On A Mission to Support the Community
Our mission is to create a local network to support each other and strengthen the whole community by coordinating our capabilities and resources to better prepare, respond, and recover from emergencies.
After receiving a grant in 2014, Volunteer Fairfax partnered with Fairfax County’s Office of Emergency Management, Department of Neighborhood and Community Services, and Faith Communities in Action to build a program that educates and connects community organization so that Districts are more resilient during and after a disaster. This initiative seeks to connect a range of organizations from nonprofits and faith-based groups, to homeowners and civic associations, to private industry and local government to form Community Resiliency Groups in each of the nine districts; these organizations not only provide day to day services but also provide a grassroots network of connections in both non-emergency and emergency times.
An educational Seminar and practice Tabletop Exercise was hosted in each of Fairfax County’s Magisterial Districts. The goal for the Seminar was to create an awareness of how together, organizations can bolster each other and the community through their capabilities, resources, and networks pre and post disaster. The Exercise, designed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Exercise Program (NEP), offered the opportunity for Seminar participants to practice their newly acquired knowledge and identify ways to strengthen their resiliency efforts.
