another example is the workforce
development programs often formed and
developed in disaster impacted States
one state took millions of dollars
trained 12,000 individuals and out of
that Workforce Development Program place
seven thousand three hundred and
twenty-five individuals in new permanent
jobs and these jobs were critical to the
restoration of that state jobs within
the healthcare sector construction
sector and advanced manufacturing
life-changing moments you remember me
telling you about my friend al al was
one of these individuals you see al was
right Hurricane Katrina did take
everything she took his home she took
his car
she wiped out his savings and she took
his job after the shelters closed owl
moved into the woods behind his church
his local congregation took care of him
for many many months almost over a year
until a federally funded long-term
disaster recovery construction project
started in Al’s community because al was
homeless he received a hiring preference
he got the job he kept the job and he
moved up within this company now moved
out of the woods behind this local
church into an affordable housing
development where he stayed for a year
he kept his job and he was promoted once
again where he moved to his new
apartment and Alvis began to put the
pieces of his life back together again
Al’s story is one of thousands just like
it whether it be an individual a
business or a community these are the
stories of disaster recovery stories of
realizing beauty from ashes stories of
moving beyond the disaster to a more
resilient future stories of moving from
adversity to opportunity thank you
[Applause]
you
because here was a man who did not have
a glamorous job yet he had an incredibly
positive attitude al worked day in day
out every single day in inclement
weather and temperatures that often
exceeded 100 degrees with a positive
attitude always encouraging his
teammates
I knew Al had a story to tell so one day
I asked him al what happened and he
looked at me and he chuckled and he said
she took everything she took my house
she took my car she wiped out my savings
she even took my job I couldn’t believe
what I was hearing because after the
positive attitude I sing I would it did
not match the story he had just told me
I had to find out the rest of our story
so I asked him to tell me how he began
to put the pieces of his life back
together he smiled and he looked up and
he said Ana one day I looked up and I
saw hope did you look outside today did
you look outside yesterday did you take
a moment to appreciate the beautiful
Carolina blue sky that was above us if
so how did it make you feel did you feel
a sense of hope
what about opportunity did you look
through your windshield and think about
the possibilities that might be after a
natural disaster there is what experts
refer to as the blue sky period of a
recovery phase during this phase of
recovery mindsets move from surviving
the natural disaster to capitalizing on
the opportunities created because of the
disaster it is during this period where
leaders must move their communities
towards a safer stronger more resilient
future it is during this period of time
where strategic government and private
partnerships are formed to best leverage
a community’s resources it is during
this time where neighbors find out where
people find out who their neighbors
truly are of course after a natural
disaster
communities could wither away as the
weight of the event tears the fabric of
their very lives but this is not how
most communities choose to respond
communities lives are shattered but it
is precisely this shattering that
creates these new and innovative ways of
thinking and gives them room to grow
after Hurricane Katrina Ricci Matthews
was quoted as saying that the storm
brought about a realization the
building’s don’t make a community people
do and houses don’t make home hearts do
it is precisely this type of realization
that occur frequently during the blue
sky phase after a natural disaster now
while we pause today for a few moments
to think about a different perspective
associated with natural disasters we do
not for a moment lose sight of the
ongoing human suffering that has
occurred in our world over the last few
weeks as we’ve been impacted time and
time again by natural disasters rather
we pause for a few moments intentionally
today so that we might awaken ourselves
and be ready to move when within our own
spheres of influences we can make a
difference Katrina a lovely female an
intriguing name but when Katrina struck
the Gulf Coast in 2005 she was anything
but lovely she left behind in her wake
more than 125 billion dollars worth of
damage almost 2,000 precious lives were
lost and overnight the unemployment rate
in this state effectively doubled Harvey
Irma
Harvey shocked the Texas Gulf Coast as
it went from a tropical storm to a
category 4 hurricane in just two days
the worst hurricane Texas has seen in
more than 50 years hurricane Irma
decimated the beautiful state of Florida
destroying more than 90 percent of the
housing stock in the Florida Keys but
these statistics and calculations do
very little to accurately convey what
our neighbors experienced in the weeks
months and years after a natural
disaster
our neighbors awaken to a world which
was previously unthinkable but now has
become their undeniable reality experts
estimate that it will cut cost more than
290 billion dollars in decades to
recover from these two storms alone how
will they do it how will these
communities rebound these communities
recovery will best be defined as a
series of concurrent activities and
interdependent events that will
propelled these communities towards
their future but the decisions made and
the priorities set early on in these
recovery periods will have a cascading
impact on the success of these recovery
programs these communities must move
forward both to rebound to its physical
and economic state of well-being but
also to prepare for the future
they must rebuild in safer stronger and
smarter ways to best position themselves
for the future disaster resilience has
become a matter of federal policy
because these communities call upon our
federal government in times of need so
federal programs administered by FEMA
HUD the Small Business Administration
and the Department of Health and Human
Services have turned from helping a
community restore itself and recover to
focusing on a more resilient path
forward one such example is the state of
Florida now while Florida suffered
tremendous devastation from omma
experts have already estimated that the
damage could have been much worse
but Florida focused on the over the last
decade on strengthening its building
codes forcing its engineers to have a
focus on resiliency construction
requiring construction materials to be
stronger and safer in preparation for
future threats
thus the damage left by Armagh in Tampa
and Naples was less significant than
possibly it could have been another such
example is the city of Galveston
in 2008 Hurricane Ike devastated the
city of Galveston
these two homes that you see behind me
while the exterior damage doesn’t look
that bad they both were completely
flooded these families lost absolutely
everything
so in faced with the decision of whether
or not to rebuild the community leaders
pause for a moment during the blue sky
period and decided to rebuild in a
different way for these two families
they rebuilt homes with a more
sustainable future they elevated these
homes they required resiliency
engineering and stronger materials to be
used for these homes last month this
beautiful community found itself once
again in the crosshairs of Hurricane
Harvey would the motivations with the
intentions would the goals of the City
of Galveston work when faced with a
threat such as Harvey it worked during
the blue sky period after Hurricane Ike
yielded resilience for these homes and
these families while they evacuated for
Harvey they returned to their houses
their personal belongings and their
lives still intact once the housing
sector is restored after a disaster then
the leaders must focus on the local
economy we all know that the economic
devastation is not covered as much as
the housing loss and infrastructure
damage after a natural disaster but the
economic devastation is real and often
felt for the longest time after a
natural disaster the tax base is heavily
infected cells revenue declines jobs are
lost wages decline and experts estimate
that between 50 and 40 15 and 40 percent
of the businesses impacted by a natural
disaster never reopen they simply cannot
bring back their business that was once
there so leaders are forced to think in
new ways they are forced to look at
their community’s economy and evaluate
whether or not it should should be
brought back to the way it was or should
they train their workforce in new ways
should they develop new skills should
they focus too
new partnerships better preparing their
community for their new reality one such
example is the development of broadband
infrastructure through disaster recovery
programs we all are aware that disasters
often hit the most impoverished in rural
areas it’s a cruel fact in disaster
recovery and now because of disaster
recovery programs the federal government
is encouraging the installation of
broadband infrastructure within these
communities narrowing the digital divide
creating a new world of opportunity for
these communities which was previously
unthinkable now their access to new
online courses job training and new jobs
are readily available within their own
homes now they have access to the world
which pre-disaster they could not even
fathom in one state a disaster recovery
program invested millions of dollars in
the state’s medical and nursing school
not only did this state capitalize on
increased applications and availability
for medical professionals it also
created state-of-the-art technology and
facilities this investment not only
rebuilt this medical school and this
nursing school it created a new future
for medical professionals within this
state another example is the workforce
development programs often formed and
developed in disaster impacted States
one state took millions of dollars
trained 12,000 individuals and out of
that Workforce Development Program place
seven thousand three hundred and
twenty-five individuals in new permanent
jobs and these jobs were critical to the
restoration of that state jobs within
the healthcare sector construction
sector and advanced manufacturing
life-changing moments you remember me
telling you about my friend al al was
one of these individuals you see al was
right Hurricane Katrina did take
everything she took his home she took
his car
she wiped out his savings and she took
his job after the shelters closed owl
moved into the woods behind his church
his local congregation took care of him
for many many months almost over a year
until a federally funded long-term
disaster recovery construction project
started in Al’s community because al was
homeless he received a hiring preference
he got the job he kept the job and he
moved up within this company now moved
out of the woods behind this local
church into an affordable housing
development where he stayed for a year
he kept his job and he was promoted once
again where he moved to his new
apartment and Alvis began to put the
pieces of his life back together again
Al’s story is one of thousands just like
it whether it be an individual a
business or a community these are the
stories of disaster recovery stories of
realizing beauty from ashes stories of
moving beyond the disaster to a more
resilient future stories of moving from
adversity to opportunity thank you
[Applause]
you
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