Avagene Moore: Welcome to the EIIP Virtual Forum! Amy Sebring, my partner/associate, and I are pleased you could join us today! Avagene Moore: Today's topic is "www.eprepared.org - A Tool to Encourage and Facilitate Volunteerism." If you have not read the background materials, including our speaker's bio, please do so after today's session. Avagene Moore: For the benefit of any first-timers, we will begin today's session with a formal presentation followed by an opportunity for your questions. Avagene Moore: Please note that our speaker is using some slides in his presentation. When you see a blue Web address (URL), you can click on it and the referenced Web page should appear in a browser window. Avagene Moore: After the first one, the browser window may not automatically come to the top, so you may need to bring it forward by clicking on a button at the status bar at the bottom of your screen. Avagene Moore: We will give you time to read / view the slides before going on with formal remarks. Please come back to the chat screen so you can keep up with our speaker. Avagene Moore: We will provide further instructions on the protocol for asking questions or commenting just before we begin the Q&A part of our session. However, it is wise to jot down your questions or comments as we go along. Amy Sebring: (if you cannot access the slides, they will e posted later) Avagene Moore: Please do not send private messages to our speaker or the moderator, as we will be busy with the presentation. If you need assistance, you may send a private message to Amy Sebring. Avagene Moore: The transcript of today's session will be available late this afternoon or early this evening -- just check back on our home page. Avagene Moore: It is a pleasure to welcome Burt Wallrich back to the EIIP Virtual Forum. Burt is a regular participant in the Virtual Forum and has graciously spoken to our cyber-audience before. Avagene Moore: Burt Wallrich is now President of Emergency Network Builders LLC. Emergency Network Builders LLC provides consulting services to local emergency management agencies that are seeking to foster a comprehensive community preparedness network that includes local non-profit and faith-based organizations as well as government, national relief organizations, and trained volunteers. Please see Burt's bio for more of his career background. Avagene Moore: Burt, we are pleased to have you back with us today. I now turn the floor to you. Burt Wallrich: I am glad to have this opportunity today to tell you about a public website that is being created by The Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) - http://www.eprepared.org . Burt Wallrich: Eprepared.org uses innovative map-based technology to: Burt Wallrich: * Encourage individuals to become trained and affiliated disaster volunteers... Burt Wallrich: * Link potential disaster volunteers with agencies that can use their skills and their desire to be helpful.. Burt Wallrich: * Assist organizations and Citizen Corps entities to become more effective in their disaster work by helping to build their volunteer base, and... Burt Wallrich: * Reduce spontaneous post-disaster volunteerism and give authorities tools to use in dealing with spontaneous volunteers. Burt Wallrich: I say that the site "is being created" because the project is not quite finished. However, it is about 75% complete and you can log on now - no password is required. It is operational and the public is using it. Burt Wallrich: The website is a collaborative effort of three partners: LACO OEM, which defined the desired functionality of the project, is using Citizen Corps grant funds to pay for it, and has ultimate control of the site... Burt Wallrich: the UCLA Advanced Policy Institute, which is doing the technical work on the website using its expertise in map-based resource databases,... Burt Wallrich: and my consulting firm, Emergency Network Builders LLC, which has a contract to do outreach to faith-based and community non-profit organizations, CERT programs, and Neighborhood Watch groups and get them registered on the site. Burt Wallrich: The spirit of volunteerism is at a high level in the U.S. at this time. However, in order to for people to go from a vague idea that it would be nice to volunteer somewhere to taking concrete action to become a volunteer,.. Burt Wallrich: they need information about how to locate and contact available volunteer opportunities, what skills are needed, and, not least important, where the opportunities are located geographically. Burt Wallrich: Few people will regularly travel long distances to work a volunteer position. This is certainly true in an area like Los Angeles, with its great distances and notorious traffic. Burt Wallrich: For this reason, eprepared.org is primarily map-based. People who use this site to research volunteer opportunities may search for information by a number of variables, but the first method that presents itself is geographic. Burt Wallrich: Thus, when you open the site with your browser, this is what you see at the top of the home page: [Amy, slide 1, please]. Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide01.htm Burt Wallrich: I have added an arrow which points to a window that invites the viewer to insert their zip code. (All the arrows you see on subsequent slides have been added for this presentation.) Burt Wallrich: By the way, the photo on the home page changes every 3 seconds (with a DSL connection) and highlights CERT training exercises and other volunteer activities around Los Angeles County. Burt Wallrich: Once the visitor types in their zip code they will go immediately to the "map room" and see a map showing that zip code and the surrounding area. They can zoom in or out to see more or less geography. [Amy, slide 2 please.] Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide02.htm Burt Wallrich: The map displays icons for volunteer agencies, CERT teams, and CERT calendars. There is also an icon for individual CERT volunteers, but that information is passworded and is not available to the general public. Burt Wallrich: The visitor has a number of options on the map page. On this screen shot, the icons are labeled and the function that creates a link to each icon's individual write-up has been turned on. Burt Wallrich: At this point, if the viewer clicks on the icon labeled "World Vision," for example, they will be taken to World Vision's own page on the site. This is the top of that page: [Amy, slide 3 please]. Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide03.htm Burt Wallrich: And this is the bottom of World Vision's page: [Amy, slide 4 please]. Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide04.htm Burt Wallrich: Note that there is a hot link to World Vision's own web site as well as a link to an email contact form. A person who is interested in volunteering with World Vision can send its volunteer coordinator a message stating their interest. The message goes directly to World Vision; it does not go through eprepared.org. james Mc Loone: I can't seem to open the slides Burt Wallrich: All of the information on an agency's own page has been entered by them and is completely under their control. One of my tasks in this project is to go out to agencies and walk them through the registration process. Burt Wallrich: Each agency has administrative rights to its own data, and can edit its page whenever it wants. However, it can't edit anyone else's data, and the public cannot access the administrative section of the site. Burt Wallrich: The goal of the site is to eventually include all faith-based and secular non-profit agencies that have a plan to use volunteers for disaster work. A corollary is to encourage agencies that don't have disaster volunteer plans to develop one and, in the process, to become members of Emergency Network Los Angeles, the local VOAD. Burt Wallrich: Another goal is to encourage potential volunteers to seriously consider what it means to make a commitment to an agency and why they should affiliate with an agency and be trained before there is an event rather than showing up during the response phase. Burt Wallrich: To this end, a paper on "Effective Volunteering" has been posted on the site (in two versions, including a PDF file for printing). [Amy, slide 5 please.] Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide05.htm Burt Wallrich: A second use for the "Effective Volunteering" paper is that it can serve as a model for a volunteer manual if an agency does not yet have one. Burt Wallrich: Returning to the home page, if the visitor does not enter their zip code but scrolls down the page instead, this is what they will see below the photo and interactive zip code window. [Amy, slide 6 please.] Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide06.htm Burt Wallrich: The top band lists the four components of Citizen Corps, briefly describes each, and has hot links to pages where the visitor can get more information about and learn how to contact each component. The CERT portion of the site is almost completed but the other Citizen Corps sections are not. Burt Wallrich: The next band is a hot link to information about all the organizations that are registered on the site. If the visitor clicks here they will go to the entry page for that list. [Amy, slide 7, please.] Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide07.htm Burt Wallrich: The visitor has a number of choices from this page. They can do a complete zip code search just as they could have from the home page. Or, they can elect to see all the private organizations that are listed. Or, just the faith-based organizations. Or, just the community-based (secular) non-profits. Or, all the government agencies that are seeking volunteers. Burt Wallrich: Finally, they can combine search functions and, for example, see all the faith-based organizations in a certain zip code area on a map that is not cluttered by the icons for other types of organizations. Burt Wallrich: If the visitor had asked to see the list of all the faith-based organization that are seeking volunteers they would open a page with that list. [Amy, slide 8, please.] Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide08.htm Burt Wallrich: As you see, each entry includes name, address, a map of the organization's location, and the beginning of their Mission and Services statement, if the organization has submitted one. If the visitor selected World Vision from this page they would get to the same write-up for that organization that we saw before. Burt Wallrich: Or, if the primary issue for the visitor in thinking about disaster volunteer work is to use a particular skill they have, such as mental health counseling or data entry, they can click on "Service Opportunities," on the same page. That would open a listing of all the categories of skills that are needed, with the number of agencies recruiting in each category. [Amy, slide 9, please.] Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide09.htm Burt Wallrich: Clicking on "Helpline," for example, returns a list of 6 agencies that name this as one of the skills they need. Again, a click on a particular agency brings up its complete write-up and direct links. [Slide 10, please.] Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide10.htm Burt Wallrich: The fourth and final way a visitor can search for an appropriate volunteer opportunity is by language. A Korean-American, for example, might want to volunteer for an organization in which his or her language skills and cultural knowledge would be useful. If they scroll down the list of Service Opportunities they will get to a listing of languages. Clicking on a language returns a list of all the agencies that are trying to recruit people with that language skill. [Amy, slide 11, please.] Amy Sebring: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/eprepared/slide11.htm Burt Wallrich: The search procedure for CERT teams works the same. Using either a geographic search or clicking on the CERT header on the home page returns a list of CERT teams and CERT training opportunities that are available. Burt Wallrich: Eventually, the web site will allow CERT team leaders who have been granted appropriate administrative privileges to get a list of team members which will include their contact information, and data on their training level and other skills. Team leaders will be able to exchange information with each other so they can provide mutual aid in a major event. Burt Wallrich: The Neighborhood Watch component of the site is not yet functional. When it is, a search for Neighborhood Watch volunteer opportunities will return a list of the agencies that operate N.W. programs, such as Sheriff and police agencies, rather than the N.W. groups themselves. There are so many individual N.W. groups that they would completely overwhelm the mapping function. Burt Wallrich: Other functions, accessible from the home page, include a calendar. CERT trainings are listed, and any agency that is registered on the site has the power to add an item, such as a community fair or a training session, to the calendar. The calendar is operational now. Burt Wallrich: Functions to be activated in the future include a listing of available training sessions, a library of basic preparedness information, a link to Citizen Corps newsletters, and links to basic disaster information sites such as the American Red Cross, DHS, and so on. Burt Wallrich: Finally, I want to say a little about spontaneous, post-disaster volunteers. There is growing acknowledgement that people who come forward in great numbers immediately after an event are more of a problem than a resource. Burt Wallrich: They can be thought of as similar to the donations of used clothing that come pouring in after an event. Just as the public is beginning to be educated that a donation of cash is much more useful than used clothing, we have to start educating the public that spontaneous volunteerism is not a part of the solution to a community's need in time of crisis. Burt Wallrich: Spontaneous volunteers usually go to ground zero, where they get in the way of first responders. There is no time to check credentials. While most of them are honest and well-meaning, there can be some who are mentally ill and even some who have criminal intent. You don't know if the person who claims to be a doctor is really an M.D. or someone who flunked out of pre-med training. Burt Wallrich: These factors create serious liability issues for the controlling jurisdiction. The problem of spontaneous volunteers, like the problem of donations of used clothing, will never be completely eliminated. But it can be reduced through a number of measures. Burt Wallrich: Publicizing volunteer opportunities on a day-to-day basis can increase the number of people who become trained and affiliated before there is a disaster. Having a known web site for volunteer information, like eprepared.org, provides a place where useful information about volunteering can be quickly posted after an event. Burt Wallrich: Spontaneous volunteers who can't be utilized at the time they show up can be referred to the local web site, thanked for their concern, and encouraged to affiliate with an agency and become trained for future events when the immediate crisis is over. From a public relations standpoint this is far better than simply rejecting their offer of help. Burt Wallrich: Perhaps most important is having one organization or agency prepared to handle spontaneous volunteers at the time of an event. The model is the Seventh Day Adventists, who, as part of their NVOAD commitment, have agreed to handle donations of unsolicited goods. Burt Wallrich: Emergency Network Los Angeles is finalizing an agreement with one of its local member agencies that has expressed a willingness to handle spontaneous volunteers. Burt Wallrich: The agency that takes on this responsibility should establish an assembly and intake site for spontaneous volunteers well away from ground zero. Burt Wallrich: Personnel responsible for maintaining security at ground zero need to know where the assembly area is and be prepared to direct spontaneous volunteers there. This is better than simply ordering them to go home. Burt Wallrich: Having a volunteer assembly and intake area allows for some level of screening and matching of skills with needs. All of these steps together will begin to make the problem of spontaneous volunteers more manageable. Burt Wallrich: That concludes my prepared remarks. I welcome your questions and comments (and ask for your tolerance for my keyboarding skills). I will now return the floor to our Moderator. Avagene Moore: Thank you, Burt. Most interesting - this should serve as a model for other communities. I am sure there are several questions for you from our audience. ... Avagene Moore: Our protocol for audience questions is to enter a question mark ? to indicate you wish to ask a question or make a comment. ... Avagene Moore: Then go ahead and compose your question or comment to have it ready, but do NOT hit your Enter key or click on the Send button until you are recognized by name. Please WAIT your turn. ... Avagene Moore: But be ready when you are called upon. .... Avagene Moore: We will take questions in the order the question marks are sent to the screen. One question at a time please. If you have a follow up question, please get back in line with another ? - we want to be courteous and give everyone an opportunity to speak and ask a question. ... Avagene Moore: We are ready to begin now. Please input a question mark (?) at any time. Tim Newman: ? Scott Eyestone: ? Avagene Moore: Tim, whenever you are ready, please input your question. Tim Newman: How much did the website cost to create and operate and who pays? Burt Wallrich: I don't know the complete cost. The funding came, at least in large part, ... Burt Wallrich: from the LA County Citizen Corps grant for 2004. Avagene Moore: Scott, your turn, please. Scott Eyestone: Great presentation, Burt. Avagene, could you please provide Burt with my contact info. I want to discuss a CERT/DMIS initiative with him. Amy Sebring: ? Burt Wallrich: I will follow up, Scott. Avagene Moore: Yes, will do that, Scott. Amy, please. Others who have question, please input your ? at any time. Amy Sebring: Burt, what kind of response are you getting from the agencies you are doing outreach to, for participation? Any particular challenges there? Burt Wallrich: No, they are very glad to sign up.... Burt Wallrich: it doesn't cost them anything.... Burt Wallrich: so whatever benefit they get from it is all gravy. Amy Sebring: ? Avagene Moore: Amy, please. Amy Sebring: Are local public health agencies included? Kristin Buckley: ? Burt Wallrich: They will be when Volunteers in Medical Service page is activated. There are some health-related nonprofits on the site Avagene Moore: Kristin, please. Isabel McCurdy: ? Kristin Buckley: Great presentation, Burt. Thanks. When a disaster next occurs, how will the website change to accommodate the inevitable "spontaneous volunteer"? Burt Wallrich: That is something that the County and ENLA are still working on.... Avagene Moore: ? Burt Wallrich: there are 2 related issues.... Burt Wallrich: one is phone and broadcast information for potential volunteers... Burt Wallrich: the second is actually receiving, processing, and utilizing the volunteers who do show up [despite being discouraged form doing that]... Brett Graves: ? Burt Wallrich: Those two issues might be handled by the same organization or by two different orgs. Avagene Moore: Isabel, you are next, please. Isabel McCurdy: Burt, this is a great initiative for people who are on the Internet- what about the people who aren't? Burt Wallrich: That's the weakness of all internet projects, isn't it?... Burt Wallrich: LA County now has 2-1-1 telephone coverage for non emergency information and people could call that number for information. Avagene Moore: Burt, are the agencies listed seeing an increase in volunteers who wish to be affiliated and trained? Amy Sebring: ? Burt Wallrich: I don't think that is happening yet. There hasn't been as much publicity about the site as there should - or will - be. Avagene Moore: Brett, your question, please. Brett Graves: Burt, do you know of other areas/localities that have implemented a similar system/website? Burt Wallrich: No. LA has another similar site for people with disabilities,... Burt Wallrich: it's called LILA - Living Independently in Los Angeles.... Burt Wallrich: it was also developed by UCLA and was the model for eprepared.org.... Burt Wallrich: A little more on cost, I know that LA County does not intend to charge any other entity that wants to model the site. UCLA would need to be paid, but it would cost less to do it now that the problems have been solved. But the actual mapping has to be done (and paid for) in each community. Avagene Moore: Amy, please. Amy Sebring: You have just alluded to my question which is about publicity. The site could be an information resource for the media I expect. What do you have planned for media publicity? Kristin Buckley: ? Michaela Kekedy: ? Burt Wallrich: Amy, I hate to cop a plea, but the whole issue of publicity is on someone else's plate. My firm has nothing to do with that. Amy Sebring: ok, thanks. Avagene Moore: Kristin, please. Kristin Buckley: In addition to your Effective Volunteering resource, are you planning on adding other resources about disaster volunteering. The Points of Light Foundation and the National VOAD Volunteer Management Committee have many that may be of use to you. Burt Wallrich: Those will certainly be two of the hot links when that part of the site is built out. Avagene Moore: Michaela, please. Michaela Kekedy: I recently attended a workshop on handling spontaneous volunteers given by someone who helped manage it at WTC. She mentioned a good document on the subject. It is at http://www.nvoad.org/ManagingSpontaneousVol.pdf Burt Wallrich: Thank you, Michaela. This is an issue that has become very visible in the last few years. Avagene Moore: Are there other questions for Burt? Amy Sebring: ? Avagene Moore: Amy, please. Amy Sebring: Forgive me if you have already addressed this, but when do you anticipate this will be complete Burt? Burt Wallrich: I hope it will be complete by the end of this calendar year. There is one more set of contracts to be let, and that should be done soon. I'm waiting to finish my part anytime I get the go ahead. Avagene Moore: Burt, do you have any other comments you wish to add about the Web site or your work with the LA OEM? Lori Wieber: ? Amy Sebring: ? Burt Wallrich: Only that I am working on a completely different, but related project with LA OEM... Isabel McCurdy: ? Burt Wallrich: which is developing targeted outreach materials for people with disabilities and seniors. That's very interesting and challenging. (and not web based) Avagene Moore: Thanks, Burt. Lori has a question - please go ahead, Lori. Lori Wieber: There are some existing volunteer connections sites on the web. (VolunteerImpact is one I can think of at the moment) Were these considered during any of this effort? Many folks use them to find vol. opportunities by type. How do things compare? Michaela Kekedy: ? Kristin Buckley: ? Burt Wallrich: I think the main thing that sets eprepared.org off from any other is the fact that it is map-based. .. Burt Wallrich: ...that makes it very useful for someone who is looking for concrete information about volunteering rather than general information about agencies. Avagene Moore: Amy, your turn, please. Amy Sebring: This may be beyond the scope of your work Burt, but is there any specific outreach to the private sector community, such as large businesses, as a potential source of volunteers? Burt Wallrich: That is beyond the scope of my work, but I have to say both that it is a great idea, and I haven't heard any discussion of it. Avagene Moore: Isabel, your turn, please. Isabel McCurdy: Burt- are these the local chapters or head -quartered agencies? Are they linked together? Burt Wallrich: These can be both strictly local organizations.... Burt Wallrich: local chapters or affiliates of national organizations.... Burt Wallrich: and regional bodies. Any organization that will use volunteers in a disaster setting in Los Angeles county is potentially eligible to be listed. Avagene Moore: Michaela, please. Michaela Kekedy: Since your work was funded with a grant, what would you recommend with the available grant opportunities if a city or county wants to expand its current website to include something similar to what you have done? Or a place to start looking? Key words to use? Burt Wallrich: I know that LA County had a Citizen Corps grant available to it, that there was a lot of discussion about possible uses for the grant.... Burt Wallrich: --the discussion included other parties such as LA City, Emergency Network Los Angeles, etc.... Burt Wallrich: ...and the decision was to apply to use the grant for this purpose. I think you would check with your point of contact for DHS funding. Avagene Moore: Kristin, your question or comment, please. Kristin Buckley: Where will the outreach materials for people with disabilities and seniors be located? We have a VISTA project that would find this information very helpful. Burt Wallrich: That project is part of LA County's ESP (Emergency Safety Program) and.... Burt Wallrich: when it is completed it will be posted on the County OEM website, along with the other ESP materials.... Burt Wallrich: as well as being available in print, large type print, Braille, tape, etc. Avagene Moore: That is the end of our questions. Does anyone else have a question or comment for Burt? Lori Wieber: ? Avagene Moore: Yes, Lori, whenever you are ready. Lori Wieber: In theory this site could grow to encompass an ever expanding geographical area without regard to jurisdictions. From your perspective what, if any, limitations make sense? Is it more a function of funding than anything else? Burt Wallrich: I will give Amy the ESP URL so you can put it in the transcript. Burt Wallrich: Lori.... Isabel McCurdy: ? Burt Wallrich: In this case the geography was determined by the funding. It was LA County's grant and could only be spent on projects that serve county residents.... Burt Wallrich: LA County, with 10 million people and 4000 square miles is probably a big enough universe by itself.... Burt Wallrich: but in some cases it would make sense to do this regionally, or even to cover a whole state. Avagene Moore: Isabel, your question, please. Isabel McCurdy: Burt- do you have a follow up email contact? Burt Wallrich: my email is burtw at ix.netcom.com. I'll be glad to do follow-up Avagene Moore: Thank you, Burt! We greatly appreciate your effort and time on our behalf. ... Avagene Moore: Please stand by a moment while we make some quick announcements .... Avagene Moore: If you are not currently on our mailing list, and would like to get program announcements and notices of transcript availability, please see the Subscribe link on our home page. Avagene Moore: If you are interested in becoming an EIIP Partner, please see the "Partnership for You" link on the EIIP Virtual Forum homepage http://www.emforum.org . Avagene Moore: Again, the transcript of today's session will be posted later today and you will be able to access it from our home page. An announcement will also be sent to our Mail Lists when the transcript is available. Avagene Moore: Thanks to everyone for participating today. We appreciate you, the audience! ... Burt Wallrich: Thank you all for your interest and attention. Avagene Moore: Before you go, please help me show our appreciation to Burt Wallrich for a fine job. The EIIP Virtual Forum is adjourned! Thank you, Burt! Great job!