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While many aspects of this past year have been hazy, we still are celebrating and designating special months. This month, April, is National Financial Preparedness Month. For some communities, financial preparedness takes on a different tone after the employment and financial losses from COVID-19. The pandemic will continue to be a challenge, even as vaccines are distributed and things open up. And like last year, we may find ourselves dealing with extreme weather and disasters at the same time.

Our communities are still being hit hard by COVID-19. The latest CDC data shows that even with increased distribution, African Americans are receiving fewer vaccines than our infection rates. The opposite is true for white and Asian Americans. Pandemic-related unemployment is still heavily impacting African-Americans, particularly women, at almost double the national average — 9.9% for us, versus 5.6% generally. The same disparate impact is true when we look at factors like eviction rates and other basics across groups.

Pair these factors with a storm season that is highly likely to be as daunting as last year and the need to start preparing early is even more significant.

As I write this piece, nearly half the country is facing spring droughts. The 2021 Hurricane season will begin in June, as will the wildfire season. This year, the prediction is at least 17 named storms. But all it takes is one storm to completely upend a community.

African Americans and other BIPOC communities have been taxed heavily in this pandemic. Some, like Lake Charles, Louisiana, are still in recovery from the last storm season. Let’s be honest, recovery takes a long time and a lot of money. Getting prepared can be expensive as well, especially if you get started too late.

In 2020, I advised about staying calm. This year, I am advising you to get ready early. We can still expect shelter availability to be limited because of distancing and vaccine protocols. The healthcare system has been and will continue to be stressed. So planning the where and when of evacuating early in the year is important.

The tough part of preparing is the financial aspect. My “go kit,” or disaster preparedness kit from CVS, costs about $50 per person. So a family of four could expect to pay $150 to $200. Coming up with this amount of money spontaneously is not easy for many people. My suggestion is to start putting away $5 to $10 a week in April and keep doing so until November. This will help with having money for your family’s kit, but also to have cash on hand in case a storm or other event hits your area.

Here are some other tips for early preparedness:

• Prepare your children and elderly people by making sure prescriptions are filled and toys are in “go-kits.”

• Update your phone contact information.

• Save important documents and get insurance, if you don't have it already. April is a good time to update or obtain health, homeowners/renters and car insurance before storm season begins. Make sure you have the right coverage.

• Create a digital folder of important documents like insurance, birth certificates and IDs, and drop them in the cloud for storage.

Not having the correct or enough insurance is a factor in what causes many individuals and communities to not be able to “bounce back” after a disaster. Get as much coverage as you can afford, especially now that we know these extreme weather events are becoming more severe and costly.

And I must stress my last tip about cloud storage. Many times, people do not get the assistance funds they need or reimbursement because documents get lost during extreme events. Having a digital backup of important information will save on emergency anxiety and financial hardship.

Remember, you don’t have to get ready if you stay ready!

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For more of my tips and work with BIPOC communities in climate change and disasters, follow me on Twitter.