3:13 p.m., June 26, 2008--When disaster strikes, the first concerns are food, shelter and the necessities of life for individuals and families. But what happens to community organizations, such as domestic violence shelters, which house vulnerable members of society, in the wake of a catastrophe?

UD sociology graduate student Bethany Brown became interested in this question and is writing her doctoral dissertation on the organizational recovery of domestic violence shelters after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She recently was awarded a $10,000 dissertation enhancement fellowship from the Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) and the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, to support her research. The fellowships receive funding from the National Science Foundation and Swiss Reinsurance.

“I am honored and excited to receive the fellowship,” Brown said. “It will strengthen my dissertation by allowing me to travel to Louisiana to conduct more interviews and analyze the results and incorporate them into my research. I also will be able to attend conferences and present my findings.”

“This is a highly competitive fellowship,” said Tricia Wachtendorf, assistant professor of sociology and women's studies. “The proposals were reviewed by a committee of highly respected disaster scholars, and PERI is particularly interested in work that can be applied to emergency management outcomes for local governments. This award demonstrates the importance of the issues Ms. Brown is studying, both with respect to theoretical scholarship and its real relevance to the community.”

Brown also is a researcher with UD's Disaster Research Center. She made her first visit to New Orleans on another project and was able to make contacts then for her current research. She has returned since then to study recovery efforts at three different organizations, two in New Orleans and one in southwestern Louisiana, which support domestic violence shelters. “One shelter was burned to the ground, and all three had to be evacuated,” Brown said.

Domestic violence shelters always have an evacuation plan in place in case a perpetrator finds its location, Brown said. There is a lot of networking among shelters with the agreement that if space is available they will take in women and children in need. When Rita and Katrina hit, those living in shelters were moved to others.

The staffs scattered but kept in touch via an e-mail center in Baton Rouge, La. Recovery money helped them reestablish the centers, and state funding again became available.

Brown's research is about how the shelters re-establish themselves and the organizational changes that take place. For example, one shelter has evolved into a Family Justice Center, she said.

Brown, who is a graduate of Western Maryland College and has a master's degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, is working to complete her dissertation.

Article by Sue Moncure