Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU)
Emergency Management Workforce Consortium
Resource Center
The HBCU Emergency Management Consortium is collecting resources that focus on HBCUs and emergency response training. Check back often as we add resources to the Resource Center.
New Website Sections
Emergency Management Programs at HBCUs and MSIs
- 107: HBCU Listing. There are 107 colleges in the United States that are identified by the US Department of Education as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Of those 107, three are currently closed.
- Department of Aviation & Emergency Management Emergency Management Program, Elizabeth State University. This program provides a diverse pool of professionals with the skills required to maintain the safety of individuals, organizations, and communities from emergencies and disasters.
- Emergency Management Courses, Fayettevill State University. The program offers emergency management coursed and a certification program.
- Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Safety - Emergency & Disaster Management, Hampton University. A four-year undergraduate program.
- Emergency Preparedness, Department of Public Safety, Morehouse University. The Emergency Management Program establishes policies and procedures and assigns responsibilities to ensure the effective management of campus operations during emergency situations. Additionally, the organization provides direction for disseminating emergency public information, establishing emergency communications, developing alerting and warning procedures, and assessing and reporting damage.
- Office of Emergency Management, North Carolina A&T State University Police Department. The office's primary functions are to ensure the university is prepared to respond to, recover from and mitigate the effects of disasters that could adversely affect the health, safety and/or general welfare of students, faculty, staff, visitors and families.
- Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) program, Savannah State University (SSU). This program is the first in the nation at a historically Black college or university (HBCU) and the first bachelor's degree program in homeland security and/or emergency management in the state of Georgia and the only program in the region.
- Emergency Management and Homeland Security program, Texas Southern University. The mission of this program is to create graduates with extensive theoretical and applied knowledge in emergency management and disaster research. The program provides students with a broad range of administrative skills and knowledge needed to meet the critical needs of emergency managers and administrators.
- The Office of Emergency Management, Howard University. This office offers a variety of training and outreach programs for the University community. It offers emergency preparedness training for students, faculty, and staff (CPR, first aid, fire safety, etc.).
- UDC Prepared, University of the Disctict of Columbia. This is a community awareness program, based on FEMA’s Ready campaign, which encourages individuals to prepare themselves and their families for emergencies. Through this program, Emergency Management provides response and recovery from predictable hazards and emergencies in order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the university community.
- Criminal Justice program, Edward Waters College. This program is dedicated to educate, research, and service in the field of criminal justice and related areas of public safety.
- The Office of Emergency Management, Fort Valley State University. The office has created an Emergency Preparedness Seminar to help the FVSU community prepare for and react to potential campus emergencies.
- Emergency Management Courses, Tennessee State University. Over a dozen courses are offered in emergency management at all levels.
New Resources
- HBCU Emergency Management Workforce Consortium Newsletter: Whole of HBCUs, Volume 2.
- 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.
- Emergency Communications Coordinators (ECC): CISA’s Connection To Emergency Communications. Presentation by Tom Gagnon, CISA Emergency Communications Coordinator, on July 18, 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.
- Building and Sustaining Emergency Management Programs Among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) September 15-16, 2021 Meeting Summary. FEMA’s National Training and Education Division (NTED) Higher Education (HiEd) Program sponsored an engagement meeting with executives representing FEMA, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 13 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund on September 15-16, 2021 in Atlanta, GA.
- HBCU on Campus Community Emergency Response Training Program. This webinar, conducted on March 31, 2022, is the launch of the HBCU-focused CERT program, with Dr. Donna Christensen leading the discussion.
- Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Bomb Threat Resource Guide. This guide provides information on agency roles for emergency management, bomb-threat guidance and resources and mental health resources.
- Caribbean/Latin America Disaster Readiness Manual, 2022/2023.This guide discusses climate changes in the coming decades; food and water insecurity; greenhouse warming; global food systems; lessons from COVID-19; air quality; and water security.
- Emergency Management Institute’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Virtual Course: K0428 Train-The-Trainer (TTT). FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) will offer the K0428 CERT Train-the-Trainer course online. The course dates and other course-related information are listed in the program announcement.
- Disaster Recovery: Additional Actions Needed to Identify and Address Potential Recovery Barriers (GAO-22-104039). Thompson, Warren Release New Watchdog Report on Disaster Recovery Barriers, Lack of Equitable Outcomes. December 16, 2020 (WASHINGTON) – Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) released a report they requested from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the lack of equitable outcomes in disaster recovery programming across the Federal Government. In this report, the GAO found that there is a lack of available data on equitable recovery has made it difficult to draw complete conclusions about the direct impact of Federal programs on recovery outcomes. The GAO found that disaster recovery programs may help some communities more than others. For example, small towns and rural communities may lack the resources for full disaster recovery services compared to cities with significant tax revenue. Similarly, tribal nations may not have the resources to stand up and maintain an emergency management department.
- A Framework for Advancing Anti-Racism Strategy on Campus (National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education). The framework addresses ten priority areas where anti-racism strategies would significantly improve conditions for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students, faculty, and staff and that are applicable for a variety of college and university types.
- State Administrative Agency (SAA) Contacts. The State Administrative Agency (SAA) is the only entity eligible to apply for and submit the application for the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) and its component programs — State Homeland Security Program (SHSP), Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), and Operation Stonegarden (OPSG) — as well as the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP).
- National Preparedness Month 2022 Engagement Toolkit. In support of HBCU Emergency Management Workforce Consortiums efforts to boost engagement of HBCUs and their students in the field of emergency management, the following resources provide information and opportunities for engagement for HBCUs and other Institutions of Higher Education in support of National Preparedness Month. Resources include a PDF and customizable PPT of the toolkit, and partnership slide deck (Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships: Coalition Partners Resource Guide) that provides additional resources and information for HBCU EWMC members and other stakeholders.
HBCU-Specific Information
- Alabama A&M University
- Allen University
- Benedict College
- Central State University
- Clark-Atlanta University
- Elizabeth City State University
- Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
- Grambling State University
- Harris-Stowe State University
- Howard University
- Jackson State University
- Kentucky State University
- Morgan State University
- Prairie View A&M University
- Savannah State University
- Shaw University
- Southern University Law Center
- Tennessee State University
- Texas Southern University
- University of the Virgin Islands
- Wilberforce University
- Winston Salem State University
Key Links
- Executive Order on White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
- How a Disaster Gets Declared. This page provides procedural information regarding the Stafford Act declaration process and is intended for emergency managers, elected officials, media, and stakeholders interested in the formal declaration process.
- Listing of Accredited HBCUs. This page, from the College Navigator/National Center for Education Statistics, lists all current, accredited HBCUs.
- Partnerships with Natural First Responders. In this article, Marcus Coleman describes how when governments work alongside neighbors, caregivers, and youth, the resilience of the how community is strengthened.
- State Administrative Agency (SAA) Contacts. The State Administrative Agency (SAA) is the only entity eligible to apply for and submit the application for the Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) and its component programs. If you have a project you are interested in funding, please contact your applicable SAA POC.
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Resources
- Campus CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Starter Guide. This resource is designed to assist anyone interested in starting a Campus CERT program, whether that person is a Campus Safety staff member, a faculty member, a student, or another member of the campus community.
- CERT Liability Guide: A Risk Management Overview for Local CERT Programs. This resource offers information and suggested techniques to help CERT programs overcome this barrier. Those who will benefit from this information include local CERT programs, their sponsoring government agencies and legal advisors, and CERT members themselves.
- Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training Materials. This collection includes the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training Materials.
COVID-19 Resources
- ACHA Guidelines: Considerations for Reopening Institutions of Higher Education for the Fall Semester 2021. Considerations for student health, counseling, and health promotion services as well as discussions of vaccination, testing, non-pharmaceutical interventions, residence life, athletics, recreational sports, the learning environment, student life, and visitors to campus are included.
- COVID 19 Disaster Preparedness and Vulnerable Populations A Workshop Series Part 1 ( National Academies). This is the first virtual webinar in the COVID-19: Disaster Preparedness and Vulnerable Populations Workshop Series. This three part virtual webinar series is aimed at exploring issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and disaster preparedness for special populations.
- COVID-19 Handbook, Volume 2: Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students' Needs. This resource provides strategies for safely reopening all of America's schools and promoting educational equity by addressing opportunity gaps that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.
- COVID-19 Handbook Volume 3: Strategies for Safe Operation and Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education Students, Faculty, and Staff. This resource provides additional strategies for higher education institutions (IHEs) and communities as they work to reopen for in-person instruction safely and equitably.
- COVID-19 Testing Strategies for Colleges and Universities states that testing programs need to be designed to match the needs of specific institutions and identifies fast, frequent testing as one useful tool to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in a large and diverse university community.
- Delaware State University COVID-19 Testing Playbook. This DSU COVID-19 Testing Playbook is a living document intended to record the intricate steps taken from synthesis to execution of DSUs testing program. The purpose of this document is to present a clear framework of our testing program to be used as a template for other institutions, particularly HBCUs.
- Disaster Assistance and Emergency Hardship Funds: Charitable Assistance for Individuals and Communities. This book chapter addresses disaster assistance in response to natural disasters, as well as emergency hardship assistance for more personal tragedies and man-made events including mass shootings.
- Encouraging Protective Covid-19 Behaviors Among College Students uses the science of adolescent development to explore how colleges can most effectively encourage students to adopt behaviors that help prevent spread of the virus, such as mask wearing and physical distancing.
- Ending the COVID Pandemic. This graphic shows the categories of need to address COVID-19 from a clinical and public health perspective.
- Guidance for Colleges and Universities Responding to COVID-19. Two new publications from the Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN) at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine offer guidance on encouraging the adoption of COVID-19 protective behaviors among students and implementing testing programs on campus and emphasize the importance of communication, transparency, and student engagement.
- Resources from the White House COVID-19 Response Team and Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. These resources augment the April 22, 2021 webinar.
FEMA’s Office of Equal Rights (OER) Resources
FEMA’s external stakeholders are a critical part of our nation’s emergency management team and we appreciate your engagement in these crucial conversations to identify actual and perceived biases impacting equal access to FEMA’s programs and activities.
NEW: Read FEMA’s response to the National Advisory Council’s Report to the FEMA Administrator (released in November 2020). This report marked the first time the NAC members were charged with specific areas of concern to address in the field of emergency management, rather than open-ended topics. The report, and FEMA’s response, focuses on four main themes—equity, outcomes, coordination, and what works.
Building a Disaster-Resistant University (FEMA 443). This FEMA document provides planning guidance to higher education insitutions as they prepare to identify their risks, assess their vulnerability to natural and man-made hazards, and develop a hazard mitigation plan.
FEMA’s Civil Rights Summit Series 2020 After Action Report. This document summarizes the Summits presentation, leadership panel discussions, and question and answer topics, as well as key takeaways and next steps to further engage stakeholders and enhance equity, accessibility and environmental justice across FEMA programs and services. In addition, FEMA is providing information regarding a Request for Information (RFI) that can be viewed here.
FEMA's Process Flowchart - How Does It Work? Recovering from a natural disaster can be difficult for you and your family. When a disaster is declared by your local official and State Governor, the President approves a disaster declaration for your State which encompasses approval for Individual Assistance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can provide support to homeowners and renters who need assistance to recover. Review this diagram that outlines the process.
Presentations:
- Individual Assistance (IA) Presentation (English, Spanish)
- Public Assistance (PA) Presentation (English, Spanish)
- Federal Insurance Directorate (FID) Presentation (English, Spanish)
- Office of Environmental Planning and Historical Planning (OEHP) Presentation (English, Spanish)
Listen and Learn Sessions
- 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.
- 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
- Youth and Vaccinations. A recording of this session is available here from 100 Black Men of America, Inc., a group that educates parents and teens on dangers of COVID, increases awareness of the need for vaccination, and decreases fears of Myocarditis for young black males who get vaccinated.
- 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.
Emergency Management Activities from Individual HBCUs
Elizabeth City State University Poster Presenations and Resources
- HBCUs and their Relationship with Disaster Response and Recovery
- Recruitment by Extremist Groups on College Campuses
- Examination of Gaps in Service for the American Red Cross's "After the Fire Program" in North Carolina
- Recent pictures of ECSU CERT members doing a training session
Additional Resources
- Building Cultures of Preparedness: Report for the Emergency Management Higher Education Community. This report presents a culture-based approach to the preparedness goals laid out in the Strategic Plan. It lays out four Guiding Principles for building Cultures of Preparedness, followed by practical strategies and examples that demonstrate successful outcomes in real-world settings
- Chairman Thompson & Rep. Luetkemeyer Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Strengthen Partnerships between HBCUs and Homeland Security. (March 2019). Press release.
- Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response – 2017 Hurricane Recovery. (October 2019). By U.S. Virgin Islands. Based on the analysis of the data collected during two Community Assessments for Public Health Emergency Response, this document lists suggestions made to USVI Department of Health leadership and the Virgin Islands Territory Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA).
- DHS Strategic Framework for Addressing Climate Change. This document builds on the DHS Climate Action Plan, which was released on October 7, 2021 and outlines several steps the Department is taking to combat the climate crisis, including bolstering DHS’s ability to adapt to climate change, further increasing national resilience, undertaking mitigation measures, and addressing key vulnerabilities.
- Emergency Contracting State Contacts. Annotation: This list provides contact information for state level emergency management departments.
- Emergency Management/Homeland Security Higher Education Regional Academic Collaborative Region: After-Action Report and Improvement Plan. The After-Action Report and Improvement Plan (AAR/IP) align the collaborative engagement objectives with preparedness doctrine to include the National Preparedness Goal and related frameworks and guidance.
- FEMA Declared Disasters Portal: This portal lists all formally declared disasters, disaster, types, and the FEMA response.
- HBCU Propelling Agency Relationships Towards A New Era of ResultsfFor Students Act (HBCU Partners Act) Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 27 February 2019.) Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 27 February 2019. Annotation: The PARTNERS Act directs Federal agencies to: to provide students enrolled at HBCUs with the highest quality educational and economic opportunities; to bolster and facilitate productive interactions between historically Black colleges and university (HBCUs) and Federal agencies; and to encourage HBCU participation in and benefit from Federal programs, grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements.
- Historical Emergency Response in Action. This article describes the emergency response related to the shipwrecks in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1917.
- Homeland Security & Emergency Management Studies: Where Are the HBCUs? By: Dr. Goulda Downer in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. Annotation: The pipeline of new professionals in the field of homeland security (HS) and emergency management (EM) is developing without the inclusion of racially and ethnically diverse students; despite the fact that many of the latter come from communities most vulnerable to manmade and natural disasters and threats. This need not be so! Progress in strengthening a diversified HS and EM workforce requires historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to collaborate around our very survival – our shared interests not-withstanding. This is primarily aimed at training and providing the next generation of credentialed, qualified HBCU graduates in HS and EM.
- Hurricane Season Planning Tools for Higher Education Institutions. Slides from a FEMA webinar.
- Mitigating the Threat of School Violence after COVID-19. Webinar slides of the event presented by the Department of Homeland Security Thursday, June 24th, 2021.
- One Historical Perspective of FEMA’s “Neighbor Helping Neighbor” Program A Tribute to Ms. Angeles Morrillo Thompson and the late Mr. Benard “Ben” Dew. This article highlights the ongoing work of Dr. Jacqueline McBride, one of our Consortium members.
- Rand Report: A Scoping Literature Review on Indicators and Metrics for Assessing Racial Equity in Disaster Preparation, Response, and Recover.
- A Shared Vision - HBCUs Whole Community Approach: The Case for Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training. This document states the mission statement of the HBCU Emergency Management Workforce Consortium.
- TAP 34: Disaster Planning Handbook for Behavioral Health Service Programs. This Technical Assistance Publication (TAP), updated in 2021, provides guidance for behavioral health service and substance use disorder treatment programs wanting to develop or update a comprehensive, scalable, and flexible disaster plan. It addresses planning needs specific to programs that offer prevention services, outpatient or residential treatment, medically supervised withdrawal, and pharmacotherapy.