A nationwide educational campaign with a simple message could prove be an effective way of laying the foundation for engaging and creating a culture of preparedness among our youth and in our communities.  "Duck & Cover", "Call 911" and "Just Say No" were each built upon and supported by such campaigns.

The framework might be as simple as something like this:

Think. Act. Prepare.

  • THINK about what types of emergencies you may have to respond to in your community
  • ACT if you see or hear of something suspicious
  • PREPARE, plan and practice for emrgencies at home, work, school

Curriculim, support materials and activities could be created for various grade levels and age groups.

Why the contribution is important

Creating a culture of preparedness requires educating and engaging our youth.

It wasn't that many years ago that we had at least a "sense" of preparedness in our homes, schools and communities.

Fallout shelter signs on local buildings and duck and cover drills may seem elementry in retrospect, but at the time we felt confident that we knew what to do, or where to go in an emergency.

It's my belief that we need to get back to the very basics of preparedness in our homes, schools and communities and that means a return to educating our youth on what the dangers might be and how to prepare for them.

The New Jersey House & Senate is currently working on a piece of legislation that will mandate monthly homeland security drills in the state's schools.

That's a great start.

Combining these efforts and expanding the scope nationwide will go a long way in preparing and building resiliant communities of the future.

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Votes so far:

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2.4 (14 votes - averaged)
bluebirdinc
Posted by bluebirdinc September 02, 2009 at 01:31AM
If education were worth what we pay for it this would already be taught. Common sense is not taught by union teachers. They are immoral and will never teach what our children need to learn. We need to close the public schools, get the Federal government out of the schools entirely, and leave education up to communities with morality taught as was intended by our founders.
brolove
Posted by brolove September 02, 2009 at 12:12PM
this is already done
ntarc
Posted by ntarc September 02, 2009 at 01:43PM
and the National Preparedness Campaign is...?
MRDuPont
Posted by MRDuPont September 02, 2009 at 03:05PM
I think the concept of a national education or awareness campaign is a good one. Specifically, in the realm of teaching and encouraging people to report what the see as suspicious to someone who can act on it. This crosses many DHS realms, including the prevention, preparedness and response areas, and could be used to fortify all of those disciplines with public participation and support.
lhitchcock
Posted by lhitchcock September 02, 2009 at 03:08PM
While some campaigns, such as National Preparedness are out there, they are not as visible as the campaigns cited in this suggestion.
BL
Posted by BL September 03, 2009 at 06:52AM
Don´t create a culture of fear.
smp242
Posted by smp242 September 03, 2009 at 12:14PM
All this sounds well and good but until you get people to feel personally responsible for their own safety it will not work. This is especially true in the current environment where the government wants to control everything and the people want them to do everything for them. Just look at New Orleans and Katrina. Ntrac puts it well What National Prepardness campaign? I have seen nothing in the main stream media about it.
rstauffer
Posted by rstauffer September 03, 2009 at 04:23PM
Engaging our youth and instilling a sense of individual responsibility is a good approach. In general, as a society we have moved away from individuals being taught that they are responsible and accountable for preparing for and responding to emergencies and we have moved into the "moral hazard" realm where folks have an expectation that there will be someone there to take care of them so they do not need to be prepared ... they do not need to Think. Act. Prepare. I believe a Think. Act. Prepare. campaign should be integrated into our schools and more importantly into our news media. Our media perpetuates the "moral hazard" by focusing on those instances where individuals' false expectations (it's someone else's job to take care of me) are not met. Our education system and public information systems (media) need to work in tandem to move our society back to an "it starts with you" campaign on preparedness.
keglerge
Posted by keglerge September 03, 2009 at 05:07PM
I do agree with all the candid comments so; why not support a National Education Campaign? When Katrina occurred, this disaster evoked fears around the nation of "what happens when people, individually and nationally are not educated about preparedness. There were many missed opportunities for an education campaigns prior to Y2K, 9-11 and Katrina and unfortunately these missed opportunities became a major wake-up call for our nation overall. I am firm believer in “education begins at home” and how many of today, still practice these types of preparedness drills with our families and communities? Therefore, I would support a much needed reminder such as Homeland Security Education Campaign that will support elevating these types of individual exercises on a nationwide scale. So when we ask ourselves the question, “What Homeland Security Education Campaign?” Hopefully, the campaigns that will begin after our discussion thread is reviewed and the constructive action we take individually to insure this happens outside of this forum.
Deutsch
Posted by Deutsch September 03, 2009 at 10:44PM
I believe that a Federally funded education campaign needs to be designed and presented to push "responsibility" back down to the public, where it belongs. It would have a secondary benefit of reducing the public's expectations of what FEMA can and will do for them in a disaster. FEMA needs to get out of the New Orleans urban renewal business and become more of the educator and guide. They should provide leadership and guidance and as a last resort, be the monitor of federal dollars given to communities that did not adequately prepare themselves for the disaster beforehand. Dollars expended on preparation and education will produce a much larger "bang" than dollars given after the fact to make the community just like it was before the event.
gheckse
Posted by gheckse September 04, 2009 at 06:59AM
NJ has been shown to have an effective alert system...see http://www.nationalterroralert.com/updates/2009/09/03/nj-alert-a-homeland-security-preparedness-role-model/ Without effective and efficient communication, the think, act, prepare will be chaotic and inefficient. People need to be educated that the first 72 hours will likely be without widespread assistance and to plan accordingly. Getting back to the Civil Defense model from the 50's and 60's in the schools would be helpful.
DHahn
Posted by DHahn September 04, 2009 at 10:39AM
The idea has merit but it must be accompanied by money, and in this era of deficit building that will not happen. Remeber stop, drop and roll? Remember the efforts in schools to educate on actions to take during a nuclear attack? This idea has its roots in history, but in todays age it is not as prudent an idea because school funding is tied to report cards dictated by test scores, so school concentrate on teaching to a test, leaving little time for public awareness/preparedness training. If you find the right teacher you can implement CERT in high schools, but that only reaches a certain portion of the school population.
LaRoseel
Posted by LaRoseel September 04, 2009 at 04:34PM
I remember the bomb shelters and there was some comfort because of the drills that were practiced. I believe in tending to the basics of the safety for all of the people. To know what to do if something happens, helps the fear subside if more education is offered. From what I have just read, North Korea is getting real close to finishing plutonium enrichment program. The more we know the better prepared we will be.
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