Friday, July 8, 2016

2016. FEMA Releases Findings on Individual and Community Preparedness

FEMA Releases Findings on Individual and Community Preparedness


Preparedness in AmericaFindings from a newly-released survey indicate that there are specific levers that government and private sector partners can use to influence and increase overall individual and community preparedness.
 
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Individual and Community Preparedness Division (ICPD) released the findings from its 2015 National Household Survey of 5,000 Americans in June. The survey is designed to measure household and individual preparedness and awareness.

Among the most significant findings, the survey found a positive relationship between awareness of preparedness information and the action of taking steps to prepare for a disaster.
The survey also notes a relationship between experience and action, finding that individuals living in areas with a history of a specific hazard and who have experienced the impact of that hazard are significantly more likely to report they had taken basic steps to prepare themselves and their household.
“These are positive results and really help validate the work that FEMA and our partners across the country have been doing,” said ICPD Director Helen Lowman, upon release of the survey. “Going forward, we will be able to use this data to include all populations as we continue to build a culture of preparedness.”
When it comes to awareness of preparedness information, 66 percent of Americans living in areas with a history of hurricanes reported that they had read, seen, or heard information on how to better prepare for a hurricane within the past six months, the survey said. 
Individuals living in areas with a history of tornadoes were the next most aware of the pertinent preparedness information for their relevant hazard with 53 percent of respondents in those areas saying they had read, seen, or heard information on how to prepare for a tornado in the last six months.
The survey included a series of oversamples in U.S. counties where specific hazards, including: earthquakes, extreme heat, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and winter storms, present a risk to those populations.
ICPD will be going back into the field later this summer to administer the 2016 National Household Survey.
For more information and to review a summary of the 2015 findings, click here.

2016. Emergency Preparedness Training Options for Houses of Worship

Emergency Preparedness Training Options for Houses of Worship
FEMA’s Individual and Community Preparedness Division (ICPD) invites you to a webinar on Tuesday, July 19, which will feature ways houses of worship and emergency managers can use training programs like Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) to increase community preparedness. The webinar will also highlight how these partnerships improve engagements with diverse communities and populations.
Click the Following Link to Register: Emergency Response Training Options for Houses of Worship
Date: Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Time: 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. EDT
How to Join the Webinar:
This webinar will offer closed captioning.

2016 DHS Funding Opportunities. COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM GRANT PROGRAM

Last year, Secretary Johnson and the DHS Office for Community Partnerships identified the need to make direct awards to non-governmental organizations for community-based countering violent extremism (CVE) programs.  Congress has also been supportive of this effort by appropriating $10 million specifically to support local CVE efforts. 

Today, DHS announced the FY 2016 CVE grant program.  For the first time, non-governmental organizations will be eligible for DHS funding to promote community resilience against the threat of violent extremism.

The DHS Office for Community Partnerships is working closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure funding is awarded to community-based programs that draw from a range of local partners—for example, educators, social service and mental health providers, faith leaders and public safety officials.

The notice of funding opportunity and application process is now open.  For more information on how to apply please go here: www.dhs.gov/cvegrants.

For programmatic questions about the funding opportunity please reach out to: CommunityPartnerships@hq.dhs.gov.

Thank you.


THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY ANNOUNCES THE COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM GRANT PROGRAM

WASHINGTON—On Wednesday, July 6, 2016, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson announced the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Grant Program, with $10 million in available funds. This is the first federal assistance program devoted exclusively to providing local communities with the resources to counter violent extremism in the homeland.

“As I have said before, given the nature of the evolving terrorist threat, building bridges to local communities is as important as any of our other homeland security missions,” said Secretary Johnson. “This new grant program is an important step forward in these efforts and reflects the Department’s continued commitment to protect the homeland and uphold our values.”

In addition to state, local and tribal governments, non-profit organizations and institutions of higher education are eligible to apply. These grants will help scale community-led initiatives across the country to address the evolving terrorist threat, including international and domestic terrorism. Specifically, funding will support training, community engagements, and activities that challenge violent extremist narratives used to recruit and radicalize individuals to violence.

The Department’s efforts to partner with local communities are a central part of its CVE mission. These grants will empower local communities to provide resources to friends, families and peers who may know someone on the path toward violent extremism, encouraging community-based solutions to deter an individual well before criminal or terrorist action, which would require the attention of law enforcement. 

This grant program was developed by the DHS Office for Community Partnerships in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Office for Community Partnerships builds relationships with local communities and leads the Department’s CVE mission, focusing efforts to find innovative ways to discourage violent extremism and undercut terrorist narratives.

For more information on the FY16 CVE Grant Program, visit www.dhs.gov and www.grants.gov.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Webinar. Thurs, July 7, 2016. FEMA. Combining Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plans

PIE to Hold Webinar on Combining Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plans
The Planning Information Exchange (PIE) will present a free webinar on Thursday, July 7 2016, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. CT, (Starting at 1pm ET, 11am MT, 10am PT) entitled “Combining Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plans.”
This seventh part in the eight-part series involves discussions from Kristin Baja, a Climate and Resilience Planner from the Baltimore City Office of Sustainability, and Sherrie Collins, the Emergency Manager of Monterey County, California. James Schwab, Manager of APA’s Hazards Planning Center, will moderate as they discuss:
  • The basic premise of Baltimore’s effort to merge its climate adaptation plan with the update of its hazard mitigation plan
  • Issues Baltimore has experienced or will experience (e.g., increased nuisance flooding)
  • Nature and scope of the Monterey County plan
  • Challenges in Monterey County’s multijurisdictional approach
  • And much more
The PIE is a free eight-part quarterly webinar series presented by the American Planning Association (APA) and the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM).  The series is funded through a cooperative agreement with FEMA through the RiskMAP Cooperating Technical Partners (CTP) program.  The PIE focuses on tools, best practices, and strategies on the role of hazard mitigation planning and its connections with recovery planning and preparedness. The PIE webinars provide one continuing maintenance (CM) credit for the American Institute of Certified Planners and one continuing education credit (CEC) for Certified Floodplain Managers.
To register and for additional information visit: https://www.planning.org/nationalcenters/hazards/planninginformationexchange/

2016 Small Business Challenge

Announcing the Small Business Challenge! The 2016 Small Business Challenge from SB Works is a competitive process investing more than $100,000 in services that support DC’s small businesses. DEADLINE JULY 31

This summer, SB Works is seeking to fund ambitious applications for projects that will grow your idea, help your business where it hurts, fix your building, share your experience, or highlight your business community.

Apply for either direct services for small business operations or initiatives to improve the local small business environment.

Visit sbworksdc.org/small-business- challenge for eligibility and application details.

FEMA Urges Businesses to Use FEMA Smartphone App to Prepare for Disasters

FEMA Urges Businesses to Use FEMA Smartphone App to Prepare for Disasters

Washington, D.C. – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is urging residents across the nation to download and use the FEMA smartphone app.  The app is designed to help businesses, employees, and their families prepare for a wide array of natural and man-made disasters, and can help affected Americans recover, should disaster strike. 
 According to a recent survey by Pew Research, 40 percent of Americans have used their smartphone to look up government services or information. Additionally, a majority of smartphone owners use their devices to keep up to date with breaking news, and to be informed about what is happening in their community.
Some key features of the app include:
  • National Weather Service Alerts: The app enables users to receive weather alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five locations across the nation. This new feature allows users to receive alerts on severe weather happening anywhere they select in the country, even if the phone is not located in the area, making it easy to follow severe weather that may be threatening family and friends.
  • Safety Tips: Tips on how to stay safe before, during, and after over 20 types of hazards, including floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes.
  • Preparation Checklist:  Helps users put together emergency kits and develop family communication plans to determine how they will reunite with loved ones in the event of a disaster.
  • Maps of Disaster Resources: Users can locate and receive driving directions to open shelters and disaster recovery centers.
  • Apply for Assistance: The app provides easy access to apply for federal disaster assistance.
  • Information in Spanish: The app defaults to Spanish-language content for smartphones that have Spanish set as their default language.
The latest version of the FEMA app is available for free in the App Store for Apple devices and Google Play for Android devices.  For more information visit https://www.fema.gov/mobile-app

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Training Opportunity. July 2016. Cultural Competency Resource Guide Spotlight Webinar Series: Asian American & Pacific Islanders in the Southeast

 NPA Banner for SHEC

Are you interested in learning more about cultural competency and utilizing
cultural competency resources to best fit your organizational needs?

The Southeastern Health Equity Council (SHEC) released their Cultural Competency Resource Guide last fall 2015. This guide was comprised of resources, trainers, institutions and publications about cultural and linguistic competency that can be shared with the 10 Regional Health Equity Councils (RHECs), stakeholders and partners to help address cultural barriers with health care systems. Additionally, this guide includes important terms for members of the SHEC to become familiar with as the SHEC develops a common language around cultural competency. To view the resource guide, visit: http://region4.npa-rhec.org/in-the-spotlight/resourceguidewhitepaper.
To follow-up with the release of the Cultural Competency Resource Guide, the SHEC will be hosting three webinars in various regions of the country. The webinars will include speakers from organizations which focus on cultural competency. Upon completion of this webinar, the participant will be able to accomplish the following from the specific organizational perspective:
1. Define cultural competency;
2. Describe the diversity within the Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) community;
3. Explain the relationships among culture, language and health within the AAPI community; and
4. Identify cultural competency assessment and evaluation tools.
The focus of the webinar will be the Center for Pan Asian Community Services, Inc. and it will cover immigrants and refugees, with a focus on the AAPI community in Georgia.

DATE:  July 28, 2016

TIME: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time

SPEAKERS:
Moderators: Bettina ByrdGiles, Chief Executive Officer, The Bethesda Life Center, Inc.
& Lynette M. Gibson, Associate Professor and Director of Research in Nursing, University of South Carolina Upstate Mary Black School of Nursing
       Presenter: Victoria Huynh, Vice President of the Center for Pan Asian Community Services 
Center for Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS) is a private nonprofit social service agency with a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) located in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1980, CPACS is the still the largest and longest standing non-profit with 12 different departments serving the immigrant and refugee communities in Georgia and in the Southeast. Our mission is to promote self-sufficiency and equity for immigrants, refugees, and the underprivileged through comprehensive health and social services, capacity building, and advocacy 

Sign up for SHEC’s Email Listserv: http://region4.npa-rhec.org/get-involved
The Southeastern Health Equity Council (SHEC) is one of 10 regional health equity councils formed in 2011, as a part of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA). The NPA is a national movement with the mission to improve the effectiveness of programs that target the elimination of health disparities through coordination of leaders, partners, and stakeholders that are committed to action. The SHEC is a coalition of leaders and health disparities experts representing several sectors and the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The SHEC envisions a region free of disparities in health and healthcare, where all people attain the highest level of health.

Visit SHEC’s website for more information: http://region4.npa-rhec.org/

1 If the registration link does not work, please copy the entire link and paste it into your web browser. For webinarspecific questions, contact the moderator at csantos@explorepsa com

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