ReadyTogether

Inspiration

What it does

How we built it

Challenges we ran into

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

What's next for ReadyTogether

Inspiration

Emergency advice is often written as a long, generic checklist. But a household managing daily medication, a powered medical device, a young child, mobility support, or a service animal needs a different plan. During a stressful moment, people should not have to search through pages of advice to find what applies to them. I built ReadyTogether to make preparedness feel simple, personal, and possible.

What it does

ReadyTogether creates a personalized emergency action plan in three steps. The user chooses a primary risk, adds the needs of their household, and receives a prioritized plan that can be saved on the device, downloaded, or printed. It supports severe storms, wildfires, power outages, and floods, plus tailored guidance for medication, mobility, powered medical devices, pets, young children, and language support.

How I built it

I built ReadyTogether with React, TypeScript, Next.js, HTML, and CSS. A client-side rules engine combines hazard-specific preparation steps with household-specific actions. Browser local storage keeps saved answers on the user's own device. Blob-based downloads and a print layout make the plan available when internet service is unavailable. The app is deployed on Vercel.

Challenges

The biggest challenge was balancing personalization with privacy. Sending household details to a server would add risk and friction, so I designed the core experience to work entirely in the browser. I also had to keep the generated plan useful without overwhelming the user, which led to a short three-step flow and concrete actions instead of long explanations.

Accomplishments

• Plans genuinely change based on the selected hazard and household needs
• No account or external API is required
• Plans can be saved, downloaded, and printed
• The interface supports keyboards, mobile layouts, reduced motion, and clean printing
• Personal answers remain on the user's device

What I learned

I learned that privacy can be a product feature, not just a technical requirement. Keeping the planning logic on-device made the experience faster and easier to trust. I also learned that social-impact software is strongest when it turns a broad problem into one clear action someone can take immediately.

What's next

Next I would add translated plan templates, more regional hazards, verified local emergency-agency links, full progressive-web-app offline support, and tools for schools or community organizations to customize guidance without collecting residents' personal information.

Built With

• vercel