FEMA Course PER-385: Enhancing Financial Literacy of Individuals and Businesses for Post-Disaster Recovery

This instructor-led course will provide the learner with an overview of the ways disaster can impact a business’ finances and economic recovery. The learner will review case studies of recent disasters where a business’ finances were impacted and analyze the lessons learned from these events. An overview of emergency planning will also be provided. The course will present best practices in pre-disaster financial planning to include identifying and engaging essential partners. Finally, an overview of available resources, toolkits, and checklists will be presented. Live virtual training will present information on: • Key elements of business financial literacy, including critical components of pre-disaster planning, such as the benefits, hazards, risks, and key stakeholders, especially in vulnerable areas; • Business action steps for increasing disaster financial readiness in a disaster financial management strategy; • Components of a collaborative economic recovery plan that incorporates resources from public, private, and volunteer agencies; • Quantitative and qualitative tools useful in performing economic assessments after a disaster (e.g., assessing damage to property); • Strategies to coordinate intermediate and long-term plans among whole-community partners who can support business financial recovery.