Power and Resilience Through Experiential Education (PaRTEE) seeks to address the problem of equitable access to disaster preparation and response resources around the intersection of Queer, Transgender, and People of Color in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Through advocacy and hands-on workshops, PaRTEE helps QTPOC and other underrepresented individuals create their own tools and systems to provide coordination and access for health, human welfare, and logistics during times of need, as well as resiliency training, digital security, and media production.
PaRTEE’s Justice Ham program is building an initial cadre of individuals who are studying for their Amateur Radio exams. Upon passing their FCC exams, participants receive further training in radio skills and proper operating conventions, with a focus on coordination and logistics in a disaster response environment.
Why We Partner
Even in the San Francisco Bay Area, we’re seeing the early effects of the climate crisis with increasing disruption of power and water infrastructure, plus extremes of heat and flooding. Climate resilience requires a cadre of individuals trained in disaster response and PaRTEE helps create self-determination for their communities and access to existing disaster response resources.
We have provided seed funding to purchase a bank of radios to be issued for practice and training, and technical support for PaRTEE. We believe that opening access to the world of disaster response and amateur radio, fields historically dominated by older white men, will help strengthen and invigorate both the established and underrepresented groups.
Impact
With our partnership, PaRTEE will train their initial cadre, establish working “operating networks” for members to be able to simulate disaster response traffic passing, and coordinate their communities at times of need. Additionally, we hope to see them develop and improve their curriculum as they move into a “train the trainers” model to scale.