Managing Spontaneous Community Volunteers in Disasters

While history has identified a need for improved coordination during emergencies, it has also demonstrated that community volunteers positively impact their neighborhoods during times of crisis. Laying out the rationale and process by which emergency managers, community leaders, and non-governmental aid organizations can effectively collaborate and integrate citizen response, Spontaneous Community Volunteers in Disasters explains how to engage, train, and utilize spontaneous unaffiliated community volunteers (SUCV).

The book prepares leaders to integrate local volunteers into any scale emergency response. Protocols and flexible management solutions are outlined to ensure safe and effective planning and execution. Work templates provided can be modified to suit the needs of any community. This accessible manual provides the tools to:

• Assess your agency’s role, tasks, and challenges to meet community needs in a disaster
• Build a plan for managing SUCVs by developing internal and external protocols
• Develop effective spot screening and selection methods
• Engage community members in information-sharing and outreach campaigns
• Consider policies and procedures that create relevant roles for volunteers and community groups to build a resilient team for disaster recovery
• Provide National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliant answers to address common barriers to using SUCVs

Combining field experience and psychosocial research, the book makes a strong case as to why community involvement in disaster response will have a positive impact on a community’s resilient recovery.

Praise for Spontaneous Community Volunteers in Disasters:

All emergency management coordinators can benefit from this book.
—Howard Butt, New Jersey State Police, State CERT Coordinator

Lisa Orloff has done an excellent job in both identifying a significant opportunity in emergency response and meticulously outlining how that opportunity can best be leveraged.
—Dr. Michael Chumer, New Jersey Institute of Technology

The Alliance for Nonprofit Management has nominated the book for the Terry McAdam Award. This award is bestowed upon the Committee's choice for the most inspirational and useful new book published for the nonprofit sector.