The Ready Carlsbad Task Force has made significant progress during 2010 turning an idea into a vision, and then turning the vision into a plan. The vision starts here in Carlsbad with an emergency preparedness and recovery plan that not only helps businesses prepare for and recover from an emergency, but also involves the resources of the businesses in assisting the community in preparing for and recovering from a disaster.
The Task Force started meeting during the Spring of 2010 and has made significant progress toward building a master plan that can be introduced and implemented within the Carlsbad business community.
By taking lessons learned from events such as hurricane Katrina, 9-11, and the 2007 San Diego wild fires, history shows that communities show an outpouring of generosity with goods and services intended to help the victims of these events recover from the disaster. Unfortunately the goods and services offered don't always end up being matched to the highest desires and needs. The Ready Carlsbad Task Force is hoping to discover what resources are available within the community before a disaster strikes so that the resources can be efficiently matched to the needs of the community.
The Ready Carlsbad Task Force plans to bring many benefits to the businesses that choose to participate with the program:
• Educational programs to assist the businesses become more prepared to recover from a disaster, including education for their employees to be prepared at home;
• Assistance for large employers to develop Business Emergency Response Teams (BERT) within their companies;
• A communication network that participants can use during and after a disaster to post information about the status of their company and learn about the status of other companies;
• Business Emergency Safety Training (BEST) Certification, allowing certified companies special benefits through Chamber member organizations (for example, special insurance programs and rates for companies that are BEST Certified);
• Eligibility to recognize goods and services donated to a recovery effort as a charitable deduction (FEMA and the SBA currently have no programs to help companies offset these types of expenses);
• A resource directory that can be used to help a company that is affected by the disaster (the Red Cross will help a displaced family, but not a displaced business);
• Other benefits are expected to be developed as the Task Force progresses.
Once the vision becomes a reality in Carlsbad, the proof of concept will then be introduced to our neighbor cities, Vista, Oceanside, San Marcos and Encinitas. The introduction suits two specific purposes: first, if our neighbor cities are prepared, then it strengthens Carlsbad's plan; and second, if we use these cities to prove that the processes developed by our task force can be replicated, then the Carlsbad Chamber will have a product to offer to other
Chambers nationwide. Are you Ready
Carlsbad?
Deb Beddoe can be reached at
(760) 603-1800.
The Task Force started meeting during the Spring of 2010 and has made significant progress toward building a master plan that can be introduced and implemented within the Carlsbad business community.
By taking lessons learned from events such as hurricane Katrina, 9-11, and the 2007 San Diego wild fires, history shows that communities show an outpouring of generosity with goods and services intended to help the victims of these events recover from the disaster. Unfortunately the goods and services offered don't always end up being matched to the highest desires and needs. The Ready Carlsbad Task Force is hoping to discover what resources are available within the community before a disaster strikes so that the resources can be efficiently matched to the needs of the community.
The Ready Carlsbad Task Force plans to bring many benefits to the businesses that choose to participate with the program:
• Educational programs to assist the businesses become more prepared to recover from a disaster, including education for their employees to be prepared at home;
• Assistance for large employers to develop Business Emergency Response Teams (BERT) within their companies;
• A communication network that participants can use during and after a disaster to post information about the status of their company and learn about the status of other companies;
• Business Emergency Safety Training (BEST) Certification, allowing certified companies special benefits through Chamber member organizations (for example, special insurance programs and rates for companies that are BEST Certified);
• Eligibility to recognize goods and services donated to a recovery effort as a charitable deduction (FEMA and the SBA currently have no programs to help companies offset these types of expenses);
• A resource directory that can be used to help a company that is affected by the disaster (the Red Cross will help a displaced family, but not a displaced business);
• Other benefits are expected to be developed as the Task Force progresses.
Once the vision becomes a reality in Carlsbad, the proof of concept will then be introduced to our neighbor cities, Vista, Oceanside, San Marcos and Encinitas. The introduction suits two specific purposes: first, if our neighbor cities are prepared, then it strengthens Carlsbad's plan; and second, if we use these cities to prove that the processes developed by our task force can be replicated, then the Carlsbad Chamber will have a product to offer to other
Chambers nationwide. Are you Ready
Carlsbad?
Deb Beddoe can be reached at
(760) 603-1800.