As a side effect of volunteering with the Katrina PeopleFinder Project, I've started to worry about future disasters, and a few of us on the team have started to think about long term preparedness.

Here's a vision that we've been discussing:

We could bring together the CityCares / Hands On Network, the Community Technology Center Network, and the Katrina PeopleFinder Project team. 


The Hands On Network could recruit, screen, and coordinate concerned members of the community who are interested in short-term volunteer tasks.

CTCnet could coordinate the use of local community technology centers as disaster preparedness training sites and as sites to which volunteers would report in the event of an emergency.

The Katrina PeopleFinder Project team could provide the technical skills, experience, resources, and training.

In the event of a disaster, Hands On Network volunteers in unaffected areas (who were previously trained by the PeopleFinder Project team) could proceed to the nearest CTCnet affiliate - in order to process data about missing persons, or to help distraught loved ones who are searching for evacuees to enter queries into the PeopleFinder data repository.

I've already been in touch with Lisa Flick (Hands On Network's national director of network development) and Kavita Singh  (CTCnet's executive director) about this, and both of them have responded very positively.  Of course, it's understood that we all have to cope with the current emergency before we can discuss long term plans, but I'm hopeful about the future.


UPDATE:  I've had friendly conversations with two good folks from United Way of America:  Jeff Elder (director of social and economic research) and Rhonda Veugen (director of the eCommunity at United eWay.)  They were very positive about the idea of bringing the United Way volunteer network into a disaster preparedness collaboration with the PeopleFinder team, and encouraged me to be in touch with Tamara Schomber, (director of crisis preparedness and response) when things quiet down.  I'm sure that Tamara has her hands full at the moment.


UPDATE: Katherine Watier of the Points of Light Foundation has also been in touch to walk me through the process of registering a national online volunteering opportunity with 1-800-Volunteer.Org.  Since I'm based in Massachusetts, I registered through the nearest volunteer center that is affiliated with their program, CapeCorps, and await approval from the latter.



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