Writing the Alief Disaster Protocol

IT’S HERE — Alief’s Community Disaster Preparedness Protocol

 

This report is the result of 2.5 years of work in Alief and a $125,000 investment in community resilience. It’s built from 194 community members who shared what actually happened to their families during Winter Storm Uri, the May 2024 derecho, and Hurricane Beryl, and what they needed when information was unclear, delayed, or inaccessible.

 

In 2025 alone, AliefVotes hosted or co-hosted 93 community events. Not all of them were disaster-related, but all of them mattered. Every workshop, cleanup, tree planting, roundtable, training, and gathering helped build the relationships that make preparedness real before the next emergency hits.

 

The protocol is comprehensive by design. It covers preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, along with climate risks in Alief, data-backed surveys, community feedback philosophy, emergency communication, language access, shelters, food and water distribution, generators and medication access, policy recommendations for the 90th Texas Legislative Session, and a full resource directory meant to be used, not shelved. It also documents the work that shaped it, from disaster preparedness workshops and heat resilience sessions to tree plantings, transit workshops, Hurricane Beryl relief efforts, pocket prairies, media storytelling, and community roundtables.

 

Full Report: tinyurl.com/alief-disaster-report

Policy Brief: tinyurl.com/alief-disaster-policy

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With gratitude,

Tommy Wan | Program Director & Founder of AliefVotes

 

The Team Behind This Work

• This protocol exists because Alief students believed their community's voices deserved to shape policy. Lead author Tommy Wan coordinated the 16-month research and community engagement process, with editorial contributions from student writers Julian Nguyen, Harrison Tran, Lander Gonzalez, Zody Calderon-Huerta, Allie Hogan, Ericka Chanchavac-Rosales, Sawsan Busari, Cindy Ukwu, and Yousif Al Mashhadi.

• We are deeply grateful to the community members and professionals who shaped this report through their feedback, expertise, and lived experience.

• To our government partners in Alief—Councilwoman Tiffany D. Thomas, Alief ISD, Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones, State Representative Gene Wu, the Mayor's Office of Education and Youth Engagement, the Houston Mayor's Office, and Harris County and Houston Health Department—thank you for your dedicated feedback and collaboration.

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Why This Report Exists

• When Winter Storm Uri hit in February 2021, Alief residents like 50-year community member Dianne Purvis went eight days without water, electricity, or refrigeration. Temperatures inside homes dropped to 40 degrees. During Hurricane Beryl, some neighborhoods lost power for 14 days while others were restored in two. These weren't just statistics—they were our neighbors' lived experiences. So we asked a simple question: What does disaster preparedness look like when it's built by the community, for the community?

 

The Numbers That Tell Our Story

• Over 16 months, AliefVotes brought together voices from across our community of more than 100,000 residents, representing more than 80 countries. A total of 194 community members attended disaster preparedness workshops, while 45 stakeholders participated in our comprehensive roundtable. Thirty youth volunteers from all five Alief ISD high schools contributed to research and writing, and more than 75 partner organizations collaborated on solutions. Our outreach materials were developed in seven languages to reach the full breadth of Alief's diversity.

 

Read the Report

• Whether you're a longtime Alief resident who remembers when the power went out for weeks, a newcomer trying to understand how this community takes care of its own, or an elected official looking for policy solutions that actually came from the people they're meant to serve, this report is for you. The 97-page report is written by students who grew up here, informed by neighbors who shared their most challenging moments, and designed to be something you can actually use. We hope you'll take a few minutes to read it, share it with someone who needs it, and help us turn these recommendations into reality. Alief built this together. 

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