 National Preparedness Month
September is National Preparedness Month, FEMA’s intensive annual preparedness outreach campaign. If you’ve followed the news this year, you’ve seen, heard and read about the devastating wildfires, hurricanes, floods and tornadoes that have devastated many areas of the nation. Such news is a sobering reminder of how important it is to take steps now that will change, and perhaps save, your life during a disaster.
Visit the Ready.Gov Preparedness Community for information, tools and resources.
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 FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate with CNCS
Disaster Services Senior Advisor Kelly DeGraff and FEMA Corps team Gold 3 at
the America's PrepareAthon! Unveiling at the National Academy of Sciences
National Service Programs Engaged in Preparedness Activities
Through it's programs, the Corporation for National and Community Service helps communities across the nation prepare, respond, and recover from natural and man-made disasters. Here is just several example of ongoing preparedness activities.
- AmeriCorps NCCC members from the Perry Point, MD campus are engaged in projects to deliver emergency preparedness presentations to youth enrolled in summer camps and summer schools, perform land trust storm mitigation, and clear trails to support emergency rescues/evacuations and increase community resilience during times of disaster.
- Pacific Region FEMA Corps team, Gold 4 is in Massachusetts
working with FEMA to assess a digital program being developed to increase the
public’s knowledge of how to minimize effects from a nuclear terrorist
attack. This program will help individuals and communities to learn to
deal with emergency conditions that could result from such an attack.
After development, this program will be released widely to communities around
the country and will provide increased awareness of how to prepare for this
hazard. Gold 4 is specifically working to evaluate the program for
overall helpfulness and to suggest changes that would further community
usage.
- As a part of the National Preparedness & Response Corps (NPRC), over 100 AmeriCorps members recently joined the ranks of the American Red Cross and will take positions in 21 chapters around the country to help communities be better prepared for disasters.
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Senior Corps RSVP Volunteers of America, supports over 700 volunteers who contribute their time and energy to over 70 organizations in Denver, Douglas, and western Arapahoe counties of Colorado. The RSVP Disaster Preparedness Team provides education and resources to local seniors about sheltering in place and what to do in emergency situations.
September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance
The September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance is the culmination of an effort originally launched in 2002 by 9/11 family members and support groups, who worked to establish the charitable service day as a forward-looking way to honor 9/11 victims, survivors, and others who rose up in service in response to the attacks.
In 2009, Congress designated September 11th as a National Day of Service and Remembrance, and charged the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) with supporting this effort across the country. CNCS provides tools and resources for organizations and individuals to become engaged in service activities, including grants to organizations to support volunteer projects across a state or throughout a multi-state region.
One example of a community preparedness program occuring:
- Community Organizations Active in Disasters, Inc., Pensacola, FL
Community Organizations Active in Disaster, Inc. helps residents in the Panhandle make the best use of its resources in a disaster. The organization will host “Preparing the Whole Community for Disaster,” a project is designed to increase the number of residents in northwest Florida with disaster preparedness education through Youth Emergency Preparedness Expos and increase community resilience through food drives and disaster supply donation drives.
Building Resilient Communities: An Online Training
RAND Corporation has recently produced a free, online training on community resilience for use by any organization or whole community planning teams. The course includes specific tips for nonprofit organizations.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL109.html
Other materials regarding RAND work in this area, which also may
helpful are located here:
www.rand.org/resilience-in-action.html
RESOURCES
New
Disaster Events
For
information on new disaster events, please visit FEMA’s daily situation report.
CNCS
Disaster Services Knowledge Network
This online network provides a place to share what
works at the intersection of disaster services and national service.
Disaster
Preparedness
If you
would like to learn more about how to prepare your family and/or community
please visit www.ready.gov.
Disaster
Distress Helpline: 1-800-985-5990
The
Disaster Distress Helpline provides 24/7, year-round crisis counseling and
support. The Helpline is staffed by trained counselors from a network of
crisis call centers located across the United States, all of whom provide:
- Crisis
counseling for those who are in emotional distress related to any natural
or human-caused disaster
- Information
on how to recognize distress and its effects on individuals and families
- Tips
for healthy coping
- Disaster-specific
resources and referral information.
The
Disaster Services Unit (DSU) of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) has agency-wide responsibility for coordination
of CNCS disaster services activities. The DSU provides expertise, ongoing
support, and access to a network of dedicated volunteers. CNCS subscribes
to the belief that all disasters are local. Our focus is on enhancing and
adding value to what already exists in communities and infrastructure --
working in partnership with State Service Commissions, local government,
nonprofits, and faith-based organizations.
The
Disaster Services Unit can be reached at DSU@cns.gov and is staffed by:
Kelly DeGraff, Senior Advisor, Disaster Services
Katrina French, Program Officer, Disaster Services
Jen Murphy, Program Officer, Disaster Services
Jason Scott, Program Officer, Disaster Services
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