CIP Update
April 10, 2009
This newsletter is
for public agencies, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and other
stakeholders involved or interested in public-private partnerships for joint
emergency preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.
Michigan State University (MSU) produces the newsletter through the Critical Incident Protocol (CIP)-Community Facilitation Program under a grant awarded by the Training & Exercise Integration/Training Operations, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This newsletter provides ideas, suggestions, best practices, and lessons learned to establish critical incident protocols using public-private partnerships.
Michigan State University through the CIP Program will “enhance cities, counties, and region’s capabilities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from man-made and natural disasters through public and private sector collaboration, communication, and cooperation.” MSU facilitates public-private partnerships and the CIP Program is free of charge to participating communities.
Please visit our website at www.cip.msu.edu for more information about the program.
Participating Communities in the CIP Program
The CIP Program has
been initiated in 45 communities in 23 states with over 3,800 participants
establishing community public-private partnerships for joint management of
critical incidents. We are looking to work with other cities, counties and
regions. Is there a location in the nation that you think may be interested in
developing a public-private partnership? If so, please let us know.
Currently, we are working with the following communities:
Alabama: Hoover
Arizona: Casa
Grande
California: Mountain View
Colorado: Littleton
Connecticut: Norwalk
Florida:
Western Panhandle
Illinois: Lake-Cook Regional, Libertyville, Naperville
Indiana: Evansville
Kansas: Douglas County
Maryland: Annapolis, Carroll County, Rockville
Michigan: Detroit, Marquette County, Monroe, Oakland County
Missouri/Illinois: Gateway Citizen Corps
Coalition, St. Louis
Montana: Lewis & Clark County
Nevada: Clark
County, Northern Nevada
North Carolina: Buncombe County, Greensboro
Ohio: Brooklyn
Pennsylvania: Allentown, Bethlehem, Northampton County,
Perkiomen Valley
South Carolina:
Columbia, Horry County
Texas: Dallas
Utah: Layton, Sandy City
Virginia: Arlington County, Richmond
Washington: Redmond
Wisconsin:
Brown
County, Dane County, Eau Claire County, Milwaukee, Outagamie County, Racine
County, Superior, Winnebago County
Status of CIP Program
On March 17, 2009, we notified the readers of the CIP Update newsletter and other stakeholders that the CIP Program will not receive continuation funding; therefore, the program and staff will be terminated around August 2009. In the meantime, we will continue to provide program services and if anything changes, we will notify you.
CIP Program Calendar
April 25, 2009 – Mt. Pleasant, MI (Presentation at Michigan CERT Volunteers Conference)
April 30, 2009 – Reno, NV (Northern Nevada Business & Government Partnership Meeting)
May 6, 2009 – East Lansing, MI (Presentation to Philippines Delegation)
May 19, 2009 – Beckley, WV (Initiating the CIP Program for Beckley/Raleigh County)
June 3, 2009 – Detroit, MI (Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)
June 18, 2009 – Reno, NV (Tentative – Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)
June 23, 2009 – Naperville, IL (Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)
July 29, 2009 – Pensacola, FL (Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)
CIP Program Receives 2009 Best Practices Award!
On March 31, 2009 in Orlando, Florida, Brit Weber, Program Director of the CIP-Community Facilitation Program on behalf of Michigan State University received the “2009 Best Practices Award” at the DRJ Spring World Conference. The award was presented by Private and Public Businesses Inc. (PPBI) during the general session before attendees representing business continuity, disaster recovery, and crisis management public and private sector professionals from across the nation.
PPBI and Disaster Recovery Journal (DRJ) have partnered for a number of years and PPBI seeks nominees, “for exemplary planning, practices or in response to a critical incident, exhibiting the positive aspects of partnerships that work” to recognize their work.
Deidrich Towne Jr., Chairman of the PPBI Board of Directors and Senior Consultant for Forsythe Solutions Group presented the award. During the presentation, Towne noted that the CIP Program exemplifies public/private partnerships and that MSU has initiated 45 of these in 23 states. The language on the award reflected the goals of the CIP Program, which are stated on our website.
The staff of the CIP Program are humbled to receive the award and in joining the previous list of distinguished awardees. For more information on PPBI, please go to http://www.ppbi.org and another great resource for our readership is the Disaster Recovery Journal at http://www.drj.com.
Can You Help? On 09/11, Drill Down For Safety Campaign
There are ideas that when you first hear about them, they just make sense. Here is one that honors the memory of the 09/11 attacks, and also validates America’s preparedness. It can be done in the home, school, hospital, library, business, non-profit, government, and on the city, county, territorial, state, regional, and national level.
You will start hearing more about the “On 09/11, Drill Down for Safety” campaign that is being led by the Safe American Foundation, as we get closer to September 11, 2009. They have formed a taskforce that includes a diverse representation of public and private sector leaders that are providing guidance and assistance in spreading the word across the nation. We are joining them in promoting this initiative.
For communities participating in the CIP Program, this is an activity that could fit into your partnership program, while also raising the awareness level of preparedness throughout the community. Businesses, agencies, non-profits, and others can start planning now. There are a number of corporations, associations, government agencies, and others communicating with Safe America and members of the taskforce that will be participating in this worthwhile endeavor.
The campaign focuses on asking families, businesses, government, and non-profit organizations to participate in drills, such as evacuation or shelter-in-place. However there are other related preparedness activities that could equally fit. Additional information will be forthcoming in the near future. To learn about the Safe American Foundation, please go to http://www.safeamerica.org. Please note this event on your calendar – “On 09/11, Drill Down for Safety Campaign” and share with others about them participating. Here is an idea that all American’s can do to celebrate our commitment to securing our homes, communities, and the nation.
If your organization or partnership group wants to participate or learn more, please contact Brit Weber.
Profile of the Disaster Recovery Business Alliance (DRBA)
We recognize organizations that embrace public/private partnerships for joint crisis management. Located in Evansville, Indiana representing five counties in the southwest portion of the state is the Disaster Recovery Business Alliance (DRBA) and its sister organization, the Disaster Resistant Community (DRC). In 1998, a workshop co-sponsored by the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium and the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) led to local businesses forming an alliance to mitigate the impact of disasters and to develop disaster recovery initiatives. Shortly thereafter, IBHS awarded these groups the nation’s first “Showcase Community” which was followed by FEMA designating the area as a “Project Impact Community”.
Currently, both DRBA and DRC are operating out of the same office but with slightly different responsibilities. The DRBA’s objectives are:
DRBA provides guidance on hazard and risk assessment, education and awareness, hazard mitigation, business resumption, and business and community recovery through bi-monthly meetings, seminars, workshops, tabletop exercises, business continuity training, and their annual Disaster Preparedness Conference. In talking with Christine Martin, Executive Director she shared with me that they were the first location in the state to provide CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) training for a business. Martin, like many others in the nation who have a role in public/private partnerships is always looking for other groups or organizations with similar goals to share ideas and information. To learn more about DRBA and DRC, please go to http://www.swidrcc.org.
Our thanks to Peter Laz, Senior Consultant, Forsythe Solutions Group who put us in contact with Christine Martin and DRBA/DRC.
A Small Town Loses Businesses but is Rebuilding
On March 6, 2009 in southwest Montana a fire started in downtown Whitehall, a tiny town of 1,000 people. Eventually the fire was put out, but not until after it had destroyed or damaged a number of businesses. On April 8th at the local Chamber, an update was provided to business owners, government representatives, and many community citizens:
Most of the businesses are continuing operations at different locations. Wanda Freman from Whitehall Drug reported that the west wall of the smoke-damaged store was deemed sound and she will now concentrate on cleaning the inventory. The store’s pharmacy moved to North Division (across from the Senior Center). Jane Bowman of Jane & Gabi’s Legion Street Grille reported that the Grille was destroyed but she and co-owner Gabi Hall are still catering a few community events, including the Jefferson Valley Sportsman Association Banquet held last month. On April 26 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Bowman and Hall plan to cater a benefit breakfast at the Whitehall Community Center with proceeds going to the Whitehall Relief Fund. Deb Dulaney of Cottage Floral has relocated to 105 First Street West. Dulaney was planning to move to that new location even before the fire but hadn’t moved much out of her store before the fire ravaged her business. Dulaney was planning to open this week. Businesses that were housed in the Warmoth office building also have relocated. Mary Warmoth moved her office to the basement of the law office at the corner of Main and First streets. Harrison Engineering moved to the Education Station near the Whitehall Ledger office. D.D. Tax Service moved to the old Forest Service building. And Gwen Quesnell moved her Country Comfort Massasge Therapy business to the Jefco building on Legion Avenue. Mastel reported that the Star Theatre sustained some smoke damage and theatre owner Karen Sacry reported that the theatre’s carpets were cleaned (Whitehall Ledger, 2009, para. 1).
It does not matter whether the town is small, like Whitehall or large. Here is a group of businesses that are destroyed or damaged with services and products not available, and people uprooted from their daily tasks. Then the next step involves neighbors, businesses, government, and the community coming together to begin the task of rebuilding. However, we also know that statistically, often businesses will not survive.
As a reminder, we need to remember the importance of planning, training, and exercising before a crisis occurs that will hopefully mitigate the impact of a critical incident. At this time in our nation’s economy, many public and private sector agencies and businesses have down-sized and their priorities have changed. Take a moment to look at your plans, procedures and policies to ensure that the basic components are being met. The philosophy of partnerships is to affirm the relationships, discuss the needs with other stakeholders and to identify the resources, and lastly, validate preparedness.
Asa Hutchinson, Former Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Asa Hutchinson was the first Under Secretary for Border and Transportation at DHS and recently appeared in Detroit for a security conference that was mostly comprised of information technology companies and public agencies, such as the Michigan State Police. The Road 2 Security & Compliance conference sponsored by Compsat Technology brought in various business, institutional and agency executives to discuss security issues.
During Mr. Hutchinson’s presentation, he stated a CEO needs to know two things about his IT department: governmental regulations are growing in the information technology area, and the threat (attacks on cyber networks). Plus, he indicated that one cannot separate cyber security from physical security as the two disciplines are interdependent.
Mr. Hutchinson was talking about the importance of ensuring the flow of commerce, which is a priority within DHS. For example, many mornings he would call the U.S. Customs and Border and ask two questions: What have you found today and what is the wait time crossing the borders?
One of the last questions from the audience for Mr. Hutchinson was, “What is the single greatest threat that we face today?” His answer – apathy! The farther we get away from 09/11; the concern is that people may not think that we are still in a war against terrorism.
Recent Postings to the CIP Information Exchange Website
The
CIP Information Exchange website is a large database for public and private
sector professionals interested in homeland security, emergency preparedness,
business continuity, disaster recovery, and emergency management. It also
contains research publications, government documents, news items, and more.
To enter the ‘CIP Information Exchange’ database, please go to https://angel.msu.edu and using the drop-down menu, select Angel Guest Account. Click on ‘proceed’, and on the next webpage, enter “msu.msu” in the Angel Guest User box and “partnership” (both without quotation marks) as the password to log on. On the next page, click on Critical Incident Protocol (CIP) – Community Facilitation, which launches to the main menu.
Located in the folder "Bulletin Board - Information for all Communities" are a variety of recent postings, including:
· ASIS Organizational Resilience: Security, Preparedness, and Continuity Management
· Terrorist Recognition Handbook - A Practitioner's Manual for Predicting and Identifying Terrorist Activities
· DHS Interaction with State and Local Fusion Centers: Concept of Operations (Dec. 2008)
· Protecting our Nation’s Infrastructure
There are numerous other resources located on the website. To locate a specific topic, utilize the "search" function on the left side. On top left side click on “guide” and when the sidebar box opens, go to the bottom in the box and click on “search” and follow the directions.
Past Newsletters
If you are interested in viewing
past CIP Update newsletters, please go to www.cip.msu.edu and select "Newsletters"
from the main menu.
Closing
If you have any topics and/or
ideas for a future CIP Update newsletter, please contact Brit Weber at weberbr@msu.edu or (517) 355-2227 or other MSU staff
members. About every three weeks you will receive this newsletter via email. If
you no longer wish to be on this list, please reply to this email.
Disclaimer
The views expressed here are
those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security or Michigan State University.
Sources
Disaster Recovery Business Alliance (DRBA). (2009). Retrieved on April 09, 2009 from http://www.swidrcc.org/drba.html.
Whitehall Ledger. (2009). Retrieved on April 9, 2009 from http://whitehallmontana.org/news/index.shtm.
Brit Weber
Program
Director
CIP-Community
Facilitation Program
School
of Criminal Justice
Michigan
State University
1407
S. Harrison Rd., 335 Nisbet Bldg.
East
Lansing, MI 48823
Work:
(517) 355-2227 Cell: (517) 206-1640
weberbr@msu.edu
Please
visit our website: http://www.cip.msu.edu