The present study describes 4 strategies for increasing response rates to a community-based survey on youth violence in an ethnically diverse population in Hawai'i. A total of 350 households were mailed a Safe Community Survey using 4 different randomly assigned incentive strategies. The strategies varied by length of survey and timing of incentive for completion (given before completion, after completion, or both). In univariate analyses, there were no significant differences across survey strategies on participant demographics, community perceptions of violence-related behaviors, or percent of missing items. However, in multivariate regressions, respondents' sex and percent of missing items on the surveys were consistently significant predictors across multiple outcomes. Although the use of strategies to increase response rates in community-based surveys might be desirable, resulting data need to be examined for the potential that strategies might recruit different populations, which may have an impact on the data obtained. This study offers lessons and recommendations for surveying Native and Indigenous communities.

For health educators to successfully meet the challenges of responding to public health emergencies, it is important to establish and understand the role of collaborations with local, state and federal partners in identifying potential public health issues and to develop theory-based models or strategies to address these issues before, during and after an event. This paper presents a case study examining the health education and communication response to Hurricane Katrina in Houston, Texas. CDC's Health Education and Communication Teams and the Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services Division of Health Education worked with identified populations, environmental specialists, epidemiologists and other key partners to identify health education needs and develop appropriate messages and then developed and implemented a broad comprehensive health education and promotion plan. The paper discusses lessons learned and how health educators can use the model developed for this response to plan for future disasters and public health emergencies, including pandemic influenza.