Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU)

Emergency Management Workforce Consortium

Addressing the emergency response training needs among students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Recent natural disasters primarily weather related have highlighted the limited emergency response training that has been provided to students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in vulnerable geographic areas. In probing the lack of training afforded students at HBCUs it was also evident that HBCU graduates do not have a significance presence in emergency management careers.

The HBCU Emergency Management Consortium was started and addressed as its initial undertaking the emergency response training needs among students at HBCUs. The Consortium has made great strides in proposing actions to address the emergency response training void that exist in the HBCU communities. and determining actions needed for CERT Training, which this paper summarizes discussions to date and proposes additional goals.

NEW! HBCU Emergency Management Workforce Consortium Newsletter: Whole of HBCUs, Volume 2.

EXCITING! Read President Biden's commendation for the HBCU Emergency Management Consortium's work on the HBCU COVID Awareness and Resilience Day.

News

Press Release.Thompson, Warren, Ramirez Introduce Legislation To Address Federal Disaster Response Inequities: Read the Press Release | Access the Legislation Fact Sheet | Read the Legislation Text.
Two New FEMA Resources:
- Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program Guide. This resource provides an overview of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program and explains the requirements each CERT Program must meet to remain officially recognized.
- How to Start a Community Emergency Response Team. The purpose of this guide is to provide information and helpful advice to those looking to start a CERT in their community.
Congressional Disaster Equity and Building Resilience Caucus. Reps. Bennie G. Thompson, Troy A. Carter, Sr., Dina Titus, and Brian Higgins announced the creation of the Congressional Disaster Equity and Building Resilience Caucus to promote the benefits of resilience and the need for equity in the country’s disaster preparedness and response infrastructure. Research has shown that racial minorities, rural areas, low-income communities, tribes, individuals with disabilities, seniors, and children are all more likely to experience the most devastating impacts of disasters.
Equip. Empower. Hire. Retain. Career Fair. An in-person career fair with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Member Offices and Components for students and recent graduates. April 24, 2023.
Start Guide to Review and Update the Emergency Plan for Your HBCU. Use this one-page document to follow the four steps to identify stakeholders and resources necessary to develop your Emergency Operations Plan (EOP).
The Essential Emergency Manager: What They Do and How They Do It (FAMU Emergency Management Training). Ashley Davis presents this 10-minute video on how to respond to emergencies.
The HBCU Emergency Consortium members proudly announce that Florida A&M University has become the first Historically Black College and University to apply for, and participate in, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Exercise Program. This program provides support for exercise design, scenario development, planning, execution, and evaluation using subject matter expertise from experienced exercise specialists. Read more about this exciting milestone.
Check out a listing of the Consortium Announcements.
ECSU’s Community Emergency Response Team Wins National Innovation of the Year Award. Elizabeth City State University (ECSU)’s Campus Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) earned a top award from the National CERT Association at the organization’s awards ceremony in Galveston, Texas. Created by CERT Leaders across the United States in partnership with FEMA, the non-profit association was established in September 2019 to support communication and resource sharing across the CERT community. Read more here.
News You Can Use
Toolkit Portal

Listen and Learn

CERT Program Manager Training (Virtual). The audience for this course includes professionals and volunteers who are designated to be or are interested in being appointed a local CERT Program Manager, or for those already in a CERT Program Manager position. Click here for course dates and additional information.

HBCU Disaster Resilience Series: Coordinating Resources for Resilience Strengthening. This event took place on Thursday, July 8, 2021. Read more... | Access the archive...

HBCU COVID Awareness and Resilience Day – (HBCU-CARD)

HBCU-CARD took place on Tuesday, May 4, 2021. The event was dedicated to raising awareness about the unequal burden of COVID-19 and mobilizing our African American Communities to build equity against this pandemic. Access the HBCU-CARD webpage... Read the HBCU-CARD briefing memo...
Access the HBCU-CARD press release.
Share information about HBCU-CARD through our social media toolkit.
Look at this infographic, HBCU Students: Ending the COVID Pandemic.

Response Planning and Implementation: Archived Webinar. Listen to the recording of the HBCU Emergency Management Consortium as they present a regionally-focused webinar series. This initial event was held on Thursday, March 4, 2021 and focused on the HBCUs in FEMA Region IV

FEMA Higher Education Program (HiEd) Community Call: Focus on HBCU Emergency Management Consortium Workforce. Slides by Goulda Downer, PhD, FAND, RD, LN, CNS.

12th Annual HBCU Foreign Policy Conference
Join us after the conference with the Elliott School of International Affairs for a virtual reception with members of their faculty and staff. Students can engage and network with members of the Elliott School to learn about their International Affairs program. Please go to the Program Schedule page to access the on-demand links to all sessions.

Our Work in the News: In this episode of the #MissionIsPossible podcast, host, Sasha Cohen O'Connell, sits down with Dr. Goulda Downer to discuss her work in building disaster #resilience in underserved communities and lessons that we can all use to help build engaged and prepared communities. Listen Now.

Hearing on the COVID-19 Pandemic One Year Later: Full Committee Hearing: Confronting the Coronavirus: Perspectives on the COVID-19 Pandemic One Year Later
Webinar archive available here.

Learn More

HBCU Opening Status by FEMA Region. Access the opening status with links to individual HBCU policies. You can also see a graphical HBCU open status summary.
Resources. The HBCU Emergency Management Consortium is collecting resources that focus on HBCUs and emergency response training.
Read more about the Consortium. The HBCU Emergency Management Consortium was started and addresses as its initial undertaking the emergency response training needs among students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Read about our workforce pipeline. To obtain the requisite data needed to launch the initiative of the HBCU Pipeline to develop the Homeland Security-Emergency Management workforce for the Future.
Read the CERT-HBCU white paper. There are currently fewer than 5% of all US institutions of higher learning offer training in emergency management, and only 12 of the 104 HBCUs do so.