Getting Started
Initial Meetings
Creating a Citizen Corps Council or asking an existing organizing group to expand their mission and
take on this responsibility is an easy first step to making Citizen Corps an active part of your community. You may want to
hold one or more brainstorming sessions, where council members can collectively identify goals for your community and develop
a better understanding of the risks your community faces. Topics that the Citizen Corps Council might address can
include: As you begin to assess your needs and resources, you should work toward developing a clear mission
statement and an action plan. Your Citizen Corps Council action plan could include short and long-term goals, a community
communication system for emergency warnings, and a community mobilization plan with a specific plan outlining how to meet
these goals. Short-term goals could include having working smoke alarms and emergency kits in every household by the time school starts
again in the fall, having each business in the community practice their evacuation plans within a month, training all senior
high school students in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), or having Neighborhood Watch groups in all neighborhoods of the
community. You may also want to target specific groups within your community, such as people living in high-risk areas, the
youth population, and Americans with disabilities or disadvantaged populations. It will be important for you to set meaningful, attainable goals, to make them public, to meet them, and then to recognize
and celebrate your success. It will be important for you to link local activities to the national effort. Although you may have
an existing organization take on this responsibility and not create a new Citizen Corps Council, it is critical that all
activities at the local level that encompass citizen participation in emergency preparedness, response capability training,
crime prevention, and skill-based volunteer programs related to community safety be identified with Citizen Corps. A great way to get started is to have a public event to recognize the activities that volunteers, first responders, and
residents in your community are already doing that relate to Citizen Corps. Explain that there is a new national initiative
to link all these activities and to introduce other activities to promote personal and community safety. Make a commitment
to help each resident in the community participate in Citizen Corps. Citizen participation can include: The goal is to include everyone in your community. One of your first steps to support Citizen Corps is to promote the
initiative and to expand the range of opportunities available to the residents of your community. Other opportunities for
Citizen Corps volunteers are listed in Appendix C. There is no standard way to approach promoting your local efforts; each community is encouraged to be creative and to use
the Citizen Corps message to promote participation. Your community may host community-wide Citizen Corps community
preparedness days to challenge everyone in the community to put together a home emergency preparedness kit. Another may put
the Citizen Corps logo on appropriate local websites. Another may use the local media outlets to promote local Citizen Corps
activities and to educate the public. Another may focus on the school system to disseminate information. And some
communities will do all of these and more. A critical part of making Citizen Corps a success is building a network of communities that are
committed to engaging their citizens in making their neighborhoods safer, stronger, and better prepared for all situations.
To facilitate this network, FEMA will provide a directory of Citizen Corps Councils. Through this directory you will be able
to contact other Citizen Corps Councils throughout the nation and have a direct exchange of information with your
counterparts. This directory will also enable your state and federal partners to contact you with updated information as the
programs evolve nationally and to collect innovative local practices for national promotion. As soon as you have designated a group to coordinate Citizen Corps in your community, please log on to
Developing a Citizen Corps Action Plan
National Citizen Corps Programs in Your Community
The current five federal Citizen Corps programs will be implemented nationwide by August 2002.
Right now, every community can start Neighborhood Watch groups. Guidance on how to begin is available from your local sheriffs department, your local police department, or from the National Sheriffs Association. (Visit the National Sheriffs Association at
www.usaonwatch.org for more information.) A strong network of Neighborhood Watch groups can also serve as a delivery system for other Citizen Corps materials, such as emergency communications, Community Emergency Response Team training, or a family preparedness checklist.The NCPC has created a family preparedness checklist in partnership with Citizen Corps that is available on the Citizen Corps website at
www.citizencorps.gov or by calling NCPC at 1-800-WE-PREVENT (1-800-937-7383).The Community Emergency Response Team training program is a 20-hour course, typically conducted over a seven-week period. Training sessions cover disaster preparedness, fire suppression, basic disaster medical services, light search and rescue, team organization, and a module on protection against terrorist threats.
The training also includes a disaster simulation in which participants practice skills that they learned throughout the course. Your local fire and emergency medical services departments (EMS) may have a key role in bringing CERT to your community. Many states already have experienced CERT trainers who could come to your community and provide training. Soon, every state will have this capability.
VIPS is scheduled for a nationwide launch in spring 2002 and the Medical Reserve Corps guidance will be launched nationwide in summer 2002. Operation TIPS will be up and running in ten pilot communities in late summer 2002, with a national rollout to follow.