 The University of Minnesota Extension and North Dakota State University Extension service have developed Recovery After Disaster, the family financial toolkit to assist in financial recovery from disaster. The toolkit is free and available at this website. In a perfect world, we would be prepared for a disaster, but we know that this is not always the case. This video series has been developed to assist in the immediate need for financial recovery information following a disaster. The six videos in this series will identify important financial considerations for your disaster recovery. The types and amounts of resources available for each disaster are different and may be provided at different times throughout recovery. It is essential to have an understanding of what assistance is available for your particular disaster. This video will explore two of the best-known federal resources that may be available, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, and Small Business Administration, SBA. Before applying for assistance, it is important to know the big picture of your financial situation. The video, My Finances, details the financial information you will need to assess your current situation. If you haven't viewed this video, you may want to view it to help you determine your current financial situation in preparation for applying for assistance. As we look at the sequence of disaster assistance graphic, note that the first assistance a household receives may be from voluntary organizations and insurance. It may take weeks to learn if the area is eligible for federal assistance. The Department of Public Safety Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management works hand-in-hand to quickly assess damages, and if the event is determined to be beyond the capability of the state and local governments to respond and recover, assist the governor in applying for federal assistance. Survivors play a key role in this. As soon as they possibly can, they should report to their local emergency management official. These immediate reports help a state to ask FEMA to travel to the area for a preliminary damage assessment. You'll start with really self-reporting for individuals. So normally a community would set up some kind of a telephone bank, and so folks would call in with their address, what kind of damage they had, where they are now. Are they in a hotel? Are they able to live in their home? So give us that kind of information. And then what we'll do then is we'll meet with the county emergency management people and we'll meet with the county assessors, because they certainly know where all the properties are. Then if it looks like we have enough people impacted, we will go ahead and ask for a preliminary damage assessment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If enough homes are damaged severely enough, and survivors do not have insurance to cover the costs of repair, the president can issue a declaration of individual assistance. This will help eligible survivors with housing costs and other needs. If declared, it is important to register for individual assistance, whether or not you think you will qualify. This is truly the first step and will get you in the disaster assistance pipeline. FEMA provides several ways to apply, online, by phone, and at disaster recovery centers. Apply with FEMA in case something happens that your insurance isn't going to cover your cause of damage. So a lot of folks may have homeowners insurance, but they don't have flood insurance. And if it's a flash flood event and they're not in a flood zone, chances are they don't have flood insurance policy. And that's where FEMA really comes into play. Disaster recovery centers will open in the affected area and be staffed with federal workers who can answer your questions about what individual assistance does and doesn't cover. Before starting your application, have your social security number, insurance information, damage information, and financial information with you to make the process go more smoothly. The Individuals in Households Program with FEMA is a program, it's a grant program, and basically it's to help people with the repairs to their home and temporary housing. If they need rental assistance to stay someplace else while they're making their repairs to their home. We also have a program that is for crisis counseling. We have a program for disaster legal services. Individuals in households are programs that come together to help people get back up on their feet. They can ask a question about what are some other resources where people can go to get help. It might not be resources that are available from the federal or the state level or the county or the city. It might be a voluntary agency that has exactly what they're looking for. Could be donated goods, clothing, appliances, help with utilities. There's just various voluntary agencies that come out to help in these times. And that's what we kind of do in a disaster recovery center. We match up the need with the resource. If an individual assistance declaration is made, a small business administration or SBA declaration is automatic. Survivors will learn if their income qualifies them for an SBA loan. Remember, as you are presented assistance options, make sure you understand the type of assistance being offered. Ask questions to clarify whether the assistance is a grant or a loan. If it is a loan, is the loan forgivable? What are the conditions? Also, make sure you have an understanding of the tax implications. If you are in a declared disaster area and have experienced damage to your home or personal property, you may be eligible for financial assistance from the SBA, even if you do not own a business. As a homeowner, renter, and or personal property owner, you may apply to the SBA for a loan to help you recover from a disaster. Homeowners may apply for loans to replace or repair their primary residence. The loans may not be used to upgrade homes or make additions unless required by local building code. In some cases, SBA can refinance all or part of a previous mortgage when the applicant does not have credit available elsewhere and has suffered substantial disaster damage not covered by insurance. Renters and homeowners may borrow a set amount of money to replace or repair personal property, such as clothing, furniture, cars, and appliances, damaged or destroyed in a disaster. Proceeds from insurance coverage on your home or property will be deducted from the total damage estimate to determine the eligible loan amount. The SBA is not permitted to duplicate any benefits. So our disaster assistance comes in the form of a low-interest loan, and it's one of the many tools that are out there during a disaster offered from federal and state and local resources. It is a low-interest loan, so it can be advantageous, but it's important for the homeowner to realize needs to be paid back, but it can be a great tool out of many that's available to them in the instance of a disaster. The SBA will determine whether an applicant can obtain credit elsewhere. Survivors who qualify for an SBA loan may choose to accept the loan or turn it down. Those who do not qualify for an SBA loan may be referred to the Unmet Needs Committee if one has been established in their community. You will want to make sure you know how much of a payment you can afford. Recovery After Disaster, the Family Financial Toolkit, has a worksheet that will help you determine whether or not you can afford an additional payment, such as an SBA loan. What we did is we actually walked through some of those worksheets that were provided by NDSU, sat down, and figured out, OK, so here's where our bills were before. Here's what we're projecting for our new expenses with those loans. And that helped us decide which loans we could take, what our maximum expenditures were going to be, and then basically even it all out from that point. And it really is difficult to basically say, OK, for a second mortgage, we're going to have to cut back here, here, and here. Here's what we can afford to do. Here's what we're going to have to do on our own. If FEMA determines that an area does not meet the criteria for an individual assistance declaration, an SBA declaration is still possible. Residents may apply for SBA loans online, by phone, or at a disaster loan outreach center, which will be set up in several locations in the affected area following an SBA declaration. These sites are staffed by SBA and Homeland Security emergency management experts. They were quite helpful with whatever information they could extend to us. They're prepared. They handle a lot of the disasters nationwide, obviously, so their experience. So they kind of understand what they're going to walk into in the shell shock and the reactions. Everybody's reactions from what they told me is different from anger to extreme sadness to just that plain old shock. Some individuals, families, and communities may need more time and specialized assistance for support and recovery. Specialized assistance may be needed to address unique needs and rebuilding challenges that are not satisfied by routine disaster assistance programs. A long-term recovery committee may address these ongoing needs by taking a holistic, long-term view of critical recovery needs and coordinating the mobilization of resources at the federal, state, and community levels. But a long-term recovery committee looks at all of the people who have been affected and the kinds of needs that they have. And then if there are dollars available to help with, particularly those that are vulnerable, how those dollars could be redistributed to meet as many needs as you can. In the last few minutes, we have heard about the two major sources of federal assistance after disaster, FEMA and SBA. We learned about the importance of reporting disaster damage and the assistance application process. We also learned about disaster recovery centers and case managers to assist in navigating the recovery process. It is important to recognize that your life will never be exactly the same as it was. Consider what you want your new reality to look like and how federal disaster assistance will help you to achieve that future. We encourage you to view all of the financial recovery after disaster videos, the Family Financial Toolkit, and other materials at this website.