Disaster Recovery Journal

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Kathleen Aris, CMP
SunGard Availability Services Inc.

An Invitation to Partner

Anna M. Bathon, MBCI, CBCP Bank of America

By DR. TOM PHELAN

Public/private partnerships can have great value for business continuity planning in both sectors. With rising costs and increas- ing threats, the value is being addressed more aggressively by FEMA.

Remember Project Impact? It was an outstanding invitation from FEMA under Director James Lee Witt to the private sector to partner with communities nationwide for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Since the publication for the 9/11 Commission Report there has been a desire on the part of government to build closer ties with the private sector. The report stated, “Because 85 percent of our nation’s critical infrastructure is controlled not by government but by the private sector, private-sector civilians are likely to be the first responders in any future catastrophes (p. 317).”

In December 2011, FEMAAdministrator Craig Fugate issued the latest invitation to the private and public sectors to form community partnerships. “A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes, and Pathways for Action” is an opportunity private sector organizations should consider very seriously.

Whole community is a philosophical approach in how to conduct the business of emergency management. Benefits include:

u shared understanding of community needs and
capabilities
u greater empowerment and integration of resources
from across the community
u stronger social infrastructure
u establishment of relationships that facilitate more
effective prevention, protection, mitigation, response,
and recovery activities
u increased individual and collective preparedness
u greater resiliency at both the community and national
level.

One of the three principles listed in the whole
community document states, “Engage and
empower all parts of the community. Engaging
the whole community and empowering local
action will better position stakeholders to plan
for and meet the actual needs of a community
and strengthen the local capacity to deal with
the consequences of all threats and hazards. This
requires all members of the community to be part
of the emergency management team, which should
include diverse community members, social and
community service groups and institutions, faith-
based and disability groups, academia, profes-
sional associations, and the private and nonprofit
sectors, while including government agencies who
may not traditionally have been directly involved
in emergency management. When the community
is engaged in an authentic dialogue, it becomes
empowered to identify its needs and the existing
resources that may be used to address them.”
The Whole Community Doctrine is available at
http://www.fema.gov/about/wholecommunity.shtm.