|
- Click sponsor logos for whitepapers, case studies, and best practices.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Digital Communities
Industry Members
California Disaster Corps Program Tracks Volunteers, Improves Coordination
July 14, 2010 By Corey McKenna
Photo: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured volunteer field demonstrations at the launch of the Disaster Corps program. Courtesy of Peter Grigsby/Office of the Governor.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced in June the formation of Disaster Corps, a group of highly trained and vetted volunteers tied closely to the state's mutual-aid system. The corps provides a network of volunteers ready to respond to emergencies.
A new statewide Disaster Volunteer Resource Inventory (DVRI) will house the volunteers' contact information, affiliations and training information to facilitate their utilization during disasters. About 1,000 volunteers will be categorized by capabilities, and the corps will initially be fed by programs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties. Background checks will be conducted for each volunteer, and they will be certified in Red Cross CPR and first aid.
Volunteers aren't always included in emergency managers' responses to disasters and a mutual-aid mechanism for the use of volunteers outside their sponsoring jurisdiction didn't exist in California before the establishment of Disaster Corps, according to the state's Cabinet Secretary for Service and Volunteering Karen Baker.
Disaster Corps members will have their names, contact information, training and capabilities entered into a Web-based database, the DVRI, available to all emergency managers, volunteer coordinators, nonprofits and faith-based organizations that want to provide disaster assistance in the state.
The Los Angeles Disaster Corps has started selecting approximately 200 volunteers, out of the county's 5,000 Community Emergency Response Team members, to be part of the program. "In the middle of July we're going to have a process that we, internally in our department, will create that will allow our volunteer coordinators the ability to preselect through an application process or through some kind of check-off sheet on whether the volunteer wants to be in it, what skill sets they have [and] when they're available," said Wilson Lee, CERT coordinator for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Go to Emergency Management to learn more about California's Disaster Corps program.
In Our Library
- Are You Sure You Are Maximizing the Value of Your Microsoft SharePoint Investment?
- The Microsoft SharePoint platform provides a wealth of opportunities for any organization to streamline business processes and expand knowledge sharing; however most government organizations struggle to take advantage of these opportunities.
- Hurricane Preparedness
- Make sure you are prepared for hurricane season before it is here. Join in this Digital Communities teleconference and gain insight on how to prepare from experts who have been on the ground during major hurricanes.
- Government-to-Government IT Services: What Works and What's Left to Work Out
- This paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption. View All
Subscribe to Digital Communities
Digital Communities (DC) is e.Republic‘s local government program. The particular strength of DC is its focus on encouraging collaboration and creating productive relationships between and among cities, counties, regions and select private sector companies uniquely positioned to help improve the delivery of public services.
Subscribe | View Digital Issue
Government Best Practices
Featured White Papers & Reports
Government-to-Government IT Services: What Works and What's Left to Work OutThis Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption.
View Full Library
Events
Don't miss this opportunity to see the latest in digital government solutions, keep abreast of current policy issues and network with key government executives, technologists and industry specialists.
We have a software product being finalized that monitors and manages all disciplines in a disaster including Volunteers. It makes it easy to commit them to tasks and automatically tracks where they are and what they do through the entire incident. It is very easy to use and saves enormous amounts of time and money.
We have a software product being finalized that monitors and manages all disciplines in a disaster including Volunteers. It makes it easy to commit them to tasks and automatically tracks where they are and what they do through the entire incident. It is very easy to use and saves enormous amounts of time and money.
We have a software product being finalized that monitors and manages all disciplines in a disaster including Volunteers. It makes it easy to commit them to tasks and automatically tracks where they are and what they do through the entire incident. It is very easy to use and saves enormous amounts of time and money.