In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced a new initiative, NYC Service, to increase volunteering in the Big Apple. Emergency preparedness is one of the program’s six priority areas. ”The NYC Service program has three main goals,” according to the City’s press release, “channel the power of volunteers to address the impacts of the current [...]

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The dictionary defines “volunteer” as “a person who performs a service willingly and without pay.” Yet, there is a great value in finding small rewards that can help bring in and retain disaster volunteers. I know that from my own experience with CERT, but I also heard a similar message at a Business Roundtable-Partnership For Disaster Response [...]

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In an article, “‘Cross’ My Heart And Hope To Volunteer,” the New York Times describes the clever new advertising campaign of Red Cross of Greater New York to recruit new disaster volunteers.

The Red Cross received special permission from New York Governor David Paterson to use their twist on the 32-year-old ”I ♥ NY” logo used in the campaign [...]

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One good way for private citizens and businesses to get involved in the nation’s homeland security effort is through InfraGard. I applied for membership last year and recently joined.
According to its website, Infragard is: 
“an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent [...]

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I had been meaning to write about the work of the Disaster Accountability Project (DAP). So, I was happy to read a good article on DAP in the most recent issue of Natural Hazards Observer, the terrific (and free) bimonthly publication of the University of Colorado’s Natural Hazards Center.  
The article, “Disaster Accountability Project Uses Volunteers to Monitor [...]

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I just received a photo of myself with Mayor Bloomberg from the 5th Anniversary NYC-CERT party held this summer. At the beginning of the event, hundreds of CERT members lined up to get a quick ‘grip and grin’ with the Mayor on the porch of his official residence, Gracie Mansion. I mention this photo not [...]

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I am very excited and a little proud that Roger Ma, a frequent contributor to this blog, has been selected as the Team Chief of the new Community Board #7 CERT team for the Sunset Park/Windsor Terrace area of Brooklyn.
As readers may recall, Roger contacted me in the Spring after I discussed my own involvement in [...]

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