| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 16, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 16, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 2028348 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Colleen Strawhacker
colstraw@nsf.gov (703)292-7432 OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | June 15, 2020 |
| End Date: | May 31, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $58,297.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $58,297.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1918 F ST NW WASHINGTON DC US 20052-0042 (202)994-0728 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1922 F St NW Washington DC US 20052-0086 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | ASSP-Arctic Social Science |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
In anticipating the spread of COVID-19 in Alaska, local communities are assessing their response capacity in terms of emergency medical facilities, policymaking, and preventative cultural practices. Subarctic and Arctic local governments are overwhelmed with the need to provide information about the risks presented by the virus to a broad area. This project focuses on the coastal community of Juneau, Alaska (pop. 32,061) as a use case for examining formal and informal institutional responses and adaptive capacity in facing an unprecedented viral outbreak in isolated areas with limited resources. The project team examines how decisionmakers interact with various social groups, including Indigenous communities, and how they made use of local knowledge in a variety of communication strategies. This research tracks responses in real time and identifies areas where they were effective and where bottlenecks occurred that prevented effective coordination. The results identify lessons learned during the pandemic and provide guidance on how official and societal groups can better collaborate in future crises.
This study makes several fundamental scientific contributions with broad impacts for disaster response in small communities. First, the project delivers a case study of a disaster response in a remote, isolated Alaskan community with limited infrastructure and capacity. Second, this study tests, in real time, current knowledge on crisis responses, helping us identify weaknesses in existing theories of adaptive governance, resilience, local self-organization, and disaster communication. Finally, drawing on the findings of the study make it possible to provide a model of effective crisis response for similarly situated isolated communities. The results have implications for other northern communities as well as other isolated, remote areas of the country.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project developed an explanation for why Juneau, Alaska's response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in fewer deaths per capita than similar municipalities. Juneau's low COVID-19 infection and death rates so far attest to the City and Borough of Juneau's (CBJ) adaptive leadership in promptly and effectively managing the complex systems surrounding the pandemic. Institutionally, Juneau's leaders benefitted from the borough's home rule government structure and its ownership of the community's primary response facilities. Leadership put these conditions to best advantage by rapidly setting up an effective institutional structure for the local government, dramatically increasing communication resources to stay connected with the community, and working with other key players outside of government, especially the local Indigenous community. Our explanation for Juneau's success performs better than alternative analyses that focus on Juneau's isolated location, home rule status, and its socio-economic structure.
The key driver for success was the Juneau leadership's use of adaptive leadership in complex conditions. We help push forward the boundaries of knowledge by providing a concise and concrete definition of adaptive leadership. We define adaptive leadership across three dimensions. First, adaptive leaders design governing institutions in a way that provides the city manager the time and resources needed to process extensive amounts of data and analysis that accompany crises like the pandemic. Second, such leaders are good communicators who devote resources to providing the public with regular and informative updates about what the local government is doing to address the most pressing local concerns. Third, adaptive leaders reach out to community groups, such as local Indigenous organizations, to ensure that governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations are working in collaboration. Juneau also benefited from one facilitating condition - it owned the local airport and hospital, which greatly enhanced collaboration among the most important entities affected by the virus.
Developing this model of adaptive leadership will provide guidance for researchers and policymakers interested in explaining why some cities performed better during the pandemic than others. It also elaborates a model of local government response in times of crisis.
Policymakers also can benefit from these findings. First, in emergency situations, administrative structures should make sure that the central leader has the freedom to see the big picture in guiding responses and that municipal leadership does not have the burden of managing day-to-day tasks. Communications should be a central priority, with extra personnel devoted to the effort to keep the populace informed about the risks they face and the actions local government is taking to address those risks. Likewise, government leaders should put in place mechanisms that make it possible to insert public input directly into policy making. In Juneau, a group of task forces that brought together public officials and community stakeholders made this possible.
Last Modified: 09/29/2022
Modified by: Robert Orttung
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