FEMA External Affairs Bulletin Week of April 20, 2015

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EXTERNAL AFFAIRS BULLETIN

Week of April 20, 2015

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In this Edition:

Important Dates & Deadlines

April 22 -- Resource Development Strategies for CERT Programs Webinar

Resource Development Strategies for CERT Programs Webinar

April 24 -- Notice of Funding Opportunity for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Emergency Management Performance Grant

Notice of Funding Opportunity for Fiscal Year 2015 Emergency Management Performance Grant

April 24 -- FEMA Senior Executive Service Office of Response and Recovery Application Deadline

FEMA Senior Executive Service Office of Response and Recovery Application Deadline

April 28 -- Preparing Houses of Worship for Emergencies Webinar

Preparing Houses of Worship for Emergencies Webinar

April 30 -- National PrepareAthon! Day

National PrepareAthon! Day

May 6 -- Federal Flood Risk Management Standard Draft Implementing Guidelines Open Comment Period Deadline

Federal Flood Risk Management Standard Draft Implementing Guidelines Open Comment Period Deadline

May 19 -- Grant Guidance For Fiscal Year 2015 Preparedness Grants

Grant Guidance For Fiscal Year 2015 Preparedness Grants

America's PrepareAthon! Activities in Regions I and IV

As part of America's PrepareAthon!, Whitfield County, Georgia, is hosting a series of preparedness activities on April 24-26, including a community wide tornado drill, a preparedness expo with emergency notification registration, and a faith-based "Praise and Preparedness" drill with area churches. The county's Local Emergency Preparedness Council partnered with local news for Public Service Announcements (PSA) and interviews, and high school students in a TV production class will develop PrepareAthon!-related youth preparedness materials and PSAs to distribute in Spanish to elementary school students.

 

On April 30, the Nashua Office of Emergency Management in New Hampshire will conduct a citywide tornado drill, test the Code Red alert system, and distribute America’s PrepareAthon! materials on tornado safety. The notification will be automatically sent to all area landlines as well as cellphone and email users who have opted in for the service. City government employees, local businesses, area hospitals, and community-based organizations will participate in the drill.


FEMA and Operation HOPE's Emergency Financial First Aid Kit

As part of National Financial Literacy Month, FEMA and Operation HOPE updated the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (EFFAK) to guide families with financial preparedness steps to assist with disaster recovery. These steps include ensuring there is adequate insurance, a plan to pay bills, and an alternate way to access financial and personal records.


The EFFAK can be used to identify important documents, medical records, and household contracts. When completing the kit, include pictures or a video of the home and belongings, and store these items in a safe place. Storing critical documents is also one of the ten ways to participate in America’s PrepareAthon!. Participants can register these actions on the campaign website.

 

The 2015 EFFAK is available in English, Spanish, and reader enabled English version that can be filled out online. More information about the EFFAK and other tools that can be used to prepare finances is available online.


FEMA Launches BETA Version of FEMA.gov

FEMA launched a new BETA version of FEMA.gov. As part of the redesign, the following changes were made:

- Focused on getting the content in front of the reader without any distractions.

- Added mobile compatibility so the content can be read on any screen size.

- Increased the font size.

- Made it easier to identify the sections of content on each page.

- Limited the duplication of navigation links on each page.

 

FEMA is continuing to work on the BETA site. Comments and feedback are welcome on the FEMA blog post or via email at fema-new-media@fema.dhs.gov.

FEMA.gov BETA version

Lessons Learned Information Sharing Website Migration

This spring, the Lessons Learned Information Sharing (LLIS) program will make a significant change. The LLIS.gov website will cease independent operations and will consolidate its content with the Naval Postgraduate School’s Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL.org) and FEMA.gov.


One of the advantages of this move is that LLIS.gov content such as lessons learned, innovative practices, after-action reports, plans, templates, guides, and other materials will be consolidated with the already substantial database on HSDL.org. This change will allow the homeland security and emergency management communities to find relevant information in one place. FEMA’s LLIS program will continue to produce trend analyses, case studies on the use of FEMA preparedness grants, and webinars relevant to the whole community. These products will be available to the public at www.fema.gov/lessons-learned-information-sharing-program.


If there are concerns with already submitted documents being transferred to HSDL.org, please email FEMA-lessonslearned@fema.dhs.gov before May 15, 2015. For more information about this migration, a list of Frequently Asked Questions is available online. Additional questions can be sent to FEMA-lessonslearned@fema.dhs.gov.


Resource Development Strategies for CERT Programs Webinar

The FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Division is hosting a webinar on April 22 from 3-4 p.m. ET for Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) managers to learn new strategies to develop resources for the CERT Program. The guest speakers are:

- Dave Nichols, Program Manager for Mississippi Citizen Corps and CERT;

- Jolan Csukas, Volunteer Coordinator for Cowley County, KS CERT; and

- Brian Maier, Chief Operations Officer for Search and Rescue Ohio.


The speakers will share their insights and advice on how to secure resources for training and activities, lessons learned from their experiences, and how their resource development efforts benefitted their programs and communities. The webinar will conclude with a question and answer session where participants will also be invited to share their suggestions for resource development.

 

Interested participants can register for the webinar online. Closed captioning will be offered. Those who cannot attend the webinar can view the recording, transcript and presentation slide deck at www.ready.gov/preparedness-leader/webinar-library under the "Citizen Corps Partners/Affiliates" section.


Preparing Houses of Worship for Emergencies Webinar

The Department of Homeland Security Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and FEMA are hosting a webinar on April 28 from 2-3 p.m. ET to prepare faith-based organizations for disaster. This webinar will provide faith-based and community organizations with critical local, tribal, state, and national resources that can help get communities better prepared for disasters and emergencies. Subject matter experts from emergency management, the faith-based and volunteer sectors, and the federal government will also answer questions about engaging the faith-based community in disaster preparedness activities.

 

Interested participants can register for the webinar online. Closed captioning will be offered.


REMINDER: Notice of Funding Opportunity for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Emergency Management Performance Grant

FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate announced the release of the FY 2015 Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) Program. The FY 2015 EMPG Program provides over $350 million to assist state, local, tribal, and territorial governments in preparing for all hazards, as authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. The notice of funding opportunity can be found at www.grants.gov. EMPG applications are due no later than April 24, 2015.  Final submissions must be made through the Non-Disaster (ND) Grants system located at https://portal.fema.gov.


REMINDER: Senior Executive Service Postings for FEMA's Office of Response and Recovery

FEMA recently posted three Office of Response and Recovery Senior Executive Service opportunities on USAJobs: Director, National Disaster Recovery Planning, Office of Federal Disaster Coordination; Assistant Administrator, Response Directorate; Deputy Assistant Administrator, Recovery Directorate. To review the posting and complete an application, please visit www.usajobs.gov. The deadline to apply is April 24, 2015.


REMINDER: Federal Flood Risk Management Standard Draft Implementing Guidelines Open Comment Period Deadline

On January 30, the President issued Executive Order 13690, “Establishing a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and a Process for Further Soliciting and Considering Stakeholder Input.” Prior to implementation of the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, additional input from stakeholders is being solicited and considered on how federal agencies will implement the new Standard. To carry out this process, a draft version of Implementing Guidelines is open for comment until May 6, 2015. Questions may be submitted to FEMA-FFRMS@fema.dhs.gov.


REMINDER: Grant Guidance For Fiscal Year 2015 Preparedness Grants

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson announced the release of Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Notices of Funding Opportunity for DHS preparedness grant programs totaling more than $1.6 billion. The grant programs provide funding to state, local, tribal and territorial governments, as well as transportation authorities, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector, to improve the nation’s readiness in preventing, protecting against, responding to, recovering from and mitigating terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies. The grants reflect the Department’s focus on implementation of an all-of-nation, whole-community approach to the building, sustainment, and delivery of those core capabilities essential to achieving a secure and resilient nation.


The Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) applications, announced on March 25, 2015, are due no later than April 24, 2015.  All other preparedness grant applications – excluding Fire Grant programs – are due no later than May 19, 2015.  Final submissions must be made through the Non-Disaster Grants system located at https://portal.fema.gov.


More information on the 2015 grant guidance is available online. Final submissions must be made through the Non-Disaster Grants system located at https://portal.fema.gov. Further information on DHS’s preparedness grant programs is available at www.dhs.gov and www.fema.gov/grants.