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Leadership Message
Team, I look forward to working with you all as the Acting FEMA Administrator until the Senate confirms new agency leadership. I am pleased to announce that Region 3 Regional Administrator MaryAnn Tierney will serve as the Acting FEMA Deputy Administrator immediately following the Presidential Inauguration ceremony. Ms. Tierney is a dedicated and experienced leader who will help lead the agency until new leadership is nominated and confirmed.
As we transition to a new administration, among my top priorities are providing a seamless delivery of our critical missions and a smooth, orderly transition of power.
We all realize that COVID has created many more challenges for us during the past year and those will continue during the next few months. During this time, we must continue taking all preventative measures to protect our workforce and our families to ensure we can respond to any emergency or disaster.
Changes will come, and uncertainty during these periods are normal. However, disasters can strike at any time. I expect each of you to continue holding yourselves and your colleagues accountable for ensuring we are ready to deliver the FEMA mission for any disaster that may occur before or after the next Administrator joins the team.
I know that all of you will continue the agency’s mission while upholding FEMA’s Core Values of compassion, fairness, integrity and respect. These Core Values are mirrored in the way we treat each other here in our facilities and the care we take in ensuring survivors are provided with the dignity they expect and deserve.
I love our mission and the work that we do and am incredibly proud of the many successes we’ve accomplished together. We will work together, with a keen focus on the mission of helping people before, during and after disasters.
Bob Fenton
Acting Administrator
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Leadership Changes at FEMA
 Welcome Acting FEMA Administrator Bob Fenton! Did you know he started working at FEMA in 1996 as a reservist? Watch a conversation with Mr. Fenton to hear his advice for staff during the presidential transition and to find out what he would like to accomplish during his tenure.
Today is Inauguration Day when the federal government will experience a change in administration. Since the spring of 2020, FEMA has been preparing for a possible transition and as part of our planning process, we have curated several products for our new leadership to quickly and efficiently integrate them into our critical mission. These products include the Agency Overview, a Regional Briefing Book, Issue Papers and Core Briefings. Numerous individuals and programs across FEMA created, compiled and perfected the information within these products.
The Office of Policy and Program Analysis launched a SharePoint page contains all the transition products and is available to all employees. While created specifically to welcome and integrate our new appointees, the page also contains useful information for both new and experienced FEMA team members.
Key FEMA leadership changes will be effective at Noon on Jan, 20. The full list of FEMA leaders is available on the FEMA website.
We Are FEMA
Carmen is a reservist who serves as a Hazard Mitigation Community Education and Outreach specialist. In the fall of 2020, Carmen deployed to the wildfires in Oregon that affected about 500,000 people.
Carmen, a bilingual speaker, provided invaluable support to her team when a large Spanish speaking community in Jackson County, Oregon was devastated by the fires.
By providing counseling on mitigation techniques, Carmen gave survivors who visited a personal touch. Carmen also gave survivors publications with links to additional information efforts and resources and taught them to use the embedded QR codes that addressed suggested wildfire hazard mitigation efforts.
While deployed, Carmen participated in a bi-lingual interview with a network television station and gave a presentation during a virtual townhall for the Spanish speaking community.
Carmen arrived on Oct. 6. By the time the center closed on Nov. 21, she had spoken to 271 survivors and distributed 683 publications.
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Program News
Over the last year, the Office of External Affairs has worked to improve our agency’s branding so we can present uniform, clear communications that convey our core values. The following tools and resources are available on the intranet branding page.
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Email Signature Blocks: If you have not yet updated your email signature block, please take a moment to follow these step-by step instructions.
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Templates: Templates are available for a range of products, such as advisories, fact sheets, news releases and PowerPoint presentations. These templates align to our design guidance and will help you produce accessible communications products. We’ve also worked with FEMA Exec Sec to update internal products for FEMA leadership as well as memo and letterhead templates. Currently under development are additional templates for reports and GovDelivery newsletters.
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Design Guide: The design guide provides the foundation of FEMA design elements, or visual language, with distinctive color palettes, complementary typefaces and standardized uses of images.
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FEMA Writing Guide: The updated writing guide is designed so employees can create all written external affairs products with a clear, cohesive style that reflects the agency’s core values and presents a consistent narrative about our work.
Through branding guidance, agency instruction and a clear seal use/cobranding process, we are creating a sustainable, streamlined process that includes requirements for coordination, review and release of all external-facing products produced by FEMA offices.
These products are frequently updated, so be sure and check back to ensure you’re using the latest version!
The last year has been challenging and current events may have caused you to feel stress at work or at home. While stress is a normal part of life, if not managed it can take a toll on your physical and mental health.
What are the signs of unmanaged stress? Common symptoms of stress include feeling tense or sad, experiencing aches and pains, experiencing problems sleeping and having difficulty concentrating.
The Centers for Disease Control offers these tips to cope with stress:
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Take care of yourself. Eat healthy, exercise, get plenty of sleep and give yourself time to relax.
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Talk to others. Talk with a trusted confidant about how you’re feeling and coping.
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Avoid drugs and alcohol. While these may seem to help, they can actually create additional problems and increase the stress you are already feeling.
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Take a break. If news events are causing your stress, take a break from listening or watching the news.
If problems continue, talk to a psychologist, social worker or professional counselor. You can also find help and resources through the Employee Assistance Program. This free, confidential benefit is available from anywhere in the United States, 24 hours a day, year-round. To speak with a counselor, call 1-800-222-0364 (TTY 1-888-262-7848).
More free stress management tools and strategies are available through WorkLife4You. Additionally, the FEMA Employee Knowledge Center offers optional trainings that help manage stress. Classes include Take a Deep Breath and Manage Your Stress and Staying Balanced in a Shifting World.
On Jan. 7, DHS hosted COVID-19 voluntary vaccine program listening sessions. Due to the participation limit, you may have been unable to join a session. To ensure FEMA employees have the latest information about the program, the agency arranged two FEMA-specific listening sessions.
The hour-long listening session will address, among other topics, the vaccine program, employee eligibility, the partnership with the Veterans Health Administration and your questions.
Upcoming sessions:
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Session I: 1 p.m. ET on Jan. 27 via Zoom.
- Webinar ID: 161 349 2850.
- Webinar passcode: 211316.
- Telephone: +1 669 254 5252.
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Session II: 3 p.m. ET on Jan. 28 via Zoom.
- Webinar ID: 161 354 6933
- Webinar passcode: 490659.
- Telephone: +1 669 254 5252.
Both sessions will feature ASL and live captioning and will be recorded for future viewing. Additionally, a recording of the Jan. 7 DHS listening session is available.
Do you know a young person who wants to make a difference in their community? The Individual and Community Preparedness Division (ICPD) is now accepting applications for the Youth Preparedness Council. ICPD is looking to bring in a high-quality selection of applicants who reflect the diverse make-up of our nation.
To help expand our applicant pool, share information about the application period to your network of youth or community groups.
The council offers young leaders who are interested in supporting disaster preparedness efforts and the opportunity to lead and champion causes that make a difference in their communities. As part of the council, students work on national and local preparedness projects.
This opportunity is open to students who are in the 8th through 11th grades. Applications must be submitted on the FEMA website no later than 11:59 p.m. PT on March 7.
To learn more about the YPC, visit Ready.gov.
Dec. 1, 2020 marked World AIDS Day, a day to unite in the fight to end the HIV epidemic, support people living with HIV, and honor those who have lost their lives.
To build awareness, the Inclusive Diversity Council (IDC) is sharing some fact about HIV/AIDS:
Learn more about FEMA’s IDC and how it can support diversity and inclusion initiatives by visiting the IDC SharePoint site.
Note: FEMA does not endorse any non-government entities, organizations or services. Claims made by third parties have not been independently verified by FEMA.
Are you curious about unusual weather phenomena? Have you ever heard a weather term used and wondered what it meant? The FEMA Weekly series, "Be Weather Wise" explains lesser known weather phenomena and fun facts about the weather.
Have you ever woken up to see a brilliant red sunrise only to experience stormy weather later in the day? Perhaps you’ve seen a fiery red sunset in the evening and enjoyed sunny conditions the next day?
You may have heard the phrase “Red skies at night, sailor’s delight. Red skies in morning, sailor take warning.” This old phrase has a scientific foundation!
Areas of high pressure are associated with good weather, and low pressure is associated with bad.
When you see a red sunrise or sunset, it means the light is passing through an area of high pressure. High pressure forces air down and traps air suspended particles such as dust, soot and other particles known as aerosols. The high-pressure traps this “dirty” air and the aerosols in it scatters the longer red wavelengths coming through the atmosphere from the sun producing the intense red colors.
Weather patterns across most of the United States flow from west to east. This means if you’re looking at a red sky at night, most of the low-pressure and potentially associated bad weather has passed you. The opposite happens if you see a red sunrise, as low pressure is yet to come.
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Red evening sky, Cape Lookout National Seashore, 2015. National Park Service, NP Gallery.
Thank you to this year’s CFC campaign donors and keyworkers! This year’s keyworkers found innovating and inspiring ways to keep the message fresh, even with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
To make a positive difference in our world FEMA employees generously pledged more than $591.5 thousand to charitable causes such as finding cures for diseases, supporting military families and helping end hunger. #ShowSomeLoveCFC
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This episode features a discussion with representatives from two Oregon-based breweries, one owned by a wildland firefighter and another family operated. They talk about how they are helping wildfire recovery through their craft.
The FEMA Podcast is an audio series available to anyone interested in learning more about the agency, hearing about innovation in the field of emergency management and listening to stories about communities and individuals recovering after disasters. The podcast is available on Apple iTunes and Google Play to stream or download.
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News You Can Use
FEMA’s Environmental, Safety and Health Division has launched an intranet page at a new centralized location so employees, supervisors, managers and safety officers can easily access COVID-19 information.
The COVID-19 Employee Page links to resources including the COVID-19 Contact Management Tool and the COVID-19 Screening, Testing and Decision Flowchart. The page also includes toolboxes for a variety of individuals and settings, including employees, supervisors and employees working in fixed facilities and in the field.
Returning to the workplace? Check FEMA Forward for the latest updates.
The Awards Review Committee is now accepting nominations for the 2020 Administrator's Awards for the period covering the 2020 calendar year. The committee will accept nominations for awards until 5 p.m. ET on Feb. 5.
To nominate employees and teams for these honorary, non-monetary awards, use the nomination form on the Awards and Recognition page. The page has a sample nomination form and other guidance to help you write your nomination. After completion, submit nomination forms to FEMA-AdministratorsAward@fema.dhs.gov by the deadline.
To celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, FEMA’s Field Operations Directorate and the African American Employee Resource Group have partnered with the Office of Equal Rights to host a discussion of FEMA’s core values of compassion, integrity, fairness, and respect and the importance of service. The event will also include a video commemorating the life of Martin Luther King Jr.
The discussion will take place starting at 1 p.m. ET on Jan. 21.
Full participation details can be found on the Office of Equal Rights events page. To learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King’s commitment to service and to search volunteer opportunities, please visit Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Starting Jan. 21, the Office of the Chief Information Officer Section 508 Program will conduct weekly webinars on accessibility topics related to electronic documents posted to a FEMA Website or shared with others.
Topics include:
- Creating accessible Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and Adobe PDF electronic documents.
- Basic steps required to make an electronic document Section 508-conformant and accessible.
- How to check your document for compliance.
To register for a webinar, please visit the Section 508 Training Calendar or contact the FEMA Accessibility Help Desk. For more information on the Section 508 Program and its services, visit the 508 Accessibility Resource Center.
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 Visit the FEMA Forward SharePoint site to learn the latest information about what FEMA is doing, what you can do and available resources. Updates and critical information and resources include:
If you have questions or suggestions, please send an email to FEMA-COVID19@fema.dhs.gov.
Reservist Connection
Dear RABy is a question and answer feature the Reservist Advisory Board (RAB) uses to address questions from reservist employees. Do you have a question for the Reservist Advisory Board other ideas/examples from previous deployments that you thought really helped? Send it to FEMA-RAB@fema.dhs.gov and it may be featured in an upcoming FEMA Weekly.
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Since I last deployed, Microsoft Teams has become widely used by the agency - Is there a resource that can teach me more about the program's functionality? |
For those who might be unfamiliar with Microsoft Teams, it is one of the agencies primary tools for employees to virtually connect and communicate with coworkers. It is mostly used on our computers; however, there is also an iPhone app you should have on your FEMA iPhone.
The FOD Workforce Development Division has created a Microsoft Teams 101 guide that we have posted to the Reservist Advisory Board Page. This guide will teach you the basic uses for MS Teams on your computer and contains links to FEKC courses for more in depth trainings.
Visit the Reservist Advisory Board Page to catch up on the most recent RAB activities.
A cadre coordinator oversees all aspects of day-to-day cadre management including staffing, equipping, training, qualifying and performance of the cadre and its members. Visit the FEMA intranet home page for a list of FEMA cadre coordinators.
Your Professional Development
USA Jobs
Details
Rotations
Leadership Development Opportunities
Department Training Opportunities
DHS Leader Development Competency Cafés
Detail and Rotation Opportunities
Open Until Filled
About FEMA Weekly
The Office of External Affairs publishes FEMA Weekly each Wednesday. Questions or comments about FEMA Weekly can be emailed directly to the Office of External Affairs.
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All FEMA employees are encouraged to submit stories, upcoming events and announcements; particularly stories about our values, guiding principles and mission in action. Articles should be 200 words or less. Submissions are due by close of business the Wednesday prior to the edition. Articles submitted after that date and time will be considered for the following edition. |
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