The Extension Disaster Education Network and U.S. Department of Homeland Security formalized their working relationship Thursday when Administrator Deanne Criswell signed a memorandum of agreement for education, mitigation, planning, preparedness, response, and recovery initiatives to help ensure equitable whole community resilience before, during, and after disasters.
EDEN Chair Angela B. Lindsey of University of Florida IFAS Extension said, “Extension is the trusted agent in so many communities across our nation. Extension is always there with solutions based upon unbiased research and experiential learning. EDEN and Extension touches the youngest 4-H members, small farmers and ranchers, families navigating tough economic times before, during, and after disasters, owners and operators of Main Street businesses and local industry, and even municipal, county, and state government leadership.”
She said, “When disasters happen, EDEN doesn’t have to mobilize to travel somewhere to help those hurt, injured, or at a loss to recover from the tragedy. EDEN is already there in the county Extension offices and in the state Extension service model. We are never outsiders coming to tell some disaster survivors what to do, EDEN is there to provide them with the plans, best practices, and tools to aid and speed their recovery and a community finding a new normal.”
EDEN Vice Chair Monty Dozier, of Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension and vice chair of EDEN, said the agreement, “Is a meaningful recognition of the efforts over the years of so many EDEN delegates and points-of-contact in emergency planning, preparedness, education, response and recovery at the county, town, community, and even the neighborhood level. We look forward to growing even more programming and projects to bolster our community-based efforts in emergency management across the nation.”
Dr. Lindsey said she, Dr. Dozier, Secretary Faye Griffiths-Smith of University of Connecticut Extension, and the EDEN Executive Committee chairs had been working to achieve this partnership for months. “I talked with Administrator Criswell during one of her visits to Florida following a hurricane landfall in our state earlier this year,” Dr. Lindsey said.
She thanked Interim DHS Center Head Nicole Woods and former DHS Center head Marcus Coleman, Jr., for facilitating the partnership.
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