CIP Update

 

August 3, 2007

 

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 & Education Division, 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. Through the CIP Program, Michigan State University facilitates public-private partnerships for cities, counties, and regions across the nation.

 

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 33 communities in 20 states with over 2,300 participants collaborating on 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:
Allentown, PA / Annapolis, MD / Bethlehem, PA / Brooklyn, OH / Brown County, WI / Buncombe County, NC / Carroll County, MD / Casa Grande, AZ / Clark County, NV / Dallas, TX / Dane County, WI / Douglas County, KS / Evansville, IN / GCCC-St. Louis, MO / Greensboro, NC / Hoover, AL / Lake-Cook Corridor, IL / Layton, UT / Lewis & Clark County, MT / Libertyville, IL / Littleton, CO / Marquette County, MI / Milwaukee, WI / Monroe County, MI / Northampton County, PA / Norwalk, CT / Oakland County, MI / Perkiomen Valley, PA / Redmond, WA / Racine, WI / Richmond, VA / Rockville, MD / Sandy City, UT

 

CIP Program Activities 
August 16, 2007 - Buncombe County, NC  (Facilitate Tabletop Exercise)
August 30, 2007 - Dane County, WI  (Initiate CIP for Dane County, Wisconsin)

October 18, 2007 - Layton, UT (Facilitate Tabletop Exercise)

 

Welcome Lake-Cook, Illinois to the CIP Program

We would like to welcome the Lake-Cook Corridor to the CIP Program, which is a regional partnership! 

 

This new group consists of about 10 communities north of Chicago that borders a major highway along the east end of the Lake-Cook corridor.  This regional partnership ranges from Northbrook to Lake Forest to Libertyville and to Rolling Meadows.  What makes it more unique is that in 2006, MSU initiated the CIP Program in Libertyville.  Due to their proximity, they wanted to participate.  This area includes progressive communities in beautiful settings and is home to several corporate headquarters.

 

Participant organizations include the sponsors of the CIP Program, Discover Financial Services, Buffalo Grove Fire Agency and the respective communities, along with participants from Abbott, Adlai E. Stevenson High School, CDW, College of Lake County, Continental Automotive Systems, Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Department, Deerfield Police Department, Great Lakes Records Management, Guardsmark, HSBC - North America, Kraft Foods, Lake County Division of Transportation, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Libertyville Fire Department, Lincolnshire Police Department, Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District, Long Grove Fire Department, MK Business Solutions, Inc., Motorola, Northbrook Police Department, Northwest Community Hospital, Pactiv Corporation, Riverwoods Police Department, Sedgebrook, Inc., Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc., The Wealshire, U.S. Navy, Vernon Hills High School, VW Credit, Inc., W.W. Grainger, Inc., and Walgreens.

 

We are excited to have the expertise, diversity, and resources of a regional CIP Program, such as the Lake-Cook Corridor in northern Illinois that brings their commitment to creating a resilient and sustaining public/private partnership for joint managing of critical incidents.  Welcome!

 

Practical and Academic Resource on Partnerships for Joint Crisis Management

Partnerships between the public and private sector are not new, and the majority follows a specific model.  Normally, these partnerships are based upon on a singular line of interest.  For example, most partnerships are usually created for joint economic reasons, such as a local public economic development agency with their business community.  In addition, there are partnerships within an industry, such as construction companies, which partner with state or federal OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) agencies.  Further, law enforcement and security have embraced these partnerships for years, as well as the health industry.  What are rare and unique are those partnerships that include diverse public and private sector stakeholders from a community, such as the CIP staff facilitates.

 

There are resources on partnerships, such as the Critical Incident Protocol - A Public and Private Partnership, a 42-page how to guide for public and private sectors on how to create and sustain these partnerships.  This publication was designed for all levels and was created with input from corporate, public sector, and scholar executives, managers, and professionals.  Since 2001, thousands of these booklets were distributed across the United States, and the publication is currently under revision to be released within the next year.

 

MSU continues to receive inquires on the obtaining the publication, which is available on the internet at www.cip.msu.edu.  Unfortunately, there are only a few hard copies left.  Recently, we received an inquiry from the University of North Carolina-Pembroke that will be utilizing it in one of their academic courses.  Additionally, MSU uses it in their Public-Private Partnerships in Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security on-line course.

 

Feel free to share this publication with others.

 

Building a Disaster-Resistant University (FEMA)

In the CIP Program and other MSU programs, we collaborate with universities, colleges, and school districts on many different topics.  The catastrophic event at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg brought to the fore front concerns on campus security.  Academic institutions are one of the important stakeholders within communities that educate students, conduct research, and provide outreach programs, in addition to serving as an excellent resource to the community.

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) produced a 55-page guide based upon the experiences of some universities and colleges to provide a model to create a disaster-resilient educational institution.  It offers basic information, as well as ideas, suggestions, and best practices on identifying resources, forming an advisory committee, identifying hazards, assessing risks, developing a mitigation plan, implementing plans, and evaluating programs (FEMA, 2003).

 

Feel free to download a copy from http://www.fema.gov/institution/dru.shtm.

 

Public - Private Partnership for the Financial Industry

In past 'CIP Update' newsletters and when working with new communities, we profile an organization that provides leadership in the nation for the financial industry.  ChicagoFIRST is a dynamic non-profit organization that incorporates the public-private partnership model.  In July 2003, ChicagoFIRST formed through mutual cooperation of Chicago's premier financial institutions to address homeland security issues, create partnerships with other stakeholders, and collaborate with government institutions on evacuations, sheltering, credentialing, and other emergency preparedness planning initiatives.

 

The ChicagoFIRST model has been replicated or is in the development stages of about 15 major metropolitan cities across the nation and the concept continues to spread.  ChicagoFIRST recently announced the RPCfirst initiative, which is a council of regional partnerships.  RPCfirst is a collective group of public-private partnerships that have formed across the United States to enhance the resiliency of the financial sector to plan for, respond to, and recover from the impact of man-made and/or natural disasters.

 

On April 20, 2007, RPCfirst held its first annual meeting, which was hosted by the U.S. Department of Treasury in Washington D.C.  Topics of discussion included the DHS national credentialing system, national public/private partnership structure, and much more.  According to Brian Tishuk, Executive Director of ChicagoFIRST, "Recent events and tragedies have reminded us that things happen unexpectedly.  The disaster you plan for is not the disaster you get."  (ChicagoFIRST, 2007, Press Room: ChicagoFIRST Announces Formation of RPCfirst).  To learn more about ChicagoFIRST, go to www.chicago.org.

 

Next Steps in the CIP - Community Facilitation Program

Through the CIP Program, MSU facilitates partnerships between the public sector (police, fire, EMS, health, emergency management, and others) and the private sector (businesses and non-profit organizations with representatives from security, safety, EHS, business continuity, risk management, operations, information technology, facility management, and others) for joint management of critical incidents.  This program is provided free to cities, counties, and regions across the nation. 

 

During the initial workshop with each community, the CIP staff asks the participants which items should their community discuss in the future or what are the next steps for the respective group?

 

Our most recent CIP Program was initiated on a regional basis for the Lake-Cook Corridor just north of Chicago.  At the end of the workshop, the participants offered the following next steps for their group:

·         Put on trainings quarterly

·         Put on exercises quarterly

·         Develop an awareness campaign

·         Create a steering committee

·         Involve area Chamber of Commerces in the Partnership

·         Create an email "alert" system for area participants

·         Collaborate with faith-based organizations

·         Develop a unified command structure for guidance to members

·         Encourage new people/organizations to attend future meetings

·         Develop a credentialing program for businesses

 

Additionally, there were other suggestions as well, but these give you an idea on the overarching points of interest by partnership communities who work together for joint crisis management.

 

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, government documents, news items, and more.

 

To enter the CIP Information Exchange website, please go to https://angel.msu.edu and enter “msu.msu@angel” in the User/NetID and “partnership” (both without quotation marks) as the password to log in. On the next page, please click on CIP, which launches the main menu.

 

Located in the folder "Bulletin Board - Information for all Communities" are a variety of postings, including the following:

·        Achieving NERC CIP Compliance (Continuity Central)

·        How to Communicate in a Crisis (CSO Update)

·        Vehicle Borne Improvise Explosive Devices (EMR-ISAC)

·        Lessons Learned – Issues Raised on the Virginia Tech University Tragedy

 

There are numerous other resources located on the website. To locate a specific topic, utilize the "search" function.  

 

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

FEMA.  (08/2003).  Building a Disaster-Resistant University.  U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency.  Retrieved on July 31, 2007 from http://www.fema.gov/institution/dru.shtm.

ChicagoFIRST.  (2007).  Press Release:  ChicagoFIRST Announces Formation of RPCfirst.  Retrieved on August 3, 2007 from https://www.chicagofirst.org/press/2007/press_20070607.jsp.

 

 

Brit Weber

School of Criminal Justice

Michigan State University

1407 S. Harrison Rd., 335 Nisbet Bldg.

East Lansing, MI 48823