As the year draws to a close, we are about to embark on a period of intense work. During the October workgroup meetings, stakeholders will continue to provide input for completing the eight major 2006 grant-year planning projects, develop scopes of work for the 2007 grant-year projects, and propose new projects for the 2008 grant cycle.

The first draft of our 2008 grant submission is due to the California Office of Homeland Security (OHS) in early January, 2008. In cooperation with OHS and the other California UASI programs, we have agreed to have Tier 1 cities review and comment on Tier 2 submissions and to have Tier 2 cities review Tier 1’s proposals. We will all provide comments to the state on its submission. It is our collective goal to make California’s grant proposals the best in the nation. To that end, please note that we are launching a new sidebar on grants in this issue, which will feature information and tips on grants and the grant application process.

Our featured article this month is an overview of our Volunteer Management System: HelpBayArea.org. This will be the first major SUASI project to be completed. Consistent with our regional approach, this will serve as a highly effective tool that is available to the 10 Bay Area counties’ disaster and volunteer organizations to notify, register, and track volunteers. Also featured in this issue is a “Spotlight on Initiative” article, which offers a description of how the City and County of San Francisco have easily adapted the existing web-based platform to meet the needs of their Disaster Service Worker Program.

We have seven other major regional planning projects underway. Most of these projects will be completed by the end of December. In order for these projects to be a success, we need your assistance, as regional stakeholders, to help provide the project workgroups with information and feedback. If you have any questions about these projects, please contact the SUASI regional planner assigned to your area. Their contact information is listed in this newsletter. Please also read the “Meet the Planners” article for an introduction to the 11 individuals who are essential to the Bay Area SUASI.

A short article on the expansion of the “Get Ready Marin” program serves as an excellent example of efforts in Citizen Preparedness. We are also featuring a newly created sidebar called “Training & Exercise.”

In the masthead of this issue we have linked you to our new public web pages, designed to allow those who aren’t directly participating in the program to view information about the Bay Area SUASI without a login.

Finally, as we move forward, let us remember that October 17 marks the 18th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake -- one of the key catalysts for our work today and in the future.

The Bay Area SUASI reached a major milestone on October 11 with the official launch of www.HelpBayArea.org, a secure, web-based application that offers the 10 Bay Area counties’ disaster and volunteer organizations a highly effective tool for notifying and managing emergency responders -- from the initial registration and credential verification, through mobilization, on-site check-in, tracking, and demobilization. The system was developed with the guidance of a workgroup composed of representatives from the Bay Area SUASI jurisdictions and funded by the Bay Area SUASI, using grant funds awarded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

A Collaborative Development Process

The Volunteer Management System Project began development and implementation of HelpBayArea.org in June of 2007.  Stakeholders were engaged through a series of facilitated meetings, where they were able to review configuration decisions from the CORES Configuration Options Toolkit.  Weekly meetings with the vendor, Collaborative Fusion, Inc., were helpful in identifying strategy, project needs, and critical path issues. Project recommendations, system configurations and project plans were discussed and approved during these meetings.  The workgroup is also charged with determining long-term governance for the project.

The City and County of San Francisco (CCSF) is integrating its Human Resources Management Systems with HelpBayArea.org to help mobilize and manage the City and County’s 32,000 employees, who are required by state and local law to report for duty in the event of an emergency. This will represent the first time that CCSF has had one system that can track all 32,000 employees – from librarians to backhoe operators -- for the purposes of employee deployment during a disaster. (HelpBayArea.org was developed and funded by the Bay Area SUASI using grant funds from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.)

CCSF will upload employee information from its human resources database later this month. William Bass, Program Manager for CCSF’s Disaster Service Worker Program, emphasizes the importance of a system that enables the fast and simple management of human resource efforts during the stress of an emergency. “While we have an effective system for HR management, it was not designed for emergency needs. We need to be able to manage our personnel resources on the fly. The Legacy System that we use would likely be down after a major earthquake. Our (employee and volunteer management) system is paper based and can be very cumbersome. HelpBayArea.org provides a resilient system, which will allow us to screen and vet volunteers and to assign and manage them.”

The CORES platform provided CCSF with a strong, highly functional option that met both volunteer and employee management needs, while providing an exceedingly high level of physical and electronic security around data. “We were very concerned that other products might not be able to meet the ever-changing demands on security. We are confident, based on what we’ve seen, of our choice in Collaborative Fusion’s security protocols and testing,” said Bass.

Also according to Bass, adapting the CORES platform for the Disaster Service Worker Program was straightforward and very cost effective, given the multitude of functions that it can provide, including running reports on employee training and credentials, as well as verifying required licenses.

To read more about the system and its benefits, click on the full story link below.

Eleven Regional Planners were hired through the Bay Area SUASI to provide regional planning support to the Bay Area counties and the Coastal Office of Emergency Services.

The Planners play an essential role in carrying out the mission of the Bay Area SUASI – to enhance regional capability through regional collaboration—as they connect with stakeholders in their jurisdictions to communicate about the program and to gather the information and input needed to conduct regional assessments and to develop comprehensive regional plans.

To read a description of each regional planner's experience, click the full story link below.

Click the full story link to read updates about each of the Bay Area SUASI projects.

Colorful banners appeared throughout Marin County in October to raise public awareness about "Get Ready Marin," a citizen preparedness program supported by the Bay Area SUASI. The program provides free two-hour classes in disaster preparedness -- with the objective of helping all Marin residents to help care for themselves in the event of an earthquake, fire, flood or other major disaster. Marin County is especially susceptible to numerous hazardous conditions due to its seismic activity, topography, high winds, narrow access roads and the close proximity of buildings, homes and vegetation. The program was recently extended from Tiburon, where it began, to the entire county.