Online Services | Commonwealth Sites | Help | Governor

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management
Home  > Citizen Corps

? iconHow can we make this site better?
Let us know ...


citizencorps header

CERTVirginia Citizen Corps CouncilsFirecorpsMedical Reserve CorpsNeighborhood WatchVolunteers in Police ServiceNewsPublic Safety VolunteersResources for Volunteers

For Current Volunteers
Tips, links, resources and more

How Can You Help?

Simply go to a program page below to search for the volunteer opportunities that interest you most.

Links

Virginia Citizen Corps, part of the national Citizen Corps program, gets Virginia citizens directly involved in homeland security and emergency preparedness. The program allows you to help your community by volunteering some of your time, energy and skills to emergency preparedness and response activities.

Recent News

Virginia Citizen Corps Programs

Citizen Corps' programs create well-trained, readily available pools of local people who know their community well, and who can help during the first critical hours of a major disaster.

The Virginia Citizen Corps Programs include:

Virginia Citizen Corps History

In 2001 Governor Mark Warner created Virginia Corps to capture the renewed spirit of volunteer service and community preparedness that has emerged since Sept. 11, 2001. It serves as a central clearinghouse for volunteer opportunities across Virginia.

Virginia Corps also localizes Citizen Corps -- the national homeland security and preparedness initiative. Virginia’s Citizen Corps helps residents make their communities safer from emergencies and disasters by getting them involved in these preparedness efforts.

Fifty local Citizen Corps Councils now coordinate outreach and programs, reaching approximately 75 percent of Virginia’s population.

CERTs – Community Emergency Response Teams – are taking off. There are now 50 teams around the state, with more than 2,000 trained Virginia volunteers. Two state agencies and six universities have implemented CERT training, and Nextel and PBS are conducting training for their employees. CERTs provided widespread and significant support during and after Hurricane Isabel; during spring flooding in Tazewell County; after a tornado swept through Danville; and during a TB public health incident in Chesapeake.

Neighborhood Watch and Volunteers in Police Service programs now include 4,794 groups across Virginia, averaging 66 households each. These groups have started forming partnerships with local CERT programs to increase enrollment.

In addition to 12 Virginia Medical Reserve Corps programs established with grant funding, Hampton and Richmond are developing programs without grant money.