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E-News

Vol. 1, Issue 3 (April 9, 2002)

Special Presidential E-News Edition

President Bush Spotlights Citizen Corps in Tennessee Event

On April 8, 2002, the President traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee for Citizen Corps to highlight the progress being made in communities around the country involving Americans in service activities that make communities safer and better prepared for emergencies. As the President and local government leaders from around the country stressed, volunteer participation and innovation can do a great deal to help our communities mount effective responses to threats of terrorism, crime or other disasters.

What the President Announced:

The President was joined in Knoxville by fourteen local government leaders from around the country who have committed to coordinating, expanding and creating volunteer opportunities through Citizen Corps. The President announced the following in Knoxville:

  • More than 40 local leaders in cities and counties around the country have committed to launch Citizen Corps Councils.
  • America's mayors, local government leaders and governors will receive the comprehensive Citizen Corps: A Guide for Local Officials. This guide will instruct them on how to start Citizen Corps Councils in their communities to build upon their existing crime prevention, disaster preparedness and public health response activities through volunteer service. (To download copy of the guide, see the link below.)
  • To support the Citizen Corps programs and the creation of Citizen Corps Councils, the President has requested $50 million for Citizen Corps in his supplemental budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2002. He has already requested $230 million for the Citizen Corps initiative in his fiscal year 2003 budget.
  • The Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal agencies have begun examining ways to include Citizen Corps activities as a factor in awarding grants to local and state governments from existing and proposed emergency preparedness and response programs.

News You Can Use: Efforts Around the Country
While in Knoxville, President Bush highlighted that city's Citizens' Police Academy to illustrate how volunteers can help their local first-responder agencies in times of emergencies. The Knoxville police academy has trained more than 600 citizens in the past seven years, each of whom volunteered for 30 hours of police and emergency training. A few other examples of programs around the country include:

  • Orlando, Florida: Through the "Mayor's Matching Grant Program," seven Orlando, Florida neighborhood associations have created Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and purchased emergency equipment.
  • Placentia, California: The call for Citizen Corps volunteers has already gone out in Placentia, California, where they have stepped up recruiting for their Neighborhood Watch, Community Emergency Response Team, Volunteers in Police Service, Police Explorers and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services programs.
  • Tucson, Arizona: Two weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Mayor Robert Walkup started "Operation Safe Tucson," which now serves as the local Citizen Corps Council.
  • Washington, D.C.: Mayor Anthony Williams has committed Washington, D.C.'s Commission on National and Community Service to develop its Citizen Corps Council. The Commission has already convened a meeting with local volunteer organizations and local officials to begin their planning activities, including their plans for Medical Reserve Corps and Volunteers in Police Service programs.
  • Los Angeles, California: The City of Los Angeles, California's Citizen Corps Council will be working with a number of local programs, including their Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Neighborhood Watch program and SafetyNET program. In 1985, Los Angeles developed what is now a national model for the CERT program as a way of offering basic training in disaster preparedness and rescue skills in the event of an earthquake. SafetyNET is the city's volunteer neighborhood emergency training programs.
Ask Citizen Corps

How can I obtain a copy of Citizen Corps: A Guide for Local Officials?
Everything you need to know about Citizen Corps Councils can be found in the newly released Citizen Corps Guide for Local Officials, available at http://www.citizencorps.gov/councils/. Don't let the title fool you: councils need to include participation from volunteer, community service and faith-based groups as well as elected officials and first responders. As a start (after you read the Guide) contact your mayor's office or work with a group that shares your interest in volunteering to find out what is happening in your area.

What's Happening At...

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) initiative was the subject of a meeting held on March 19 at the Department of Health and Human Services for representatives of numerous professional and volunteer organizations. Among issues raised by the participants were the importance of community-based planning and organization, because one model will not fit all situations; the need to include volunteers who may still be in health professions training, as well as retirees; the importance of supplementing and supporting -- not disrupting -- effective systems that are already in place; the importance of appropriate training for volunteers; and liability, licensure and competency. A guide is being prepared now to help local communities establish their own citizen volunteer MRC.

Department of Justice
Word is in from Volunteers In Police Service (VIPS) programs around the country about work volunteers are doing to support law enforcement agencies, thus freeing police officers to be on the front lines. These volunteer support activities include assisting with traffic control; impounding and storing marked abandoned vehicles; booking property; transporting department vehicles; enforcing handicapped parking; and processing paperwork.

If you want to know how you can enhance homeland security through your Neighborhood Watch Program, check out the website, http://www.usaonwatch.org. Included in the weekly news updates and information on that site is an article, "Enhancing Homeland Security Locally with Neighborhood Watch." To send information about your neighborhood watch program -or read about what others are doing-click on "Keep Us Informed" at http://www.usaonwatch.org. The Department of Justice is building on the successes of these programs to develop the national training and technical assistance program.

Visit the websites of Citizen Corps partners: Department of Justice, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, USA Freedom Corps