Please submit the information requested below to express your interest in receiving planning assistance from a Recovery Planning Assistance Team (RPAT), a subsect of APA's Community Planning Assistance Teams (CPAT) program.   RPATs are comprised of four or five volunteers that contribute their time, experience, and expertise to disaster recovery planning activities that reduce risk to future disasters.  Sample activities include the following:

• Evaluation of recovery strategies, visions, goals against the community’s network of plans
• Technical assistance to conduct data gathering, post-disaster assessments, and analysis to provide a fact base for recovery planning
• Assistance in developing an inclusive recovery organization and an advisory or decision-making structure
• Recovery management, including recovery project development (project analysis, prioritization, feasibility, financing)
• Integrating risk into community plans and processes for future vulnerability to disasters

 Description of Community and Issue

This section will serve as the main body of your proposal.  Please include images and maps to define the study area and highlight key recovery issues.

The following guidelines and questions may help guide this section.  

• Describe the disaster recovery issues affecting your community that influence or have led to the need for assistance. Include the degree to which the recovery issues are recognized by leadership and the community, and the obstacles (social, political, economic, physical, etc.) to addressing and overcoming these issues.  
• Describe the direct damage and loss estimates to the built environment and other community assets, including green infrastructure, at the proposed project level of intervention: neighborhood, city, or region  
• Describe how an RPAT can build on past recovery or pre-disaster planner efforts or advance more recent recovery or pre-disaster planning work within the community. Please describe any approaches used and the level of success they had or are having.  
• What types of expertise are you most interested in receiving?  
• From your perspective, why would a volunteer team of expert planners from around the country provide a more effective result than hiring consultants or using other resources? Why is your community in need of pro bono services?