National Service Chief Views Florida Hurricane Response and Announces Two Disaster Preparedness Grants

$1.2 million grant to help people with disabilities and language barriers prepare for disasters, another 328,000 grant supports Volunteer Centers in mobilizing citizen disaster response

(Tallahassee, Fla.) – After getting a first-hand look at hurricane damaged areas of Florida today, Corporation for National and Community Service CEO David Eisner announced two new grants to help the state mobilize volunteers in response to future emergencies and disasters.

Eisner announced the two Special Volunteer Program grants at a press briefing at the Tallahassee Emergency Operations Center after meeting with Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Both grants are for Volunteer Florida, the state commission on service and volunteering, which also has been designated by the Governor to coordinate the activities of volunteers and donations during times of disaster. FEMA has declared the Florida hurricane response the largest voluntary agency mobilization in the history of U.S. natural disasters.

“I am delighted to be able to announce these grants in person after looking at the incredible job that Volunteer Florida and national service have done in the state to respond to the hurricanes,” said Eisner. “Although these grants were not directly in response to the hurricane, they will help build Florida’s long-term disaster response infrastructure.”

The first $408,000 grant represents the initial year of funding for a three year, $1.2 million initiative to engage the skills and experience of Florida’s senior population to provide critical disaster preparedness information to people with disabilities and language barriers. There are 3.5 million people in Florida with disabilities and nearly one-quarter of the population speaks a language other than English at home. Volunteer Florida will select partners via a competitive application process and will award sub-grants to 16 project sites, half of which will work with people with disabilities and the other which will support cultural communities. Each of the 16 project sites will recruit at least 50 senior volunteers at each site for a total of 800 volunteers. The volunteers will translate disaster preparedness materials; serve on the Citizen Information/Rumor Control hotlines; develop presentations in different languages; help coordinate disaster mitigation projects such as installing storm shutters; and train persons with disabilities to develop family disaster plans.

The other grant announced today totals $328,000 and is the final installment of a three-year $1 million grant to allow Volunteer Florida to continue empowering Volunteer Centers throughout the state to mobilize seniors and veterans to serve in local homeland security initiatives. The Volunteer Centers engage volunteers in Community Emergency Response Teams, helping small businesses become more disaster resistant; provide security for community events, and more. Volunteer Centers have played an important role in Hurricane Charley response as volunteer reception staging areas where volunteers get training and assignments to assist victims.

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Charley and Frances in Florida prompted the Corporation, which administers the AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America programs, to muster as much assistance as possible to the state. More than 600 national service volunteers have been deployed to provide both direct services and leverage the support of thousands of additional volunteers. The Corporation is working with State and Federal disaster officials to deploy even more volunteers as needed Examples of national service response include:

• 128 AmeriCorps*NCCC members, who are working out of Red Cross shelters and delivering relief supplies to Red Cross centers throughout the affected areas.
• 42 State AmeriCorps members, who are volunteering with Christian Contractors Association and the Army Corps of Engineers in placing tarps on damaged roofs.
• 12 AmeriCorps*VISTA members from Red Cross of North Central Florida, who are training community volunteers in CPR and First Aid and who are engaged in damage assessments related to sink holes and flooding.
• 57 senior volunteers with City of Orlando Special Volunteer Program, who assisted with staffing a Citizen Information hotline, shelter operations, and distributing ice after the storm. Many of these senior volunteers served 24- hour shifts during the storm.
• RSVP of Seminole County closed offices to set up a volunteer reception center to register and process volunteers and assist in recovery efforts in Sanford, FL. Volunteers are manning the Emergency Operation Center, and senior volunteers are working around the clock to handle citizen calls and assist special needs clients who did not evacuate during the storms.
• Youth in in Learn and Serve America programs like ManaTEENS are helping with food and donation drives, assisting with animal evacuations, and helping at Volunteer Reception Centers placing unaffiliated volunteers in De Soto County.

“We are ready and willing to assist the state in any way that we can,” Eisner said.

The Special Volunteer Program grants were the result of a Congressional appropriation of $5 million following the September 11 attacks. Congress doubled this funding in the fiscal 2004 appropriation, allowing the Corporation to support additional projects. The Special Volunteer Program grants are part of a larger Homeland Security initiative established by the Corporation in July 2002 to engage AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps in public safety, public health, emergency response, and disaster preparedness to make the nation more secure.

The Corporation has a long history of engaging volunteers in public safety, public health, and disaster relief. For the past decade, AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers have worked closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross to respond to dozens of federally declared disasters, including hundreds of AmeriCorps members and Senior Corps volunteers who are currently assisting victims of Hurricanes Charley and Frances in Florida.

The Corporation for National and Community Service provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country through three programs: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. Together with the USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation is working to build a culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility in America. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.org.

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