# Neighbor contact planning during an outage An original fictional worked example for three 40-minute meetings. ## Community brief and limits **Willow Court is fictional.** This example assumes twelve participating renter households, English and Spanish speakers, unreliable mobile data, no purchasing budget, and access to paper and pencils. Two households cannot attend every meeting. Some residents prefer private written responses. These are supplied design inputs, not findings from consultation. No real contacts, services, routes, or technical emergency procedures are provided. The goal is to practice a voluntary neighbor contact arrangement and discover its limits. This is a workshop draft for a community pilot, not a live response plan. It cannot guarantee anyone's welfare or substitute for emergency services. The organizer must establish language support and provide reviewed translated materials before running a bilingual session. This English example is not a completed Spanish edition. If adequate support is unavailable, reschedule the affected session and offer a supported conversation rather than exclude residents. ## How we work together You may pass, work privately, write, draw, or ask for assistance. Share only what you want shared. We will ask before recording contact preferences. Attendance does not assign you a job. We will not publish addresses, health details, or contact lists. Paper copies contain the full exercises. A phone is optional. Ask the host for a paper catch-up sheet if you miss a meeting; no task is assigned while you are absent. ## Meeting 1 — Decide what a useful contact means **Outcome:** You can describe a contact preference and a limit without disclosing private circumstances. Bring a pencil; the host supplies worksheet W1 below. 1. Welcome, access check, and agreements — 8 minutes, including interpretation. 2. Privately complete W1 — 10 minutes. Choose one helpful contact action and one action you do not want. You can use a fictional household instead of your own. 3. Optional sharing in pairs — 10 minutes, including interpretation. Identify what requires someone else's agreement. Do not copy another person's details. 4. Discuss what remains uncertain — 7 minutes. Does the preference assume a working phone, open door, available neighbor, or shared language? 5. Choose a next step and close — 5 minutes. Keep W1 yourself. Before meeting 2, optionally ask someone whether they would discuss a contact arrangement. A refusal or no answer is an unresolved dependency, not an assignment. **W1 — Private contact preference** Example: “I would welcome an agreed paper message; I do not consent to entry. I need to ask a potential partner. No partner has agreed yet.” This is fictional. Your blank copy: - A contact action I would welcome: ___________________________________ - A limit I want respected: ___________________________________________ - What needs another person's agreement: ______________________________ - My optional next step: ______________________________________________ **Check:** Can you identify what is yours to decide and what needs someone else's acceptance? Keep this worksheet private; share a preference only voluntarily. ## Meeting 2 — Make a small, voluntary arrangement **Outcome:** Draft an arrangement that distinguishes accepted roles from proposals. Bring W1 if you wish. Use W2 below; a fictional pair is sufficient for the exercise. 1. Review prior actions and explain the draft — 8 minutes, including interpretation. 2. Draft W2 privately or with a willing partner — 12 minutes, including interpretation. 3. Test a dependency — 10 minutes. Suppose your intended partner is unavailable. What still works? Which part must be marked unconfirmed? 4. Debrief — 5 minutes. What must you avoid promising? How can someone withdraw? 5. Close — 5 minutes. Keep your copy. Ask permission before giving anyone a copy. Bring a fictional or consented arrangement to the paper rehearsal next meeting. **W2 — Voluntary arrangement** Worked example: fictional participants A and B agree only to a paper rehearsal at meeting 3. C has not been asked and is not a backup. If B cannot attend, A rehearses with the host using fictional information. This promises no real outage coverage. Your blank copy: - Participants or fictional labels: ___________________________________ - Proposed contact method and agreed limits: __________________________ - Who has accepted which action, and when: ____________________________ - What is still unconfirmed: _________________________________________ - If the intended person is unavailable: ______________________________ - How either person can withdraw or correct this: _____________________ - Who may keep a copy: _______________________________________________ **Check:** Circle each accepted action. If none are accepted, label the arrangement “practice only.” A missed contact establishes uncertainty; it does not establish that someone is safe or authorize entry, searching, or disclosure. ## Meeting 3 — Rehearse and revise **Outcome:** Use a paper scenario to find a weakness and revise the arrangement. Bring W2 or use the fictional example. No real household checks occur in this exercise. 1. Welcome and read the scenario — 8 minutes, including interpretation. 2. Paper rehearsal — 12 minutes. Scenario: mobile data is unavailable; your intended partner is absent. Using only your draft, explain your next action to a partner or host. The observer notes where the draft lacks an instruction or acceptance. 3. Revise W2 using W3 — 10 minutes, including interpretation. Add a feasible fallback or clearly mark the limit. Do not fill a gap by assigning an absent resident. 4. Debrief — 5 minutes. What was actually demonstrated? What remains untested? 5. Review ownership and close — 5 minutes. Propose a review host and date; ask for acceptance. Without an accepted host, each participant can retain and revisit their private plan, but no group review or coverage is promised. **W3 — Practice observation and revision** Worked example: “B was absent. W2 relied on B without a fallback. We changed W2 to mark no backup confirmed and retained a host-supported paper rehearsal. Actual outage communication has not been tested.” Your blank copy: - Draft step attempted: _______________________________________________ - What happened or was unclear: _______________________________________ - Change made to W2: __________________________________________________ - What remains untested or unconfirmed: _______________________________ - Next check and who accepted it: _____________________________________ **Check:** Can you point to the changed instruction and explain its remaining limit? One clear revision completes the exercise; it does not prove an emergency plan works. ## Catch-up sheet Ask the host for this complete paper guide. After missing meeting 1, complete W1 privately and bring questions. After missing meeting 2, use the fictional W2 example for meeting 3. After missing meeting 3, ask for a supported paper rehearsal; until then mark your arrangement untested. You can decline every shared role. ## Maintenance and sources Edition: 1, 2026-09-15. Review date proposed for this fictional example: 2026-10-15, or sooner after a failed rehearsal, changed contact preference, or volunteer withdrawal. The organizer is the proposed maintainer; acceptance has not been obtained. Participants can return non-sensitive corrections on paper to the meeting host if one accepts that role. The maintainer should date revisions and offer replacement paper copies to consenting participants; private worksheets stay with their owners. All local facts are supplied fictional inputs in the community brief above. The activity sequence and worksheets are original. The participatory approach was informed by [Ready Together](https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Ready-Together-An-Emergency-Preparedness-Handbook-for-You-and-Your-Neighbors.pdf). No source technical advice is reproduced. Language review, organizer acceptance, and a real participant pilot remain outstanding.