FEMA Strategic Plan: 2011-2014: Incorporates "Whole Community" Planning

Whole Community planning fosters the inclusion of people with disabilities and disability organizations into the planning processes for emergency management.

The Strategic Plan provides the foundation for how FEMA is going to continue to work with its partners to develop the emergency management team to include Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments; private sector and non-governmental organizations; faith-based and community-based organizations; and the American public. The plan is centered-around four initiatives to enhance the Nation's resilience:

1. Foster a Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management Nationally –FEMA will work with the state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to encourage emergency managers at all levels to engage more effectively with and support local communities in activities that, directly or indirectly, build preparedness and resilience.
2. Build the Nation's Capacity to Stabilize and Recover From a Catastrophic Event – Embracing a whole community approach, FEMA will build the Nation's capacity to stabilize a catastrophic event within 72 hours, restore basic services and community functionality within 60 days, and recover from the long-term effects of the event within five years.
3. Build Unity of Effort and Common Strategic Understanding Among the Emergency Management Team - To build unity of effort and a common strategic understanding among all team members, FEMA will work with its partners to identify the top threats and hazards—and opportunities—across the country to effectively plan, assess gaps, mitigate, and build capabilities to address risk-based requirements.
4.  Enhance FEMA's Ability to Learn and Innovate as an Organization - FEMA will work to improve its capability to learn from past experience and adapt to quickly changing conditions.

The Strategic Plan builds on existing strategic documents and is directly related to the President's National Security Strategy, the Department of Homeland Security Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, and the FEMA Administrator's Intent for Fiscal Year 2012 – 2016.

Additionally, the Plan considers the implications of a changing strategic environment for the emergency management community. Several broad themes will be especially important to FEMA and the field of emergency management over the next ten to twenty years: the increased empowerment of individuals due to technological innovation; the evolving security environment; shifts in the demographic makeup of the population; and changes in the man-made and natural environments. Understanding the future environment will enable FEMA to be more flexible and innovative as current approaches and strategies are adjusted to navigate the future for the emergency management community.

The FEMA 2011-2014 Strategic Plan builds on the progress FEMA has made to date to create a stronger organization contributing to a more capable emergency management community. The success of this Plan is dependent on the full engagement and support of individuals and the entire emergency management community. The Agency's progress in implementing the Strategic Plan will be tracked, managed, and assessed using performance metrics and program milestone schedules. These metrics will be included in established performance management mechanisms to continually assess the implementation of the four initiatives.

PDF of Plan: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/about/strategic_plan11.pdf

TEXT of Plan: http://www.fema.gov/txt/about/strategic_plan11.txt