ReadyBlock

Inspiration

Emergency preparedness looks different for every household. An older adult living alone, a family with pets, and an apartment resident without a car may face the same hazard but need different preparation plans. Inspired by the Glendale Fire Department challenge, we created ReadyBlock to make trustworthy hazard information easier to understand and act on.

What it does

ReadyBlock helps Glendale residents identify hazards relevant to their address and build a personalized preparation checklist based on their household circumstances.

Residents can explore mapped hazards, follow preparation steps linked to trusted sources, track their progress, and listen to their plan. They can also communicate through a neighborhood board to offer help, request supplies, and prepare together.

How we built it

We built the app with React Native and Expo, supported by a Python FastAPI backend. We integrated the organizers’ Glendale GIS resources to assess address-specific hazards and locate nearby community resources.

Our planning system uses predefined rules to select guidance based on local hazards and household needs. Recommendations link to sources including Ready LA County, the American Red Cross, and Cal OES. We also integrated ElevenLabs for spoken plans and local storage for saving plans and checklist progress.

Challenges we ran into

One major design challenge was turning technical hazard information into clear, practical steps. We also had to account for different housing situations, accessibility needs, transportation options, and family responsibilities while keeping the experience simple.

Another challenge was establishing trust: residents need to distinguish official preparation guidance from community conversations. With limited hackathon time, we prioritized the core experience of understanding hazards, creating a plan, and connecting with neighbors.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We brought location-based hazard information, household-specific preparation, and neighborhood cooperation into one prototype.

We are especially proud that each preparation step includes a source and an explanation of why it matters. Our audio feature also provides another way to access the plan beyond reading it on a screen.

What we learned

We learned that useful emergency information must answer two questions: “How does this affect me?” and “What can I do now?”

We also learned that trust requires more than naming an official source. It requires accurate interpretation, clear limitations, current information, and guidance people can verify. Designing for different household circumstances helped us see how accessibility shapes preparedness.

What's next for ReadyBlock

We want to work with Glendale residents and emergency professionals to review our recommendations and test the app’s usefulness.

Our next priorities include completing multilingual support, improving accessibility, adding printable plans, and clearly displaying hazard-data dates and uncertainty. We also plan to strengthen privacy and community moderation, replace demonstration neighbors with an opt-in network, and make it easier for residents to maintain their plans over time.

Built With

• asyncstorage
• expo.io
• gis
• glendale
• httpx
• pydantic
• python
• react
• typescript