On July 25-26, 2009 a very unique event occurred in the history of disaster volunteers in America. For the first time, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, through Texas A&M University's Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) funded and taught a management and policy level course (MGT) for volunteers - as a pilot. Prior to this, volunteers could only take Awareness (AWR) level courses which are short half-day/one evening introductory courses if there were seats left over and the Point of Contact (Coordinator) was favorable to volunteers. The experimental MGT 310 course occurred because Dr. Cliff Cheng, who is normally a Point of Contact for MGT and Performance (PER) level training for full time government responders, wanted to help volunteers get trained, who were not eligible for grant funded training from the U.S. Homeland Security Department. Here is a photo of the initial pilot, July 25-26, 2009 at Beach Cities Health District, Redondo Beach, CA.  Photo: Sheri Determan, Santa Monica Police Department Citizens Academy The 44 members of the class came from these volunteer agencies:
* Thank-you for the opportunity to attend the MGT-310
class. It was informing and educational. Our class fully
participated in the exercises and enjoyed thinking up the worst scenarios we
could. I better understand what goes into preparing for disasters and
terrorist attacks. Thank-you again, Judi Jensen, KI6TKT, El Segundo CERT ** The quality and content of the course proved beyond my expectation. I feel this course is a benefit to volunteer, first responders. I will encourage all people who are CERT trained to take the IS100 and AWG160 then get on board with the WMD Threat & Risk Assessment, MGT310. Looking ahead, I highly recommend and look forward to our continued education. Grace Anne David, El Segundo CERT *** I found the class interesting and valuable. Gary Stabile, Manhattan Beach CERT **** This course was the best. I learned how to evaluate our vulnerabilities, identify what is most likely the form of attack and by whom. I now can prepare business with a plan to include equipment, and training, with a estimated budget. I can just submit my budget to the City and request funding to showing how protecting my business will benefit the entire community because my business will not take additional resources during an emergency. My business can be a true asset to the community buy joining the committees that prepare our County for WMD attacks. Thanks for the course it was great. Lawrance Mathis, Redondo Beach CERT*****
Thank-you for the opportunity to attend the MGT-310
class. It was an eye opener, a beginning, for the things the volunteer starts
to understand there can be a place for them in preparing risk assessment and
planning combining natural disasters as well as terrorist activities. Much of disaster preparedness is focused on hurricanes, floods,
tornados, and earthquakes with the focus on being prepared to help more to
survival, reduce damage and speeding recovery. None of these natural
events are preventable. However, we do have a chance to detect and prevent terrorism.
It will require a high level of dedication and training for us to increase the
opportunity for this detection and prevention blending it with the other
disaster preparation and planning. This class was a down payment for the much
need and very welcome training. The MGT 310: WMD Threat and Risk Assessment was well worth my weekend. Thank you for bring this to our area and working so hard to get it open to Red Cross, CERT, Citizen’s Police Academy, and other volunteer entities. I look forward continuing my training in these areas Thank-you again, Herb Griffith, AE6EB, Culver City PD Citizen’s Police Academy/VIP ****** Ed and I really enjoyed the MGT 310 class. We felt that the instructors were very good and that we gained a much better understanding of the threat and risk assessment process. Although we are not living in a high terrorism risk area, we are close to other towns and locations that could be considered to be higher risk. We also feel that being trained at the awareness level is an important, even crucial, aspect of volunteerism. We would appreciate being considered for other classes. We would certainly recommend the MGT 310 class to other volunteers. Thank you again for the opportunity to participate in the training. It was well worth the travel time! Bonnie, KI6EYD and Ed Ross, KI6EYE, Directors, Wrightwood CERT ******* Thank you for putting together such an in depth seminar last weekend.All of the Citizens' Academy people I have spoken to appreciate the information and wish to continue the learning process.It's not a question of "if" but rather "when" either a natural or terrorist disaster will strike the Los Angeles area and our Citizens' Academy members want to be prepared.Vince Rose and Debra Harris should be congratulated on their instructing skills.I think we will be able to include trainings like this as a continuing education tool for Academy graduates-Thanks again for your efforts to make these skills available to our volunteers John Riley (President DEA Citizens' Academy Alumni Assn.) ******** The MGT310 class this weekend was absolutely wonderful. The instructors made the class both fun and educational. I enjoyed the topics we were given to address and the small group discussions gave us all the opportunity to participate actively and to share our ideas with the rest of our peers. The interesting way the lectures were presented captivated my attention. I learned so much about assessing WMD threat and vulnerability as well as how to plan, prepare and respond. I can say it was well worth driving all the way out to Redondo Beach from the south end of Orange County. Thank you so much for such an informative course. Vina Shih, Laguna Beach Police Dept. Citizen's Academy ********* WOW! Being associated with 40 non-paid volunteers at such a session was fantastic. In other sessions where there were paid members that didn’t want to be there the atmosphere was always less ecstatic. I look forward to the next version, and working to offer it to additional members of our organization. We learned more than just WMD training, we learned about working together with others. Great Job. Thanks, George Butts President Manhattan Beach CERT Assn. **********
I
appreciated this unique opportunity to attend the MGT 310 class. Any
knowledge gained from classes such as this is extremely valuable to
those of us who are not first responders. I look forward to other
opportunities to learn more. Thank you for coordinating this program
and thank you also to our two instructors who did a great job covering
a lot of material and making it meaningful.
Aimee Smolik
DEA Citizens Academy
(also: Covina P.D. Citizens Academy) *********** I want to thank you for allowing me to participate as volunteer, from the LA chapter of MRC, in the weekend class on July 25, 26, MGT 310. As a physician , I found the class very informative, particulary in outlining the organization of assessing the risk of a WMD attack in our neighborhood. Risk management has always been a major criterion in my medical practice, and the MGT 310 class enabled me to understand the significance of being observant in my daily life. The more exposure that the general volunteer agencies have to assessing the risks of WMD threats in their local communities, the more comfortable they will be in their work and home environment. Most of us have not seen the DHS in action, and it makes me feel more secure to see that there are programs to protect the general public from the threat of WMD. I have CBRNE imbedded in my brain now, along with many other acronyms to allow me to assess my own community. I reviewed the "JANE'S" handbook myself, and I hope you will be able to review its information in more detail during the next class. I found the book very valuable, and more discussion on the contents would have been very useful. Harvey S. Raskind,M.D. Medical Reserve Corps of Los Angeles ************ That was one heck of a lot of information that we absorbed in a very short period of time. However it makes me aware that probably most cities are not well prepared for an event of MWD. To me the class was well worth my time. It certainily made me much more aware of my surroundings. Something that the general Public would be well made aware of. I hope to take more classes in the future and will be signing up for the one on August 26 on Suicide Bombings. Once again I am sure that it will give me much more food for thought. I thought that the Instructors were outstanding....... Charles M. Barr Laguna Beach P.D. Citizens Academy ************* [Note - Bob Applegate was one of the few volunteers to have taken the professional version of MGT 310] I was only at the volunteer’s MGT310 class one day. Here’s what I loved about the “pro” class last year:
Some of the forms from the pro class don’t translate well into the volunteer class. I suspect that most cities are unlikely to encourage volunteer participation in this area. The caliber of the students was fairly similar in both classes. The volunteers gave up a weekend to attend this course, without compensation. I wonder if we could say the same for the pros, if the positions were reversed? The volunteers were committed and enthusiastic. I’d pit a team of them against the pros any day. Bob Applegate, KI6MMF Redondo Beach CERT ************** Last but not least is Bill Murray's Community Matters radio show we did after MGT 310. Here is a link to the program. |