Ponca Tribe HMP

About the project

The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is working with JEO Consulting Group to create a Tribal-specific Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). A hazard mitigation plan is a community-guided document that identifies vulnerability to hazards and mitigation projects to reduce or eliminate this vulnerability. Having an approved and updated plan enables your nation to be stronger and more resilient by:

1. Reducing the Tribe’s risk and impacts from disasters,
2. Gaining eligibility for pre- and post-disaster mitigation grants, and
3. Building partnerships within and outside of the Nation. 

The Tribal Planning Team emphasized the importance of involving tribal members, tribal departments, and the public in the planning process. For the purposes of this planning process, the Ponca Tribe encouraged All Ponca Tribal Members and those who receive services within Service Delivery Areas or by the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, including other Indigenous People to engage and be part of plan development.

Engagement Opportunities

The Ponca Tribal Hazard Mitigation Plan hosted various methods of public engagement and outreach to ensure all Tribal members were aware of and able to contribute to the plan. These included: advertisements in the Ponca Newsletter, social media posts, open houses (held in Lincoln, Norfolk, and Niobrara), and a public survey to collect local input.

The Ponca Tribe has a monthly Member News publication that is printed and distributed throughout the 15 county SDAs and available for free at all Tribal offices. A newsletter ad was created to share information about the Open House meetings scheduled at the three main office locations – Lincoln, Niobrara, and Norfolk – and ran in the May 2024 Member News issue. Additionally meeting specific social media notices were shared prior to each of the three meetings via Facebook and X(Twitter). A press release was developed and shared via local media.

A public engagement survey was developed and shared with all Tribal Members via a direct mailed postcard for all enrolled members within the 15 county SDAs. The survey was curated to garner local input on natural disasters experiences, local priorities, key communication strategies and most utilized resources. A key question also asked all respondents to share what they would like to see the Tribe do in the future to reduce risk to natural disasters or severe weather events.

JEO hosted a HMP focused booth at the powwow with themed outreach materials and staff to speak one-on-one with Powwow attendees. The booth was used to share the purpose of the HMP, introduce the concept of mitigation planning to the public, and garner feedback. The Powwow was utilized as a key community engagement opportunity to garner input on the Hazard Mitigation Plan with emphasis on three main questions:

1. What do tribal members value the most?
2. What hazard types are the most concerning for local members?
3. Which of the Tribe’s identified mitigation actions should be highest importance?

Thank you to everyone who engaged and shared local input regarding the Hazard Mitigation Plan! For a full discussion of the planning process on this plan, please review Chapter Two: Planning Process in the Hazard Mitigation Plan.

public review perod

Once the draft of the HMP was completed, a public review period was opened to allow for tribal members and members of the public to review the plan and provide comments and changes. The Public Review Period was held from Friday, November 1^st, 2024 through Friday, November 30^th, 2024. All comments or revisions received during Public Review Period will be integrated into the final plan submitted to FEMA.

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Brooke Seachord,

bseachord@jeo.com402.474.8741

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