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States Depend on Volunteer Responders for Natural Disasters

Governing Magazine Aug 20, 2018
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Giving Compass’ Take:

· Governing Magazine explains how the CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) program is training thousands of individuals around the county to be volunteer responders for natural disasters. 

· How is this training helping prepare communities in the case of an emergency? How do volunteers assist professional emergency responders?

· Find out how you can help with disaster relief and recovery.


Wearing goggles and a bright green vest, Brenda Burke approached the 3-foot-tall flame in a crouched position, holding a fire extinguisher at the ready.

The flame radiated heat in the cool morning air, its reflection dancing across Burke’s goggles. She got within a few feet of the flame and pressed the lever on the extinguisher, sweeping the hose back and forth until the retardant snuffed out the fire.

“Clear — coming out!” Burke yelled, and began inching away from the pluming smoke.

The fire wasn’t real — at least, it wasn’t a true emergency.

It was started in the parking lot of Napa Valley College as part of a final test for the county’s most recent class of volunteer emergency responders, who are themselves part of a growing movement across the United States. As climate change brings ever more costly and deadly natural disasters, emergency response experts say deploying thousands of trained civilians will ease the pressure on the professionals during the chaos of an earthquake, a wildfire, a flood or a blizzard.

Read the full article about volunteer responders for natural disasters by Scott Rodd at Governing Magazine.

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If you are looking for more articles and resources for Environment, take a look at these Giving Compass selections related to impact giving and Environment.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
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    Connecting Youth to Outdoors with Equity and Inclusion

    Giving Compass' Take: • This 2016 study highlights the importance of expanding access to environmental education programs to underserved youth and offers insight as to how to increase inclusion efforts across race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.  • How can environmental organizations collaborate on inclusion initiatives?  • Read more about the importance of access to environmental education.  Outdoor time promotes physical and mental health, relieves stress and anxiety, and improves social skills. We also know that time in nature is particularly important for youth development and well being. Yet young people in the U.S. spend an alarming 90% of their time indoors. While the fields of outdoor and environmental education have been striving to meet this need and help reverse this trend, the reality is that for many youth, the problem is compounded by systemic barriers. Access to programs varies by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. For example, the Outdoor Foundation reports that 70% of outdoor recreation participants are white. Underserved youth experience a range of barriers to accessing outdoor programs, including: Lack of information, not being aware of opportunities Distance and lack of transportation Cost of programs Lack of equipment Safety concerns Parental permission or support Feeling unwelcome and experiences of discrimination Lack of programming that is relevant to the target youth audience There are positive signs that the broader environmental field, including youth-serving organizations, recognizes the issue and is beginning to respond. While these are steps in the right direction, most programming in the field is provided by small, place-based organizations with limited resources and capacity. Supporting these local groups to engage underserved members of their communities is a vital priority. Leaders in the outdoor and environmental field understand that the ability to achieve their mission depends on robust outreach and meaningful engagement. Success means including everyone.  Much effort to date has focused on simply increasing participant diversity, without necessarily considering the social factors and prevailing narratives that have produced the problem to begin with.10 The central, underlying challenge as this work evolves and matures is to authentically incorporate social justice and inclusion. Read the full article about connecting youth to nature from Children and Nature Network


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