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CERT • Virginia Citizen Corps Councils • Firecorps • Medical Reserve Corps • Neighborhood Watch • Volunteers in Police Service • News • Public Safety Volunteers • Resources for Volunteers

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

• 03.04.08: Read the March 2008 issue of the Shenandoah Valley Project Impact Disaster Resistant Times. [111kb PDF]
• 02.29.08: Read the February 2008 issue of Virginia Citizen Corps Update [582kb PDF]
• 02.28.08: Firefighting program prepares young adults for emergencies [opens in a new window]
• 02.07.08: Bristol Virginia Citizen Corps Council’s first Community Emergency Response Team class received their certificates on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at the Bristol Virginia City Council Meeting. Congratulations to the graduates and Virginia’s newest CERT program!
• More 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:

• Community Emergency Response Team – The CERT training program prepares citizens and communities to take a more active role in emergency preparedness.
• Neighborhood Watch Program – Neighborhood Watch is a successful 30-year-old national community crime prevention effort, sponsored by the National Sheriff's Association, that brings together local officials, law enforcement and citizens for the protection of communities.
• Public Safety Volunteers in Virginia – Through the Public Safety Volunteers program, you can give your time and talent to provide support for local fire, emergency medical services, search and rescue and law enforcement agencies – freeing public safety professionals for front-line duty.
• Medical Reserve Corps – Virginia's Medical Reserve Corps provides communities with medical volunteers who can assist local health professionals during a large-scale local emergency.
• Fire Corps – Fire Corps is the newest Citizen Corps program. Fire Corps promotes the use of citizens to enhance the capacity of resource-constrained fire and rescue departments at all levels: volunteer, combination, and career.
• Volunteers in Police Service – VIPs works to enhance the capacity of state and local law enforcement to utilize volunteers.

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.