CERT Richmond - Organize Your Community

Ready Together Neighbors

Ready Together Team Lead Packet - in progress.... (10/26)
Ready Together Neighbor Packet (English)
Ready Together Neighbor Packet (Spanish) - in progress ...(10/26)

When a major earthquake, wildfire, or disaster strikes, first responders may be overwhelmed and take days to reach individual streets. In those critical early hours, neighbors are each other's first line of support.

The Ready Together Neighbors program encourages neighbors to their community to ensure that no household is overlooked during an disaster.

How It Works

The program is powered by volunteer Team Leads who look out for a cluster of 12 to 15 households on their street or building. You don't need to be a firefighter, paramedic, or prepper to participate—just a neighbor who cares!

Before an Emergency: Leads connect with neighbors, share emergency preparedness packets, distribute "OK / HELP" doorknob hangtags, and gather basic contact info to identify households that may need extra support.
During an Emergency: After ensuring your own household is safe, you walk your assigned block to check for "HELP" signs or hazards, logging status updates and relaying critical needs to local CERT leaders and first responders. (Note: In wildfire evacuations, your only job is evacuating safely with your family!)

The information below is from our previous version of Ready Together, that was mainly focused on earthquake preparedness. There is lots of good info below.

Neighbor Preparedness - Ready Together!

We understand people are busy and also have different comfort levels in terms of interacting with neighbors so we have created a system to help you and your block be more prepared for disasters. You can start with the Bare Bones level and add other parts of the program in as you have time or inspiration. You can also view this as a multi-step process. Get some of the Level 1 - Bare Bones steps done such as identifying your area and creating a map with emergency shut off valves. As time permits, you can add other elements such as a block contact list and identify neighbors with skills as well as special needs. This is best to be done with at least another person so you have support and can keep each other motivated.

Here is the checklist for organizing your neighborhood. This program was inspired by Map your Neighborhood.

Level 1 - The Bare Bones

Nivel 1 - Lo básico

1. Determine the area you will cover.

In order to respond quickly and efficiently after a disaster, it is good to establish a reasonably sized area your team can cover. 15 houses is a good sized team with 25 homes being a maximum. Determine what section of your neighborhood block will be included. If you have a small block, you may cover the entire block. However, if your block is lengthy, you may want to split it into two teams.

2. Look at the Ready Together! First Steps handout.

Gathering Site: Determine where neighbors will meet after a disaster. Consider a place you might have shelter from the elements, but that is visible, ex. open car park or large porch. Write this location on the First Steps handout, "Step 7." Watch this video from Map Your Neighborhood about Gathering Sites.
Care Center: Determine where people with special needs, kids that are home alone, and the elderly will be taken. Write this location on the First Steps handout, "Step 8." Watch this video from Map Your Neighborhood about the Care Center.

3. Make copies of map.

Each household should receive a copy of the neighborhood map. Watch this video on how to create a map. Print out. Outline each building so it is more visible. Write house numbers (ex. 535) on each house as well as number the houses based on the size of your team, ex. 1-16.

4. Make a copy of the following handouts + map for each household.

NOTE: Periodically we offer the Ready Together! Organize Your Block class (see Events Calendar).

English

Spanish | Español

Level 2 - Block Contact List

Nivel 2 - Lista de contactos vecinales

Create a list of neighbors, their contacts, pets, any special needs, as well as a response team they would like to be on (ex.damage assessment, light search and rescue, utilities, medical). See the checklist for organizing your neighborhood to access the neighborhood contact list. We strongly encourage you do it on Google docs so that you can transfer the ownership easily to others and 1-2 other neighbors also have editing rights to ensure that the list is maintained.

After a disaster, folks will take care of their households first then people tend to go out into the streets to see what’s happening. It’s a great idea if your block has an idea of what you will do at this point before it happens. When you collect information about neighbors, ask them what group they want to be on. These are the groups: damage assessment (utilities & hazards), small fire suppression (trash can size or smaller), light search & rescue, and medical.

Level 3 - Neighborfest Party

Nivel 3 - Fiesta vecinal

Check out Neighborfest, a free program offered by San Francisco, on how to create a block party that not only builds community but also includes a map of your area and neighbors can help identify local resources. and have an opportunity to discuss preparedness.

Level 4 - Disaster Drill

Nivel 4 - Simulacro de catástrofe

Look at the checklist for organizing your neighborhood for some tips on running a block drill.

Now that you've built your team up, encourage folks to take a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) class to develop more skills. The City of Richmond as well as other cities provide these for free. There is also a free online course through the University of Utah that includes instruction, but lacks the hands-on part. For folks with limited time, encourage them to sign up for this 16-hour class. Perhaps, they can only commit to doing the units about basic incident command structure and the team (ex. damage assessment) that they signed up for.

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