During his 2002 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush called upon every American to commit at least two years of their lives - the equivalent of 4,000 hours - to the service of others. Through the USA Freedom Corps, he wants to help every American answer that call to service by strengthening and expanding service opportunities to protect our homeland, to support our communities, and to extend American compassion around the world.

Coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Citizen Corps is the component of the USA Freedom Corps that focuses on opportunities for people across the country to participate in a range of measures to make their families, homes, and communities safer from the threats of terrorism, crime, and disasters of all kinds. Citizen Corps also brings together a community's first responders, firefighters, emergency health care providers, law inforcement, and emergency managers with its volunteer resources.

Citizen Corps helps people across America take a more active role in crime prevention, support the emergency medical community, and be better trained in a wide range of emergency preparedness and disaster response activities. The events of the past few years have motivated many Americans to want to help others more and to strengthen their communities to be safer, stronger, and better prepared, and to answer the President's call to serve.

Utah Citizen Corps Mission:

To harness the power of every individual through education, training, and volunteer service to make communities safer, stronger, and better prepared. We all have a role in hometown security.

Utah Citizen Corps Goals:

• Increase knowledge and skills through training and education, producing stronger citizens and safer communities.
• Provide a unique opportunity for people to join with friends and neighbors, while establishing a pool of volunteers who will supplement first resonders in the event of a disaster, facilitating the saving of lives and property. With the added support of citizen volunteers, emergency service providers have more time to fulfill their highly skilled responsibilities to make our communities safer, stronger, and better prepared.
• Bring together leaders from all relevant sectors (business, faith-based, schools, utilities, local government, civic groups, 1st responders, law enforcement, health care providers, citizens, etc.) to manage exisiting volunteer resources, leverage mutually supportive endeavors among the respresented groups, and to help direct the overall local plans to implement preparedness, response, and recovery issues within the community.

Personal Responsibility:

Utah's emergency personnel are the some of the best in the country, but there are simply not enough of them to go around. We need individuals and families to bear the responsibility for their own safety and the safety of loved ones during those first critical 3 - 4 days following a disaster.

Be Prepared * Be Trained * Be a Volunteer

Be Ready Utah!

June is.....

This year's Home Safety Month campaign theme - Hands on Home Safety - asks the public to take some simple hands-on steps to create a safer home environment from the five leading causes of home injury - falls, poisonings, fires and burns, choking/suffocation and drowning. We're offering turnkey resources to help families nationwide learn how to be "hands-on" with proper home safety practices. Click on picture for a "virtual home safety tour"

 

Important links:

CERT Conference Minutes - February, 2008 UCAB Powerpoint from CERT Conference

 

Links:

Utah Special Needs Registry This registration website allows residents with special needs an opportrunity to provide information to emergency responder agencies so those agencies can better plan to serve them in a disaster or other emergency situations.	Become A VISTA Volunteer! You can make a Difference! Contact Lani Nisbet Utah Vista Program Manager 801-538-8606or lnisbet@utah.gov	National Citizen Corps Newsletters Learn what is happening across the nation as Citizen Corps Councils and Partners work to prepare communities for all hazards by providing information, training, and volunteer opportunities, and by integrating volunteers into emergency planning and preparation.
Low Temperatures are a Pet Hazard Temperatures along the Wasatch Front are plunging into the teens, and the Humane Society of Utah again reminds the community that this can greatly affect pets.	Earthquakes in Utah The cause of earthquakes was stated correctly in 1760 by British engineer John Michell, one of the first fathers of seismology, in a memoir where he wrote that earthquakes and the waves of energy that they make are caused by "shifting masses of rock miles below the surface."	Ready Your Business Workshops A no-cost workshop series dedicated to assist in Utah's Private Sector in developing their Business Continuity Plans. Every business should have a plan...it just makes good business sense!

Want to protect yourself and your family from inappropriate and destructive material? Learn more at www.strengthenthefamily.net

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