This Citizen Corps News Digest is provided by FEMA's Individual & Community Preparedness Division to highlight community preparedness and resilience resources and activities recently announced by federal agencies and Citizen Corps partners.

DHS -FEMA Updates

***WEBINAR ANNOUNCEMENT***

Partners in Preparedness: A Holistic Approach to Building Sustainable Partnerships

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

2:00 pm EDT – 3:00 pm EDT

Has your organization experienced challenges in serving your community before, during and after a disaster? Are you seeking resources and community partnerships to help strengthen your organization's preparedness and response? If so, be sure to join FEMA and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD) on September 18 for a FREE webinar on building holistic and sustainable partnerships. Learn about the latest trends and practices in preparedness to help your faith-based or community organizations contribute to and engage in building resilient communities. Hear from subject matter experts as they share information about available partnership opportunities and effective practices to help strengthen your capabilities before, during and after a disaster or emergency. The activities, lessons learned and partnership opportunities you'll hear about can be planned for this National Preparedness Month and executed throughout the year.

Register/Log in

Register here if this is your first time joining the Community Preparedness Webinar Series: http://connect.hsin.gov/voad2012a/event/registration.html .

Log in here if you have already registered for this webinar, have registered for a previous webinar or if you're a HSIN.gov user: http://connect.hsin.gov/voad2012a/event/registration_login.html .

If you have questions regarding this event, please contact citizencorps@dhs.gov .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FEMA Think Tank Promotes Youth Preparedness!

Join FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino this Thursday, September 13 live from Vicksburg, Mississippi on the next FEMA Think Tank Conference Call which will focus on the importance of getting our future leaders interested in substantive leadership and service opportunities. Focusing on the whole community and engaging our next generation in public service and emergency management is a critical step toward preparedness and strengthening the resilience of our communities.

Deputy Administrator Serino will highlight two youth programs: FEMA Corps and FEMA's Youth Preparedness Council. FEMA Corps is an innovative partnership between FEMA and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) that is intended to strengthen the nation's ability to respond to and recover from disasters while promoting service opportunities to young adults. FEMA's Youth Preparedness Council provides a platform for youth's opinions, ideas and solutions on strengthening the nation's resiliency to be heard. For more information on these programs, please visit http://blog.fema.gov/2012/08/fema-youth-preparedness-council-kicks.html and http://www.fema.gov/fema-corps .

What: FEMA Think Tank Conference Call

Topic: Engaging the Next Generation in Public Service and Emergency Management

When: Thursday, September 13, 2012

2:30 pm EDT – 4:30 pm EDT (1:30 pm – 3:30 pm Central)

Call-in: 800-857-9818

Passcode: Think Tank

Captioning: http://fedrcc.us//Enter.aspx?EventID=2015878&CustomerID=321

Also, check out these previously recorded community focused webinars:

• Collaborative Planning: Engagement of the Whole Community
• Women and Youth Emergency Management Stakeholder Update
• Emergency Management and Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Meeting the Needs of Latino Communities in Emergency Management

Social Media: The Next Generation of Emergency Management Communications

With the advent of social media as a way to communicate to a large segment of the population, today's emergency management professionals cannot ignore this critical medium. Social media has proven to be a force to be reckoned with – especially when looking to engage traditionally overlooked populations such as youth in preparedness activities. Additionally, as the public increases its use of social media as a communication method, it is important to adapt to the method and tools the public is using to communicate. If you're looking to develop a robust social media approach for your community's emergency management activities a great first step is to ensure you are a member of the National Preparedness Coalition . Here you can participate in engaging discussions on the topics such as Social Media in Disaster Recovery which highlights a great tool the University of Missouri Extension has developed to guide your social media use. Pledge to Prepare today by participating in these discussions!

The FEMA Blog also has great guidance and stories revolving around social media and disasters. Check out these resources:

• SMEM = Social Media in Emergency Management
• News of the Day: USA Today on Social Media and Disasters
• How Might You Use Social Media in an Emergency?

Additional resources:

• 5 Ways Emergency Managers Should Use YouTube contains great videos (via YouTube) and tips for how to utilize this social media method.
• FEMA Training: the FREE IS-42 – Social Media in Emergency Management training course provides participants with best practices including tools, techniques and a basic roadmap to build capabilities in the use of social media technologies in their own emergency management organizations in order to further their emergency response communication capabilities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Planning for Preparedness within Your Community

We know the successful approach toward community planning for disaster preparedness involves engaging the whole of a community . There are many resources and tools at your disposal which will allow you to successfully plan for your community. One resource is FEMA's A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes and Pathways for Action which discusses three key Whole Community principles that emerged through national dialogue:1) understand and meet the actual needs of the whole community; 2) engage and empower all parts of the community to define and meet their needs and 3) to improve resiliency and emergency management outcomes strengthen what already works well in communities.

Your local Citizen Corps Council also serves as a resource to assist with preparing your community and helping to push out critical preparedness information. If you're not already involved, find your local Council now to disseminate information that will prepare your community.

Finally, don't forget the many grant and funding opportunities which can assist you as you help strengthen your community's resilience. Check out the State Homeland Security Program and the Urban Area Security Initiative program .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How Well Do You Know Your Community?

Being involved in emergency management requires knowledge of your local community's demographics and how to reach out with guidance to differing populations. The Community Preparedness Webinar Series offers a host of different topics targeted for working with and preparing different populations, including but not limited to:

• Preparedness Considerations for Aging Americans
• Animal and Pet Preparedness
• Evacuation of Students with Access and Functional Needs
• Back to School Youth Preparedness Projects

Additionally, make sure your community is connected to FEMA's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) , a program designed to integrate various public alerting systems into one modern network so messages can be transmitted to the general public on as many channels as possible. IPAWS provides a single interface for federal, state, local and tribal officials an effective way to alert and warn the public about serious emergencies via the Emergency Alert System , the Personal Localized Alert Network (otherwise known as the Commercial Mobile Alert System), NOAA Weather Radio and other national and local alerting systems. Expand your capability to reach multiple populations on various communications channels using the IPAWS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DHS-FEMA Updates

Join us for the Stream Live Option of “Safety Datapalooza”

The White House Office of Public Engagement, Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Transportation cordially invite you to join us for the “Safety Datapalooza,” highlighting innovators from the private, nonprofit, and academic sectors who have utilized freely available government data to build products, services, and apps that advance public safety in creative and powerful ways. The event will also feature the announcement of new safety data resources being made available, including valuable, real-time tools to provide details about natural disasters and improve preparedness and emergency response.

The event will be streamed live from 8:30 AM – 12 noon EDT at: www.whitehouse.gov/live .

Special Guests:

Be heard…Email comments or suggestions to us at citizencorps@dhs.gov

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FEMA Fire Management Assistance Declarations Update

Washington Peavine Fire
Fire Management Assistance Declaration number 5018 on Sep 13, 2012

Washington Poison Fire
Fire Management Assistance Declaration number 5017 on Sep 12, 2012