OFBCI Offers Disaster Preparedness Grant for Community Organizations

OFBCI-LogoGovernor Mitch Daniels’ Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI), in partnership with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, is working with the Indiana Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (Indiana VOAD) to ensure that Indiana is better prepared at the local level. The OFBCI is making funding available to local faith and community-based nonprofits to assist in disaster preparedness through the 2012 Community Organizations Active in Disasters (COAD) Partnership Grant program. The COAD Partnership program offers financial leveraging to nonprofit entities to help identify and build up networks, resources, and collaborations to better prepare for times of disaster.

When disaster strikes, Hoosiers rush in to help their fellow Hoosiers,” Jim Huston, Executive Director of the OFBCI explained. “The Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is working with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and local faith and community organizations to better plan for response and recovery efforts before they are needed. Our new COAD grant will help serve communities throughout Indiana by engaging faith and community partners on the ground so needs are accounted for and ultimately met when disaster strikes.

Our goal is to reduce suffering and improve recovery when a disaster happens,” said Steve Cain, president of the Indiana Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (Indiana VOAD) and Purdue Extension specialist. “Local, disaster preparedness is vital. There’s a national movement for communities to be better prepared for disasters. This grant provides incentives and guidance for communities. The dozens of voluntary organizations that make up Indiana VOAD have made it a priority to support strong, local COADs around the state.”

Created as a part of the mitigation plan from the 2008 floods, the COAD Partnership program provides funding for the implementation of specific disaster preparations strategies, ranging from $10,000.00 to $50,000.00, dependent on the number of communities involved, the focus of the project design, the projected scope of deliverables, and the capacity to provide deliverables.

The purpose of the COAD Development Grant program is to assist eligible entities in creating and implementing strategies to:

  • Identify housing and disaster resource inventories to more efficiently provide for those affected by disaster;
  • Identify volunteers and facilitate opportunities for them to become affiliated with organizations active in disaster response;
  • Plan and facilitate opportunities for disaster preparedness learning and education-based training;
  • Plan and facilitate opportunities for disaster preparedness activities, operational exercises, and experience-based training;
  • Provide identifying media (pictures, contact information) that assists in cataloguing latent community resources; and
  • Leverage the resources of federal, state and local governments, private sector and other non-profit organizations to maximize the resulting outcomes.

For organizations interested in learning more about this opportunity, OFBCI is hosting a conference call at 2:30pm on January 18, 2012. For further details about the application instructions, the COAD Partnership grant, and OFBCI’s role in Disaster Recovery, please visit http://www.in.gov/ofbci/2570.htm.