The Bay Area SUASI was created in January of 2006, when the federal government consolidated the urban areas of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, along with 10 counties. The Bay Area SUASI also includes representatives from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.  Within its jurisdiction are 7 million people and over 100 incorporated cities.  San Francisco has the 4^th highest population in the entire nation, and the Bay Area region attracts millions of visitors each year. Some of the nation’s most notable landmarks are located in the Bay Area, as well as three international airports, six professional sports teams, and the fourth busiest port in the country.  
 
In 2006, the Bay Area SUASI was awarded more than $22 million to help develop, expand and enhance regional planning efforts, information sharing and collaboration, CBRNE Detection and Response, Training and Exercise, Infrastructure Protection, Interoperable Communications, Medical Surge, Mass Prophylaxis, Public Information & Warning, Mass Care, Citizen Preparedness and Participation, and Emergency Management.   These projects must be completed by December 31, 2007.
 
The Bay Area SUASI is widely viewed as having an important, groundbreaking regional approach that is recognized and may be replicated throughout the state and across the country.  
 
The Bay Area SUASI:

• Enhances regional capability through regional collaboration.
• Targets funding to build core capabilities to prevent, respond, and recover from disaster.  
• Directs funding to projects and work products that have regional impact as well as wide application among individual Bay Area communities.
• Responsibly leverages and manages grant funds to achieve the optimal result with the dollars available.
• Researches, learns from, and shares what works well and what does not to inform program/product development.
• Through strategic, well thought through, multi-year program plans, builds on work that started with the Regional Emergency Coordination Plan; continues this year with program assessments, plans, toolkits, guidebooks and training; and will advance in 2008 and beyond to bring about greater implementation and training.
  

Bay Area SUASI program goals are:

• To improve the capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist incidents or related catastrophic events by providing planning, training, equipment and exercises to the SUASI region.
• To achieve the National Preparedness Goals through 12 major initiatives.
• To enhance existing regional programs including: the Regional Emergency Coordination Plan project, the Cities Readiness Initiative, Metropolitan Medical Response Systems, the Regional Maritime Security Working Group, the Regional Transit Security Working Group, the Regional Terrorism Threat Assessment Center, and the various Citizen Corps projects.
  

The Bay Area Super Urban Area Security Initiative program is comprised of three major cities (Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose) and ten counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma), more than 100 incorporated cities, and a number of special districts, transportation agencies, and several airports. The program is managed through a three-tiered governance structure.

The top tier is the seven-member Approval Authority that includes representation from each of the three core cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose and each of the counties in which they are located (Alameda, San Francisco, and Santa Clara). The California OES, Coastal Region Administrator is also a member. The Approval Authority provides policy direction to the program and is responsible for final decisions.

The 14 member Approval Authority works collaboratively with the Advisory Group. Its membership includes one representative each from the 10 Bay Area county operational areas, the three core cities, and Coastal OES. The Advisory Group makes policy and programmatic recommendations to the Approval Authority and ensures that there is broad representation for regional input into the planning process.

SUASI Management Team
Managing the work of the Bay Area SUASI is a Management Team comprised of a general manager, four project managers and a finance manager. To learn more about the management team, go to the article in this issue titled Meet the Bay Area SUASI Management Team.

Regional Planners
Supporting the management team are 11 regional planners who are now on board to provide planning support to the 10 SUASI counties and the California Office of Emergency Services, Coastal Region. The planners connect with stakeholders in their jurisdictions to gather the information and input needed to conduct regional assessments and develop comprehensive regional plans. Learn more about the regional planners in our next issue.

Workgroups
The Bay Area SUASI engages a variety of stakeholders throughout the region to move these initiatives forward and to provide essential input for the policy and decision makers of the Bay Area SUASI Program. Workgroup members represent diverse interests and areas of expertise at the local, regional and state level. Each work group meets on a monthly basis to address identified projects and goals. Many of the work groups are developing five-year strategic plans, as well as identifying and implementing more immediate projects.

There are many benefits to participating in workgroups, and otherwise getting involved in the work of the Bay Area SUASI. To learn more, please read the article in this issue titled Get Involved.

Footnote
On January 3, 2006, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced $765 million in direct funding for high threat urban areas, as part of the fiscal year 2006 Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI). UASI provides resources for the unique equipment, training, planning, and exercises needed to select high-threat urban areas. DHS identified 35 UASIs across the United States. These 35 areas encompass 95 cities throughout the U.S. with populations of 100,000 or more.

When the federal government consolidates separate cities under one regional entity, such as Oakland, San Jose, and San Francisco -- they qualify as “Super Urban Areas” and fall into Tier 1 of the federal government’s ranking system. The Bay Area SUASI is one of just six in this category throughout the country. The other five are: Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, New York/Newark, and Washington D.C. SUASIs are eligible for a higher level of funding.

Since its inception in 2003, more than $2.1 billion has been allocated through UASI. Since 9/11, $8.6 billion has been provided in overall grant funding to states and territories to enhance first responder capabilities in preventing, protecting and responding to acts of terrorism.

For more information about the Bay Area SUASI Program please e-mail us at info@bayareasuasi.org.