June 21, 2008
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 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.
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 39 communities in 23 states with over 3,200 participants
establishing 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
Indiana: Evansville
Kansas: Douglas County
Maryland: Annapolis, Carroll County, Rockville
Michigan: Marquette County, Monroe, Oakland County
Missouri/Illinois: Gateway Citizen Corps
Coalition, St. Louis
Montana: Lewis & Clark
County
Nevada: Clark County
North
Carolina:
Buncombe County, Greensboro
Ohio: Brooklyn
Pennsylvania: Allentown, Bethlehem,
Northampton County, Perkiomen Valley
South Carolina: Horry County
Texas: Dallas
Utah: Layton, Sandy City
Virginia:
Arlington
County, Richmond
Washington: Redmond
Wisconsin: Brown County, Dane County, Eau Claire County,
Milwaukee, Racine County, Superior
CIP Program
Activities
June 28, 2008: Hoover, AL (Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)
July 9, 2008: Winnebago County, WI (Initiating the CIP Program)
July 10, 2008: Outagamie County, WI (Initiating the CIP Program)
August 1, 2008: Columbia, SC (Initiating the CIP Program)
September 14/15, 2008: Atlanta, GA (ASIS Conference)
October 7, 2008: Dane County, WI (Facilitating Tabletop Exercise)
October 21, 2008: Atlanta, GA (IEDC Conference)
October 26, 2008: Richmond, VA (EPA Conference)
Public-Private Partnership Deliverables
With the flooding across the Midwest that caused devastation, including the loss of homes, businesses, and communities – then, now is the time to explore the resiliency of our policies, plans, and procedures for crisis management. Therefore, the majority of this edition focuses upon the outcomes and deliverables when businesses, agencies, and non-governmental organizations collaborate on preparing for, responding to, and recovering from the impact of man-made and/or natural disasters.
In building or enhancing public-private partnerships around the country, the following observation is continually noted through the CIP Program: A community that pulls together will be more resourceful and sustainable!
Conditions for Success
To ensure we achieve our mission, whether delivering a product or providing a service to the public or private sector, there are essential components to maximize success.
The ‘Private-Public Partnership of Dane County’ in Madison, WI, an organization comprised of businesses, agencies, and non-governmental organizations, states the following conditions are necessary for success:
o Create a bond of trust and demonstrate openness
o Work as a team for consensus and consultation
o Respect the organizational mission of each partner
o Respect the expectations and limits of each partner
o Share power, risks, and responsibilities
o Invest jointly in resources
o Encourage commitment and permanency (sustainability) from the stakeholders (Private-Public Partnership of Dane County, 2008).
The CIP staff maintains that in order for an organization to be successful, there are two broad conditions: leadership commitment and a clear mission or vision.
Why Should the Public Sector Partner with the Business Community?
Here are some of the reasons why government entities partner with the private sector for joint crisis management:
o To create understanding of private sector risks, needs, resources, and expertise
o Business losses have significant adverse effects upon the community
o The private sector shares resources (people, property, or information) with the public sector to mitigate the impact of critical incidents
o The public sector can enhance the level of private sector preparedness, which leads to more efficient use of public sector resources
o To establish communication and decision-makers “prior” to a critical incident
o To assist the public sector with their Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) by including the private sector into existing plans
o To strengthen relationships with the private sector
o To build community resiliency and goodwill
o The partnerships can lead to other potential coalitions (e.g. infrastructure, economic, education, health, and others)
Why Should the Private Sector Partner with Government Entities?
The business community commits to partnering with government agencies for joint crisis management for the following reasons:
o To create understanding of the limitations and responsibilities of the public sector, which clarifies private sector assumptions of the public sector
o To enhance the private sector’s level of emergency preparedness
o To increase the public sector’s understanding of the importance of the bottom line philosophy of the business community
o To educate the public sector on the importance and dynamics of “business recovery”
o To create understanding of the public sector’s long-term goals, which assists the business community with strategic planning
o To promote involvement in the public sector’s establishment of priorities
o To create a forum for collaboration, communication, and cooperation
o To build community resiliency and goodwill
Broad Deliverables for Public/Private Partnering
What are the overall goals, objectives or reasons for public-private collaboration?
o To create a forum for collaboration, communication, and cooperation
o To establish a template for “joint” planning, exercising, and training
o Emphasize mitigation to prevent critical incidents and/or to reduce impact
o Partnering leads to increased trust, improved communication, higher problem-solving, and larger networks
Activities from Partnership Communities
At times there may be challenges when the CIP staff works with communities to develop partnerships, due to the various levels of expertise and information. Further, there are different professionals representing many facets of the public and private sectors.
In the CIP workshops, we provide a template for collaboration and sharing information on the importance of assessing risks using the Incident Command System/Unified Command and other aspects of homeland security, emergency management, business continuity, and crisis management. Instead of directing small, medium, and large, complex communities on a particular area of focus, we solicit input regarding the opportunities to partner; identifying new resources to mitigate critical incidents; the challenges that inhibit partnerships; and identify other reasons for enhancing the partnership. In addition, we seek the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the participants in the workshop willing to share with others the areas of training, exercising, and planning that are needed by each stakeholder.
Listed below are a few ideas, needs, and suggestions that emerged from the CIP workshops.
o Create a centralized database of businesses and resources willing to share specialized skills, equipment, warehouses, facilities, etc.
o Identify which companies provide evacuation shelters and resources for their employees
o Create a business resource center for disaster recovery
o Institute local legislation that will temporarily suspend ordinances during times of disasters, such as permits, procurement, etc.
o Volunteer a business during slow periods to use for fire or police response drills
o Create a forum for businesses to share recovery plans
o Create a website that focuses on debris management, removal, and related information
o Assist the private sector to push local, state, and federal legislators, officials, and administrators to create policies to minimize costs related to critical incident management
o Provide the Department of Homeland Security’s Business Ready program to the business community
o Use mentoring programs to bring other businesses into the partnerships
o Research financial incentives on why businesses and public agencies should partner on crisis management
o Create multiple processes to reach out to small businesses on enhancing their level of emergency preparedness
o Work through the local Chamber of Commerce on crisis management
o Create a database of local associations, groups, and experts that can be used for preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery
o Ensure that first responders’ families have preparedness plans in place when their first responder is gone for significant periods of time
o Coordinate with developers and associations on preparedness and response activities
o Use fire prevention, faith-based, and other groups to promote partnerships
Actually, the above list may vary depending on the needs and capabilities of the communities. During the CIP workshops, these suggestions and ideas provide the agenda for the respective community to use as a guide in building the public/private partnership.
How Effective is a Public/Private Partnership through the CIP Program?
The CIP Program is funded by federal grants awarded to Michigan State University through the Training & Exercise Integration/Training Operations (TEI/TO), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The public and private sector leaders from the communities that participate in the CIP Program provide to the CIP staff examples or outcomes on how the partnership assists their organizations. However, Michigan State University also administers a survey and an evaluation to measure the program effects, which is provided to TEI/TO.
For example, the ‘bottom line’ improvement between public and private sectors for joint crisis manage increases on average by 30%, when communities leverage their public-private collaboration. However, it is important to understand that this percentage only reflects certain components that are measured and provides a ‘snapshot’ of the community partnership.
Some additional concepts that are measured include the perceived importance of partnership building, identifying resources for mitigation, assessing risks to organizations, sharing of resources, expertise, and information, and along with developing processes for partnership sustainability. The social capital survey indicates a:
o 34% increase in joint public/private partnerships for developing response plans
o 33% increase in participation in joint meetings focusing on reductions of risks
o 29% increase in participation in joint public/private exercising
o 23% increase in transfer technology between public and private sectors
o 21% increase in participating in joint incident command post during a critical incident
Additionally, the ‘attitudes’ of various public and private sector participants toward other community groups (e.g. police, fire, security, media, etc.) is also measured. The survey results (at the aggregate level) indicate there is an increase in the areas of contact, trust, understanding, cooperation, and empathy in communities that participated in the CIP program.
What is the bottom line for building a public-private partnership for joint crisis management? We answered that in the beginning, “A community that pulls together will be more resourceful and resilient!”
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 website, please go to https://angel.msu.edu and click on Angel Guest Account from the drop-down menu. Click on proceed and in the next webpage box, enter “msu.msu@angel” and “partnership” (both without quotation marks) as the password. On the next page, click on Critical Incident Protocol (CIP) – Community Facilitation, which launches the main menu.
Located in the folder "Bulletin Board - Information for all Communities" are a variety of recent postings, including:
o Debris Management – Planning for Natural Disasters
o Resource Guide for Critical Infrastructure Protection (ASIS)
o Strengthening the Use of Risk Management Principles in Homeland Security
o The Community Toolbox (Extensive Website for Building Community Resiliency)
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.
Source
Private – Public Partnership of Dane County. (2008). Brochure. Dane County Office of Emergency Management, Madison, Wisconsin.
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