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National Task Force on Community Preparedness and Response announces formation of the Advisory Committee
 The National Task Force on Community Preparedness and Response has formed the Advisory Committee (register), which will held its formation meeting in Washington, DC on November 16, 2005, and is scheduled to meet for the Northeast regional hearing in Boston on March 31, 2006.
The Advisory Committee is comprised of corporate, community, academic, law enforcement, fire & rescue, medical and EMS representatives as well as state and local government leaders from across the United States.
The mission of the Advisory Committee is to advise the Task Force on how best to create a plan - or template - for America’s local government and community leaders that shows them how to network their community’s resources to strengthen Homeland Security in order to make our citizens safer.
As seen with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, government will always need local partners to respond adequately to a crisis that involves the potential of mass casualty and destruction -- whether triggered by terrorists or nature. There is no government big enough, nor enough money, to protect everyone, every place, every time. It is up to citizens to create a national plan that helps leaders at all levels learn how to marshal community resources to prepare for threat, and how to make the difficult decision during crisis.
The Gilmore Commission concluded that the citizens and community leaders from all sectors needed to take a central role as partners with the state and federal government if America were to be truly prepared and ready to respond and recover.
The key is to involve citizens, businesses, religious, academic and community leaders at the local level to teach them the skills needed to make the right decision during crisis, and help them form a plan to prepare and respond effectively in times of crisis is critical.
During Hurricans Katrina and Rita, there were a great many examples of how citizens, corporations, their employees and community organizations stepped in during and after the storms. They provided trucks with clean water, power generators, blankets, food and vital supplies. They provided shelters and volunteers, search and rescue and comfort. Without this, many more people would have died and suffered.
This region-wide volunteer response serves in part as the model for how a community can respond to a disaster. For instance, corporations can provide not only expertise and material, but also work with the local responders to train employees about what to do and how to be an active part of the community response plan. Other companies can provide transportation to assist with an evacuation, or medical supplies, or communications equipment -- whatever is needed.
And, of course, the great resource of America’s corporations are employees, who can be trained to help the Red Cross, or become a trained volunteer to support community medical and first responders in the event of an attack or a natural disaster.
Corporations are tremendous organizing vehicles for keeping America safer. If they are connected to their community responders through a communications and training network, it can multiply the response capability of a community. So are churches, synagogues and places of worship, as are local community organizations – ready and trained to respond at a moment’s notice when our communities come under terrorist attack or when calamity strikes.
The purpose of this Advisory Committee is to begin the process of developing such a template – so that corporations, local community organizations and citizens have a plan they can follow to develop an integrated, inclusive community-wide program , so that all the citizens will understand exactly what their specific roles are in how to prepare and how to respond.
The National Task Force on Community Preparedness and Response has been commissioned by NCORP to immediately help communities prepare for terrorist threats and incidents of mass casualty and destruction. The Task Force continues the Gilmore Commission recommendation that the private sector and citizens must play a critical role in community preparedness and response to ensure that America’s homeland will be prepared and capable to respond. The members of the Task Force will represent key community sectors essential to overall national preparedness and response.
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NCORP and the Kennedy School of Government Collaborate on the National Blueprint for Secure Communities
 Working in partnership with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the ReadyCommunities Partnership is reaching out to first responders, local officials, the private sector and citizens throughout the nation to develop the National Blueprint for Secure Communities. The Blueprint will be the focus of the first National Congress for Secure Communities in November and serve as a roadmap for any community striving for resiliency during the first hours of a national or large-scale crisis. Click Here to read more...
National Press Club Briefing on National Blueprint June 20th
 In partnership with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and it's non-profit, government and corporate partners, NCORP is reaching out to first responders, local officials, the private sector and citizens throughout the nation to develop a National Blueprint for Secure Communities. The Blueprint is a project under the ReadyAmerica Initiative, and was the focus of the National Press Club briefing at 11:30 a.m. on June 20, 2006. The Blueprint will serve as a roadmap for any community working to reach a level of excellence in their preparedness.
Preliminary Report from Midwest Summit
 The Midwest Summit Police Chiefs Association met May 3rd and 4th in LaCrosse, Wisconsin to develop public/private partnerships that augment and multiply community preparedness, response and recovery capabilities. NCORP joined the Summit to incorporate the output of the May 3rd Summit sessions into the National Blueprint for Secure Communities. Click Here to download the draft draft preliminary report of the Summit.
More Press Items:
Homeland Security Journal coverage
Speech at the Harvard Forum
The First 72 Hours Meeting Agenda
ReadyAmerica: The First 72 Hours
Photographs of the November 16th Meeting
Draft Transcript of Preparedness Congress
Richmond Times-Dispatch
December 17-18, 2007...
National Congress for Secure Communities at the Capitol Hill Hyatt, Washington, D.C. May 31, 2007...
Initial meeting in Hamilton County, IN with county/city stakeholders on the 5-community pilot project. May 7, 2007 ...
Planning meeting in Charleston, SC with community stakeholders on the 5-community pilot. April 25, 2007...
Meeting in Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan for the 5-community Pilot. January 18, 2007...
Southwestern Regional Meeting of the NCORP Advisory Committee in Galveston, Texas
August 10, 2006...
Code Red for international flights to the U.S. originating in the UK: Code Orange for commerical U.S. domestic flights; Code Yellow for the U.S. July 7, 2005...
Code Orange for metropolitan transportation and rail systems January 18, 2005...
Code Yellow is in effect
Why Your Membership in ReadyCorps Will Help Strengthen Homeland Security
September 11, 2001 has not only changed the way communities view their preparation and response to crisis, but also redefined the role that citizens and corporations have in helping their communities prepare for and respond to threat and crisis. Though local, state and federal governments are responsible at one level or another, there just are not enough resources to protect all communities and property at all times, nor to respond equally or quickly. The threat and the country are too open and large.
ReadyCorps' Role
The National Council on Readiness and Preparedness has formed ReadyCorps to bring corporations together with communities, responders and governments to increase community surge capacity during incidents of mass casualty or destruction. ReadyCorps members will establish a corporate Crisis Response Officer (CRO) for each corporate facility, to serve as a contact point between responders and corporations to share information and assets, create preparedness response strategies and generally develop simple but effective ways to train and prepare employees for threat or crisis as resources to the responder sector during community response.
Click here to read more...
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