Is your Community Based Organization interested in becoming more involved in emergency and disaster response?
There are many ways to help support your community before, during and after a disaster. Our office is guided by Targeted Universalism and the County's Equity and Empowerment Lens when we make decisions about what events we have the capacity to support. We work in partnership with our communities to co-create trainings. Information and education that is "by and for" the community is our goal. Please take a moment to look at the partial list of our trainings below. If you don't see what you are looking for, we can work with you to either develop a training, or connect you with one of our partners who may be able to do so.
If your organization has a building, there is often a need for:
- Hosting FREE and open to the public disaster resilience / disaster response readiness trainings
- Hosting a Public Information Center or Disaster Field Office during or after a disaster
- Serving as a Community/Commodity Point of Distribution (CPOD) and/or serving as a hub - with spokes out to smaller organizations to help distribute food, water, or other supplies throughout the community
- Shelters / Disaster Resource Centers (DRC): If you are interested in exploring whether your site may work as a DRC, please visit this page.
If your organization has staff or volunteers that are interested in being part of disaster response efforts, there are many opportunities to assist, like: Disaster Resource Center/Shelter staffing, CPOD staffing, helping collect and share information, transportation support, and more. Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter to share and learn about success stories, trainings, lessons learned and other opportunities that help strengthen our relationships and resilience.
Contact Alice Busch at 971-563-3051 or alice.busch@multco.us with any questions.
Community Disaster Response Readiness
MCEM will work with you to help determine what kind of presentation, class, and/or training works best for you.
MCEM works with many partners to provide life saving trainings. The list below has been created to help provide you with an idea of the kinds of trainings that can be provided. MCEM and our partner agencies and organizations can also tailor trainings to meet the needs of the requester and communities we serve.
Trainings can be: In-Person, Virtual, or Hybrid. Please also feel free to visit our Training and Exercise webpage - it has many helpful resources, including links to federal, regional, and local training resources and calendars and our MCEM Training Calendar has details regarding upcoming classes.
Partial list of potential training topics:
- County Disaster Resource Center (DRC) Training.
- Wildfire: hazards, notifications, evacuations, mitigation
- Home fires: prevention, information on how to use fire extinguishers and how smoke alarms operate and where to place them
- Hot and Cold weather: preparedness, signs and symptoms recognition, safety net resources, and opportunities for community based organizations to become more engaged
- Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake: how to determine local potential impacts, information resources, plans, community engagement opportunities
- Emergency Operations Center Positions
- CPR / First Aid for community organizations who represent individuals who experience barriers to services. This program is an effort to develop instructors that have lived experience, are from the communities who are most impacted by emergencies and disasters.
- Alert and Warning/ Community Emergency Notification System (Everbridge): messaging best practices, updates, scope, purpose, how to respond, opportunities for use (cities and county departments)
- Community Emergency Notification Systems: Wireless Emergency Alerts, PublicAlerts.org
- Basic Earthquake Emergency Communications Nodes (BEECN)
- Community Resilience Hubs
- Continuity of Operations (COOP) for Community Businesses and Organizations: Goals and objectives of businesses and organizations for their work during and after a disaster, and how to keep operations going during and after disruption
- Developing disaster/emergency: priorities, strategies, objectives, and tactics
- How to design and implement an effective Disaster/Emergency Exercise
- After Action Process - Standard Operating Procedures, templates, Improvement Plan, and updates
- Incident Action Plan and Incident Command System (ICS) Forms
- Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and Deployment Basics
- PLANNING, avail training, the EOC, COOP - opportunities - warming/cooling, drivers)
- Disaster sanitation: what to do with pee and poo
- Amateur Radio
- MCEM works in partnership with the city of Portland and other agencies to support Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) / Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) trainings. CERT Training Curriculum content:
- Unit Topics 1: Community Preparedness: Roles and Responsibilities • Hazards and Their Potential Impact • Home and Workplace Preparedness • Reducing the Impact of Hazards Through Mitigation • CERT Disaster Response • Additional Training for CERT Volunteers
- Unit 2: CERT Organization • CERT Mobilization • Documentation
- Unit 3: Disaster Medical Operations, Part 1 - Treating Life Threatening Conditions • Basic First Aid Care • Disaster Medical Operations
- Unit 4: Disaster Medical Operations, Part 2 - Mass Casualty Incidents • Functions of Disaster Medical Operations • Establishing Medical Treatment Areas • Conducting Head-to-Toe Assessments • Public Health Considerations
- Unit 5: Disaster Psychology - Disaster Reactions • Self-Care and Team Well-Being • Working with Survivors’ Emotional Responses •
- Unit 6: Fire Safety and Utility Controls - Fire Chemistry • Fire Size-up Considerations • Firefighting Resources • Fire Suppression Safety • Fire and Utility Hazards • Hazardous Materials
- Unit 7: Light Search and Rescue Operations • Unit Overview • Safety During Search and Rescue Operations • Conducting Interior and Exterior Search Operations • Conducting Rescue Operations •
- Unit 8: CERT and Terrorism - Terrorist Goals and Tactics • Preparing Your Community • Active Shooter Situations • Until Help Arrives • Hazmat and CBRNE
- Unit 9: Course Review, Final Exam, and Disaster Simulation • Exercise Critique and Summary
Ready to strengthen your disaster response readiness?
Download one of our Earthquake Primers. This short, easy to read workbook uses the Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake as an example of why having a conversation with our loved ones is such an important first step. The Earthquake Primers are in 11 languages and make disaster resilience simple by providing questions that, once answered, create your disaster plan!
Have a meaningful conversation with your loved ones.
- Where will you find each other after a disaster? Having more than one location is a great idea.
- Do you have backup transportation methods and routes?
- Who will care for the kids, grandparents, and/or pets if you’re stuck on the other side of the river?
- Do you have an out of state contact?
Being prepared and knowing what to do will make all the difference when seconds count in an emergency. Here you can find information on how to prepare an emergency supply kit, develop family communications and emergency plans, stay informed during an emergency and get information about the various natural and man-made disasters that could occur in our area.
To request a presentation for your organization or group, fill out our request form, someone will reach out and work with you. You can also view our current calendar of events online.