Preparing Houses of Worship for Emergencies

The Inevitable Disasters are inevitable and we’ve all dealt with them

Traditional Role of Faith-Based Groups Houses of worship often respond to assist the community after disaster Most are not trained in disaster recovery Partnering improves ability to assist both before and after disasters

Expanding Community Recovery Options Involving houses of worship in preparedness and response increases the capacity of affected communities to recover on their own Improved training enables houses of worship to serve in their Community Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) groups

Local Recovery Capacity Bridging the Gap Gap between the level of damage exceeding local capacity and the amount of damage required to receive federal assistance is growing Expanded roles for the faith-based community can help fill this growing gap…especially during the recovery phase Federal Assistance Assistance Gap Local Recovery Capacity Severity of event

A Stronger Network Expand and support the existing network of faith-based participating entities in a way that complements and does not compete with the state VOAD Community VOADs benefit as well More trained faith-based organizations = a stronger network for preparedness, response, AND recovery One of the goals of the GA VOAD is to have a Community VOAD in each of our counties. With Praise & Preparedness, we have incorporated our state VOAD to help with the expansion of participating faith based organizations in disaster relief by having them as a resource to these faith based entities for trainings in services that they are interested in being able to pour back into their community in the event of a disaster.

Bartow & Gordon Counties Tornado – January 2013

Emergency Prep Campaigns Ready Georgia – Personal preparedness for GA citizens Ready Business – Businesses preparedness assistance Ready Kids – Early emergency preparedness education

A New Outreach Strategy Praise & Preparedness Build upon traditional roles of the house of worship in readiness & recovery: Facility Safety Congregant Safety Community Involvement

Who Can Participate? Open to any faith-based organization or house of worship No two houses of worship are the same and congregations are different sizes Activities are scalable based on the size of the facility and congregation

Facility Safety Conduct a facility safety assessment and complete or update the emergency plan for all of the congregational buildings

Facility Operations Plan Customizable template Easy-to-follow directions Adaptable to various sizes/types of facilities [Insert name of house of worship]

Facility Assessment Customizable template Checklist provides road map for assessment

Congregant Safety Encourage members of the congregation to develop family emergency plans for their homes

Congregant Preparation Resources Online toolkit includes: Basic readiness steps flyer Emergency supply checklist Family emergency plan template Family emergency contact pocket cards

Community Involvement Houses of worship encouraged to explore new opportunities to become involved in community emergency disaster relief efforts, feeding, and sheltering programs

Disaster Relief Services Key

Partnership Program Complete or update a facility emergency plan plus perform three (or more) of the actions listed below: Create a communications plan to contact congregants in the event of an emergency Work with other local organizations to organize, sponsor, or participate in an emergency preparedness fair Conduct at least one evacuation drill each year or participate in at least one statewide drill, such as the tornado drill conducted during Severe Weather Awareness Week each February Promote individual emergency preparedness to members, through a newsletter or other means Download a Praise and Preparedness video and present to congregants

Partnership Program Continued Each house of worship will have a checklist so that they can keep track of the actions that they’ve completed. Engage with your local EMA Houses of worship will receive a certificate of recognition and partnership once we have received their checklist

Contact Your Local Emergency Management Agency Contact your local EMA to discuss the partnership program and how it can benefit the community, especially if you plan to conduct training related to local disaster relief. Once actions are completed, submit the checklist to praise@gema.ga.gov for recognition. Visit www.praise.ga.gov for more information.

Praise & Preparedness Website www.praise.ga.gov

Praise & Preparedness Website

The Road Traveled… Conversations with faith-based leaders, VOAD members, GEMA area field coordinators, school safety coordinators, and planners Identified a house of worship to test the program; pilot congregation had just experienced what we wanted to address

How do you sell it? Use field coordinators to get into the counties by way of area meeting to promote the initiative Locals organize county presentations for their house of worship leaders Presenting at conferences, Medical Reserve Corps meetings, etc. Media outreach

What’s Next? Promoting Praise & Preparedness on a variety of platforms to increase awareness of resources Promoting with leaders of denominations Shared program information with a denominations that are active with the state VOAD

Thank you! Janay Stargell Faith-based/NGO Coordinator Georgia Emergency Management Agency Office: (404) 624-2266 Email: janay.stargell@gema.ga.gov or praise@gema.ga.gov