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EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT | Box 4117 | Gaithersburg, MD 20885-4117
240-777-2300 (voice) | 240-777-2345 (fax)

Community Preparedness

Whether you're part of a neighborhood, a faith-based organization, or a civic group, community organizations play an important role in emergency preparedness. To help your community better prepare for emergencies, take the following steps:

• Determine how specific hazards will affect your community
  
• Determine which members of the community may need extra assistance during an emergency
  
• Take an inventory of skils and other assets within your community that could be useful in an 
  emergency
  
• Educate community members about the need for family preparedness during meetings or through newsletters and listservs

For more information and resources for your community:

FEMA's Community Preparedness Principles demonstrate how communities can get involved on the local level

Citizen Corps Councils allow community groups a place to share resources and best practices locally around volunteering and community education

The Corporation for National and Community Service's Community Preparedness Toolkit at Serve.gov.

                          
Are you interested in having someone speak to your community about family and community preparedness? Please fill out the request form and someone from the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security will contact you to find out more about your community needs. 

Maryland Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) is an umbrella organization of diverse disaster-relief agencies that include faith-based group, non-profits, governmetal departments, and NGOs.