Community Risk Assessments

Designing a Smarter Community Risk Assessment Solution

When developing G&H's Community Risk Assessment Solution, we focused on five key principles to ensure usability, efficiency, and real-world impact.

Simplicity at Every Level

Our guiding principle is simple, simple, simple. Simple for the end user, the administrators, and those analyzing the results.

• The process should be intuitive and easy for anyone filling out the risk assessment.
• Managing, updating, and maintaining the form should be seamless.
• The output should be clear, actionable, and easy to interpret.

By keeping simplicity as a core tenant of our solution, we increase adoption and usability across all stakeholders.

Built on Familiar, Proven Technology

Rather than introducing a new, complex system, we leverage trusted platforms like Esri and Microsoft, technologies many organizations already use. This allows us to:

• Reduce learning curves and onboarding time
• Improve compatibility with existing workflows
• Eliminate the need for new logins or access protocols

Embedded Support & Training

Our solution includes built-in guidance and training resources, ensuring users can get the help they need, right when they need it, without waiting for external support.

Data Sharing & Collaboration by Default

In the evolving landscape of Emergency Management and Community Economic Development, data is more critical than ever. Our solution is designed to:

• Facilitate seamless data sharing.
• Enable deeper analysis and integration with other datasets.
• Ensure interoperability across agencies and stakeholders.

Automated Reporting & Analysis

Manual data extraction, transformation, and reporting slow down decision-making. Our solution automates these processes, delivering structured, digestible reports with minimal effort.

What Sets G&H’s Solution Apart?

At G&H, we understand that traditional risk assessment processes can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and difficult to scale. That’s why we designed a smarter, more efficient approach—one that simplifies workflows, enhances collaboration, and drives better decision-making.

Smart, Adaptive Risk Assessments.

Traditional risk assessments use a one-size-fits-all surveys, leading to redundant or irrelevant questions. G&H’s solution is different. We use dynamic branching logic, meaning:

• Respondents only answer questions relevant to their role and community
• A single, streamlined survey replaces the need for multiple forms
• Data collection becomes faster, more accurate, and less overwhelming

Risk Assessments connect agencies and partners through targeted branching logic, ensuring users are presented with the most relevant and impactful questions.​

Built by Agencies, for Agencies​

This solution was built by listening to real users. Professionals who have spent decades grappling with the complexities of community risk assessment. Our approach reflects:

• Changing dynamics in emergency response
• The need for agility in risk assessment
• A broader understanding of evolving community risks

Designed for Real-World Challenges

G&H’s solution isn’t just about improving risk assessment. It’s about empowering communities with the right tools to build resilience, streamline processes, and make smarter decisions.

Seattle UASI’s Success Story: Transforming Risk Assessments with the Toolkit

The Seattle UASI region covers King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties, along with the core cities of Seattle and Bellevue, Washington. Like many UASI regions, Seattle faced significant challenges in collecting comprehensive risk data due to complex and time-consuming survey processes. In 2022, the region averaged fewer than 100 survey responses, limiting their ability to accurately assess and address local risks.

In 2023, Seattle UASI partnered with G&H to create the Community Risk Assessment Toolkit, which marked a major shift in their approach to data collection. The first version of the toolkit allowed respondents to choose from 7 specific geographic locations, which was a step forward in tailoring the data to local needs. This update helped engagement soar, increasing responses to over 300, a substantial improvement from the previous year.

Building on this success, G&H worked with Seattle UASI in 2024 to further refine the toolkit. The new version introduced the ability for users to select from 88 unique geographic locations, a massive leap from the previous 7. This increased granularity allowed local agencies to set specific capability targets based on their unique needs, rather than relying on broader county-level data. For example, a Fire Chief in New Castle no longer has to base their targets on the broader King County data but can now report on specific needs, such as the ability to suppress 2 structural fires instead of the countywide total of 170 fires.

This level of precision in data collection makes the process more relevant and actionable for local officials, ultimately leading to better decision-making and higher participation. With this enhanced focus on local needs, 2024 engagement continued to grow, reaching over 415 responses and reporting 658 new capability targets, showcasing the success of the toolkit in empowering local agencies with better tools to assess and address community risk.

Real-Time Data & Instant Extraction

A key improvement in Seattle UASI's experience was the dramatic enhancement in data retrieval. Previously, extracting jurisdiction-specific data could take an entire day or more, slowing down critical decision-making. However, with the introduction of an interactive ArcGIS dashboard, this process has been reduced to under one minute.

The dashboard allows users to filter data in real-time by jurisdiction, community, core capability, and capability target. This means agencies no longer have to sift through large amounts of data manually. Instead, they can quickly analyze trends, identify gaps, and make more informed decisions in a fraction of the time.

This improvement matters because it enables agencies to identify underreported capability targets and conduct targeted outreach to improve participation. Additionally, it ensures that critical capability targets are addressed swiftly, strengthening overall preparedness. With the ability to generate data-driven insights, agencies can now support federal funding applications with up-to-date, relevant information that improves their chances of securing funding.

Accelerating Federal Funding Applications

Emergency management agencies, including Seattle UASI, must complete annual THIRA/SPR risk assessments to qualify for federal preparedness grants. Our solution accelerates this process by automating data collection and reporting, significantly reducing the time and effort required. Where it once took days to prepare and submit assessments, the new tool allows agencies to complete and submit reports in a matter of seconds.

This increase in efficiency not only helps agencies meet federal deadlines but also boosts their compliance with federal requirements, increasing the likelihood of securing essential funding. By streamlining the extraction and reporting process, agencies can now make stronger, more timely cases for funding, ensuring they receive the resources needed to enhance community resilience.

A More Flexible & User-Friendly Experience

A standout feature of the 2024 version is the enhanced flexibility offered to users. Now, users can save their progress automatically, allowing them to complete assessments in multiple sessions. Whether internet connection is lost, or they need to step away, their progress is saved. This feature has led to higher completion rates, as users can now submit responses at their convenience.

Empowering Communities Through Smarter Risk Assessments

Through continuous feedback from users, we've designed a solution that simplifies the data collection process, provides actionable insights, and fosters collaboration among agencies. The result is a tool that empowers local officials to make better decisions, improve their community’s resilience, and secure funding more effectively than ever before.

The future of community risk assessment is here, and it’s more efficient, accessible, and impactful than ever.