'Ready America Homeland' initiative launched Former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore, who chairs NCORP and is the former chair of the Gilmore Commission, has been an outspoken advocate for the creation of grassroots-driven community networks comprised of public and private partnerships to prepare for threats and respond to major incidents - especially in the post-Katrina era. "The events of the past few months have been sobering and illuminate how much remains to be done to prepare for challenges which may lie ahead. We have all seen the consequences of placing expectation of responsibility for first responders in the wrong place. Simply put, communities cannot outsource their preparedness and responsibilities to a federal or state government," Gilmore says. NCORP is designed to be a useful nonprofit partner to the Department of Homeland Security (Citizen Corps). The NCORP Advisory Committee, headed by Gilmore, is comprised of literally hundreds of community and government leaders from across the United States, including - but not limited to - mayors, emergency responders, business and community leaders, police and fire chiefs, city managers, hospital administrators and health care providers. According to Jeb Carney, president of NCORP, members of the newly-formed Advisory Committee will help the NCORP develop an education, training, program and planning template for the private sector and community organizations which are vital partners for local governments. "The national template for community preparedness will be the result of a collaborative effort by community stakeholders, as well as government agencies, federal and state office holders and terrorism experts. It will be designed to help communities explore their emerging response role and responsibilities in protecting America's homeland," Gilmore said. "We want to identify the best and most successful practices for a national template to help guide and enable communities to quickly adopt, modify or improve techniques for their own use - and then to develop ways to better communicate and share these ideas and practices among municipalities as well as with the private sector and community organizations," Carney said. To design the template, Carney said the Advisory Committee will work in eight teams to examine key issues that are essential to preparedness and response, including: institutional /situational awareness; public health and medical; legal/intergovernmental; community/citizen; public safety /information; infrastructure/economic; transportation/logistics; and response/containment. Comments made at the initiatives launch include: "I am really impressed by the national responsibility of citizens and elected officials nationally who have joined together to form a grassroots, citizen-driven response to both natural and man-made disasters," said Mayor Calvin Mundinger of Baytown, Texas. "It's exciting to be a part of a national template," agreed Baytown City Manager Gary Jackson. "Local government has a responsibility to be prepared, and we need to understand that responsibility fully." Said John Paul Woodley, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works): "The message today is that the American people need to be fully integrated and capable in their response to terrorist threats and indeed natural disasters. This need has to be met by a broad coalition at all levels of government and private sector 'actors'. Without that kind of response, we continue to court disaster on a wide scale." "We're all on a learning curve. But the response from across the country - from cities like Philadelphia to small towns - shows that the message to coordinate from the grassroots has been well-received by people with the responsibility to meet man-made and natural disasters. Governor Gilmore has had the foresight and the vision to bring us together," said Virginia State Delegate Jack Reid, from Henrico County. http://www.ncorp.org
•Date: 17th Nov 2005 • Region: US • Type: Article •Topic: DR general |
