The Anaheim Citizen Corps Council was established in August, 2006 and includes active representation from the City Council, City Managers Office, Fire Department, Police Department, Community Services, and Human Resources.
The purpose of the council is to have all decision makers at the table to manage existing volunteer resources, to leverage mutually supportive endeavors among represented groups, and to direct the overall local plans to implement Citizen Corps in the community.
The Citizen Corps Councils’ objectives include:
- Coordinating implementation of NIMS IS-100 and IS-700 training for all volunteers to meet Department of Homeland Security Requirements.
- Helping to educate all council members of the roles and responsibilities of firs responders and volunteer organizations.
- Identify all existing activities and resources.
- Identify groups and opportunities that could supplement resources in an emergency.
- Create a variety of volunteer opportunities.
- Provide for greater public education.
- Added opportunities for marketing through newsletter distribution and other publications.
- Added awareness within the private sector.
The organizations represented on the Anaheim Citizen Corps Council include Neighborhood Watch, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES), Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS), and Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol (RSVP).
In its first six months of collaboration, the Anaheim Citizen Corps Council successfully brought together the Police and Fire Department volunteer programs by offering CERT Training to all RSVP members. In its first class, 45 RSVP volunteers received their CERT Certification and are now trained resources to be activated in emergency response and participate in the Neighborhood Teams.
