“We need to be ready everywhere.”  According to John Gavin, executive secretary of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), the expansion of response capabilities to enhance domestic preparedness has been main topic of formal and informal conversations between NVOAD members post September 11.  During a telephone interview, Gavin emphasized, “This is the biggest change in thinking.  Disasters are no longer just mapped to hurricanes, earthquakes or tornados.  We need to be ready everywhere.” 

On top of redefining disaster preparedness, the management of unaffiliated volunteers is another issue NVOAD members have discussed during formal and informal post-September 11 conversations.   Gavin said that the events of September 11 elicited a surge of “unaffiliated volunteers.”  NVOAD member organizations were confronted with the challenge of managing and utilizing off-the-street volunteers who had no prior training or experience in disaster-response. 

Founded in the early 1970s, NVOAD’s mission has been to promote the four “Cs” among its membership.  NVOAD holds an annual meeting and training conferences to foster coordination, communication, cooperation, and collaboration between voluntary organizations like the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Adventist Community Services, and Volunteers of America.  According to the NVOAD website (www.nvoad.org), “the best time to train, prepare, and become acquainted with each other is prior to the actual disaster response.” 

Gavin explained that NVOAD member organizations act independently of each other in carrying out response and recovery activities – NVOAD’s role in an actual disaster response is minimal.  Thus, Gavin described NVOAD’s role in disaster response as a pro-active role.  Via “formal and informal forums” at meetings and conferences, NVOAD provides the staging ground for conversations between representatives of voluntary organizations.  In addition to large organizational members like the American Red Cross or the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, NVOAD members also include 34 state and regional VOADs and their member organizations.  These state VOADs connect regional voluntary organizations to each other and to state and local governments. 

What role do NVOAD members believe they can fill in the federal government’s plan to heighten domestic preparedness?  Gavin explained, “NVOAD is the vehicle to establish relationships between FEMA and voluntary organizations.”  FEMA draws from the disaster-response and recovery resources provided by voluntary organizations on NVOAD’s membership list because, to become a NVOAD member, these organizations have been “certified” as meeting certain disaster-response criteria.  For Gavin and other NVOAD members, this crucial connection between government and voluntary organizations contains the potential for establishing a productive relationship with the new office of Homeland Security. 

“There haven’t been many conversations between NVOAD members and the Office of Homeland Security,” says Gavin.  But with NVOAD’s proven working relationship with FEMA, Gavin believes that NVOAD and voluntary organizations can play a key role as the Federal government develops domestic preparedness plans.