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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. |
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DHS -FEMA Updates
Be heard…Email comments or suggestions to us at cert@dhs.gov
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Learn how to protect yourself from cybercriminals and stay safe while shopping online on Cyber Monday (November 27) and throughout the holiday shopping season.
Shopping online erases the hassles of traffic and crowds. However, the internet may also bring online scams and identity thieves.
Keep your information secure. Review security tips from the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team , such as:
- Do business with reputable vendors – Some attackers create websites that appear legitimate and may trick you. Verify the legitimacy before supplying any information. (See Understanding Web Site Certificates for more information.)
- Make sure your information is being encrypted – Many sites use secure sockets layer (SSL) to encrypt information. Indications that your information will be encrypted include a URL that begins with "HTTPS:" instead of "HTTP:" and a padlock icon. If the padlock is closed, the information is encrypted. Some attackers try to trick users by adding a fake padlock icon, so make sure that the icon is in the address bar of your browser.
- Be wary of emails requesting information – Attackers may attempt to gather information by sending emails requesting that you confirm purchase or account information. (See Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks .) Legitimate businesses will not ask for this type of information through email. Do not provide sensitive information through email. If you receive an unsolicited email from a business, instead of clicking on the provided link, you should directly log on to the authentic website by typing the address yourself. (See Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams .)
- Use a credit card – There are laws to limit your liability for fraudulent credit card charges. You may not have the same level of protection for your debit cards. Also, use a credit card when using a payment gateway such as PayPal, Google Wallet, or Apple Pay.
Find additional shopping or basic online safety tips with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Stop. Think. Connect. Toolkit . |
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Do not wait for winter. Test your home heating equipment now.
According to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) , half of all home heating fires occur in December, January, and February. Heat your home safely before the weather turns bitter cold.
Follow these USFA tips for a fire-safe home this winter.
- Keep anything that can burn at least three (3) feet from all heat sources including fireplaces, wood stoves, radiators, space heaters, or candles.
- Never use an oven to heat your home.
- Maintain heating equipment and chimneys by having them cleaned and inspected annually by a qualified professional.
For more information, visit the USFA's Heating Fire Safety page .
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Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and Citizen Corps Councils are getting a new and improved registration and management website, which will allow users a more intuitive and robust tool to manage their programs. While these enhancements occur, the current website will be down starting December 1st.
The new and improved site will still include features like:
- Registering and updating Citizen Corps and CERT programs from one place;
- Collecting information about surveys and programs to enable better tracking of your work; and
- Searching for local preparedness programs.
The site will also include some new features to make preparing your community even easier.
You can look forward to accessing the site later in December. In the meantime, you can continue helping your community get ready for disaster by visiting the Citizen Corps and CERT program pages on Ready.gov .
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Put your community on the road to resilience with the Building a Roadmap to Resilience course (E426) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute. Participants will develop a plan of implementation in their community, receive the tools and knowledge to establish a community coalition, and learn to encourage local leaders to augment resilience within the unique circumstances of their community.
The course will be conducted January 16-18, 2017, at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. This three-day course helps communities build upon the Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management.
The target audience for this course includes community stakeholders interested in disaster resilience, and emergency management professionals with less than three years of experience who support or implement inclusive emergency management, community disaster planning, preparedness activities, and community outreach partners at the state and local levels. As a prerequisite, students should have a basic understanding of the fundamentals of emergency management and community preparedness.
To register for this course, please submit a completed General Admission Application, FEMA Form 119-25-1 to your State Training Officer. For more information about this course, please contact Steven (Tyler) Krska at steven.krska@fema.dhs.gov . Please visit training.fema.gov to learn about additional FEMA training and education opportunities management and community preparedness.
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Supporting Children in the Aftermath of Disasters
Date and Time: Tuesday, November 28, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Individual and Community Preparedness Division and Child Care Aware of America invites you to a webinar that will feature best practices on addressing adjustment difficulties of children in the aftermath of a disaster and suggest successful coping strategies. Please register for the event using the Adobe Connect registration web link.
Inclusive Community Preparedness
Date and Time: Wednesday, November 29 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET
Join FEMA Region 2 and its whole community partners to learn how to help establish equal physical, programmatic, and effective communication access for people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs. Participants will learn how to develop an emergency plan, draft focused messaging, and illustrate the suite of resources to help keep you better informed. Please register for the event using the Adobe Connect registration web link. To attend via audio only call-in to 1-800-320-4330; PIN 265976.
Commemorating Native American Heritage Month through Tribal Emergency Management
Date and Time: Wednesday, November 29, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET
In observance of National Native American Heritage Month, FEMA's Individual and Community Preparedness Division and the Office of External Affairs, Tribal Affairs will host a webinar on Wednesday, November 29 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. ET focusing on disaster preparedness and resilience efforts serving tribal communities. You will hear from several leaders who have worked to put preparedness into action. Please register for the event using the Adobe Connect registration web link.
Before the Webinars:
We hope that you will be able to join us for these webinars.
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Disclaimer: The reader recognizes that the federal government provides links and informational data on various disaster preparedness resources and events and does not endorse any non-federal events, entities, organizations, services or products. Please let us know about other events and services for individual and community preparedness that could be included in future newsletters by contacting: citizencorps@dhs.gov
About FEMA
FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate's activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.
The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications. |
