Community Education Project
picks pilot communities
The new ARRL Community Education Project (CEP) has targeted
a dozen communities from Maine to Oregon to learn about the value of Amateur
Radio to community safety and security.
Between now and next August, CEP Coordinator Bill Barrett,
W1WJB, will be visiting the 12 localities to explore the best ways Amateur
Radio can work with Citizen Corps councils. Barrett wants to enlist local
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) teams and ham radio clubs to demonstrate
Amateur Radio as a source of trained communicators - equipped and ready
to serve.
"We hope to leave behind new and durable working relationships between
Amateur Radio groups - as embodied in ARES, RACES and local ham clubs
- and Citizen Corps councils," Barrett says. In addition, he wants
to share the
message about Amateur Radio and emergency communication with community
leaders and have ham radio written into local and state emergency plans.
The overall effort, he hopes, will result in ongoing relationships that
will "mutually educate and develop a well-integrated local emergency
communication capability" to serve the public - in line with the
goals of the grant funding the CEP.
At the same time, Barrett says, the scope of his project is limited out
of sheer necessity. "Since this is a developmental pilot program,
we are not attempting to go everywhere at once," he said. The 12
target locations
were chosen with guidance from Citizen Corps, a community volunteer organization
operating under the Department of Homeland Security umbrella.
Barrett also took pains to explain what the CEP is not trying to do.
"Our purpose is not to recruit a lot of local emergency workers -
professional or volunteer - to become licensed amateurs," he said.
"Quite probably, some will go this route, but that would be a desirable
side effect and not a
main goal."
Barrett has been enlisting the assistance of ARRL Field Organization
officials and ARRL-affiliated clubs in the affected sections to coordinate
his visits. In addition to local Citizen Corps councils, Barrett wants
to reach Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members as well as "other
interested parties, such as local educational system officials."
Barrett is filling a new one-year position at ARRL. The League received
a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)
of nearly $90,000 to develop the pilot Community Education Project.
The 12 pilot communities are York County, Maine; Shenandoah Valley, Virginia;
Jefferson County, Alabama; Old Hickory, Tennessee; Galesburg, Illinois;
Humboldt County, Iowa; Bates County, Missouri; Arapahoe County,
Colorado; Phoenix, Arizona; Clackamas County, Oregon; Grant County, New
Mexico, and Concord, New Hampshire.
Source: ARRL Letter - courtesy of The
American Radio Relay League
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