What We Do

ADVOCACY

LAAWW members seek ways to advocate for structural change to ensure language and disability access in alerting. In October 2023, LAAWW submitted official comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding PS Docket Nos. 15‐91 and 15‐94 on updates to Wireless Emergency Alerts and the Emergency Alert System. The FCC issued a reply to the comments, mentioning LAAWW several times.

RESOURCE SHARING

LAAWW members share their expertise. Alerting authorities share their success, failures, and lessons learned. Community partners and advocacy groups share information about community needs. Language, disability, and plain language experts share technical expertise. Researchers share their latest findings. Federal partners provide background information and updates about systemic changes. Everyone is welcome to contribute their expertise.

PRESENTATIONS & DISCUSSION

LAAWW meetings include either a presentation or an all-group discussion on a topic of interest. See the meetings page for this year's meeting agendas. Past year's agendas are below.

2024 AGENDAS:

JANUARY - National Weather Service presentation on automated alert translation
FEBRUARY - Federal Communications Commission presentation on updates on the WEA ruling of 10/19/23
MARCH - Natural Hazards Center presentation on new report titled Inclusive Emergency Alerts for Colorado: An Assessment and Recommendations for Language and Disability Considerations
APRIL - DeafLEAD Disaster Distress Hotline presentation
MAY - Discuss formalization of LAAWW, progress of Community Inclusion subcommittee, LAAWW's response to recent FCC dockets on WEA 4.0, and the use of AI in alerting
JUNE - Center for Plain Language presentation. Discuss survey results and formation of executive board.
JULY - Rebekah May presentation on Frederick County, MD implementation of Convey 9-1-1 translation system
AUGUST - Erin Mossop presentation on ReadyPhiladelphia in 11 languages
SEPTEMBER - DeafLink presentation on their Accessible Hazard Alert System (AHAS)
OCTOBER - Updates from the Community Partnerships Subcommittee and the Formalization of LAAWW Subcommittee
NOVEMBER - Notify NYC (New York City Emergency Management)
DECEMBER - Updates from the Community Partnerships Subcommittee and the Formalization of LAAWW Subcommittee

2023 AGENDAS:

JANUARY - Carol Freeman & Karen Marsh on FEMA’s Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool (RAPT); discussion of equity and justice issues with translation services
FEBRUARY - Alita Fitz on preliminary findings from the RDPO's Accessible Alert & Warning Workshops; Carol Freeman on Argonne National Laboratory's Alert & Warning Technical Assistance program
MARCH - Cancelled
APRIL - Discussion about alert & warning vendor accessibility audits - Facilitated by Laura Hall, RDPO, with SME availability by Danielle Bailey (FEMA R10 Regional Disability Integration Specialist) and Katie Warden (Director, Northwest ADA Center); Update on WEA 4.0.
MAY - James Wiley and Michael Antonio from the FCC on proposed FCC Rulemaking for WEA (Including Multilingual Alerting)
JUNE - General discussion
JULY - Discussion of FCC Docket Review, LAAWW presentation at A&W Community of Practice Fall meeting, progression of workgroup goals
AUGUST - Presentation by Tatiana Elejalde of the City of Portland on Language Pay Differential Policy & Implementation; discussion of wildfire in Maui, FCC Docket, and FCC WEA test findings
SEPTEMBER - Overview and discussion on August FEMA’s Community of Practice webinar, led by Jennifer Lazo, LA County Emergency Management
OCTOBER - Round robin discussion – What are some successes and challenges your agency/department has had with alerts in other languages?
NOVEMBER - Presentation by Dr. Jeannette Sutton on the Message Design Dashboard and other alert & warning projects
DECEMBER - General discussion

2022 AGENDAS:

MARCH - Workgroup formation and organization
APRIL - Discussion of workgroup goals and meeting frequency, WEA 4.0 updates
MAY - Roundtable discussion
JUNE - Workgroup formation and organization
JULY - Demonstration of Notify NYC system by Becca Baudendistel
AUGUST - Workgroup formation and organization
SEPTEMBER - Demonstration of GoCC4All by the DiCapta Foundation
OCTOBER - Cancelled
NOVEMBER - Report out from recent Bay Area UASI Conference
DECEMBER - Yason Fesehazion presentation on CLEAR Global

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