Disaster loans available to northern Virginia localities
The U.S. Small Business Administration is now offering low-interest loans to homeowners, renters, businesses and qualifying nonprofit organizations in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church, the District of Columbia and the counties of Charles, Montgomery and Prince George's in Maryland. This assistance is in response to severe storms and flooding that occurred June 25-30. Disaster Loan Assistance Centers are open in the city of Alexandria and Arlington County. Anyone unable to visit one of the centers can obtain an application by calling the SBA Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or (800) 877-8339 for the hearing-impaired, Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Business loan applications can also be downloaded from the SBA Web site at www.sba.gov/disaster.

National Preparedness Month
September is National Preparedness Month, a nationwide effort held each year to encourage individuals to prepare for disasters and emergencies in their homes, businesses and schools. The NPM Coalition consists of more than 800 national, regional, state and local public and private sector organizations that distribute educational information, host events and sponsor activities throughout the country to promote emergency preparedness. To kick-off preparedness month, VDEM, Virginia Citizen Corps and Virginia Commonwealth University are co-sponsoring an interactive safety and preparedness fair Sept. 8 on the VCU Commons Plaza from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Gov. Kaine is scheduled to speak at the event, where local, state and university safety organizations will provide hands-on disaster and emergency preparedness activities and materials.

Evacuation shelter search
The Virginia Department of Social Services and VDEM are seeking information about properties that could potentially be used as all-hazards shelters during mass evacuations. The agencies are also interested in assessing locations that could be used as refuges of last resort in addition to long-term shelters. The Commonwealth may pursue a Memorandum of Agreement for any property that qualifies, in order to make it available for future evacuations. Properties that are part of MOAs will be listed in a database of Virginia shelters and periodically re-evaluated. Contact Anna McRay at (804) 897-6500 for information about how to participate in the survey.

New Region 7 coordinator
Bruce Hopkins will take Cindi Causey's place as VDEM's Region 7 coordinator. The Region 7 coordinator's position has evolved over the years to one of increasing involvement with National Capitol Region matters that demand a large amount of time and take the coordinator away from primary duties of locality liaison functions. To enhance VDEM operations, Sue Mahon, who was Causey's assistant under a UASI-funded contract, has taken over the NCR involvement required of the Commonwealth. Hopkins will maintain a more standard workload, dealing principally with local emergency managers in the region to address localities' needs. For more information, contact Local Support Services Division Director Gordon Barwell at (804) 897-6500.

DHS seeks CEDAP applications
The Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program is now accepting applications for FY06. The highly competitive program is designed to provide technology, equipment, training and technical assistance to smaller communities and rural areas that are ineligible for funding under the Urban Areas Security Initiative grant program. This year, CEDAP will award more than $32 million in equipment and training to law enforcement agencies, fire departments and other emergency responders. Successful applicants will demonstrate in their application that the equipment will improve their ability and capacity to respond to a major critical incident or improve their ability to work with other first responders. Applications are available online.

New special needs training for first responders
The Department of Homeland Security has certified a new training program, "Emergency Responders and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community: Taking the First Steps to Disaster Preparedness." The free class is designed to bring together first responders and deaf and hard of hearing people prior to disasters. Fourteen workshops are scheduled to take place in various states throughout the country, along with three train-the-trainer classes. One workshop and a train-the-trainer class will be in Fairfax County, Oct. 24-25. Contact Lise Hamlin at the Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Persons for more information.

Training...
Coordinator's Briefings
The Coordinator's Briefings offered through VDEM's training program are informative, eight-hour sessions that span two days. They are designed specifically for local jurisdiction emergency management directors, coordinators and deputy coordinators. Local elected officials and state agency staff are invited to take part as well. The briefings will be in Bristol (Nov. 7-8), Williamsburg (Nov. 14-15) and Charlottesville (Nov. 30-Dec. 1). Registration deadline for the first briefing is Oct. 17.

ICS Train-the-Trainer Program
This program certifies instructors from local governments and other organizations to teach the Incident Command System series of courses. VDEM fully supports instructors with all instructional materials and completion certificates as long as they uphold program standards. Since Oct. 1, 2005, graduates of this program have trained more than 4,000 local government personnel in nearly 300 training sessions, with schedules and locations convenient to customers. The next series of ICS Train-the-Trainer courses begins in October. Details are available on our training calendar.

Conferences...
Remembering Victims, Protecting Survivors
Radford University will host a Homeland Security Conference, "Remembering Victims, Protecting Survivors," on Sept. 11 to examine national and international issues related to homeland security and terrorism. The keynote speaker will be the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for Strategic Plans, Randy Beardsworth, and the luncheon speaker will be Robert Crouch, assistant to Governor Kaine for Commonwealth Preparedness. More information and registration are available online.

Produced by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management
10501 Trade Court, Richmond, Virginia 23236