About Us
Every Voice. Every Disaster. Every Time.
The people who live through disasters know things that policy has never been asked to learn. They know what it feels like to be told it's safe to go home when it isn't. They know what a year of uncertainty does to a family. They know what accountability actually looks like. And what it doesn't. We are here to make sure that knowledge counts.
Where We Come From
The Disaster Voices Institute was born in East Palestine, Ohio.
When a Norfolk Southern train derailed on February 3, 2023, it didn't just release toxic chemicals into the air and water of a small town. It revealed every gap in the systems that are supposed to protect communities in crisis. Residents were told it was safe to return before testing was complete. Health concerns were dismissed. Families were left to navigate a recovery system not designed with them in mind.
Misti Allison watched all of this from her driveway, less than a mile from the derailment site. She had a Master of Public Health from The Ohio State University. She had decades of professional training. And she knew the community needed someone who could translate what was happening, not just to neighbors, but to Congress, to the media, and to the policymakers writing the rules.
She testified before Congress twice. She joined Moms Clean Air Force. She ran for mayor. She serves on the Columbiana County Health Board. She is a researcher with the East Palestine Train Derailment Health Research Program led by the University of Kentucky. And in 2026, as a Presidential Leadership Scholar, she founded the Disaster Voices Institute to turn one community's hard-won experience into a national framework that protects the next one.
Why We Exist
Our Mission
The Disaster Voices Institute advances research, policy solutions, and public awareness that place impacted communities at the center of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.
We believe the people living through disasters hold critical insight into how systems succeed. And where they fail.
Our Vision
A nation where disaster policy is shaped by impacted communities. Where lived experience drives reform.
Where dignity is protected throughout every phase of response and recovery, and where people lead the systems meant to serve them.
Our Values
Accountability Without Exception
When disasters happen, the people and systems responsible must answer for the harm they cause. We advocate for transparency, enforcement, and meaningful consequences, because acknowledgment alone is not enough, and communities deserve more than an apology.
Lived Experience Is Evidence
The people who live through disasters carry knowledge that no dataset can replace. Their experiences — what they saw, what they felt, what their families endured — are not anecdote. They are the most important evidence we have, and we treat them that way.
Dignity in Every Phase
From the first hours after a disaster to years into recovery, every person affected deserves to be treated with honesty, respect, and care. Not as a case number. Not as a statistic. As a human being whose life was disrupted and whose voice matters.
Research That Starts With People
Every study we conduct, every data point we gather, begins with a simple question: what are communities actually living through? We bring scientific rigor to that question, but we never lose sight of the human experience at the center of it.
No Community Alone
Disaster isolates. It fragments neighborhoods, strains families, and leaves people feeling like they are fighting a battle no one else can see. We exist to change that by connecting impacted communities, researchers, advocates, and policymakers into something stronger than any of them could build alone.
Meet the Founder
Misti Allison
Founder & Executive Director
Misti Allison is a public health professional, East Palestine resident, and Presidential Leadership Scholar. She holds a Master of Public Health from The Ohio State University, where she was later honored with the Robert M. Duncan Alumni Citizenship Award for her advocacy work following the train derailment.
She has testified before the United States Congress twice, serves on the Columbiana County Health Board, and has written for national outlets including TIME Magazine, and The Hill. She has been featured in media such as CNN, Fox News, NPR, The New York Times and Politico. She is a member of Moms Clean Air Force and a relentless advocate for the community she calls home.
She founded the Disaster Voices Institute because she believes that the most important voices in disaster policy are almost always the last ones to be heard.