Washington-area nonprofits coordinate different crisis-management strategies

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - About 50 area nonprofit organizations will begin work today to find gaps and overlaps in their plans to help address natural or man-made disasters.

The meeting, led by the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington and volunteers from Deloitte and Touche, will help nonprofit organizations assign responsibilities and order supplies the community would need during an emergency such as a hurricane, epidemic or terrorist attack.

Although local organizations have made progress, there is still a lot of work to do, said Kilin Boardman-Schroyer, the director of programs at Greater DC Cares, a volunteer-placement organization.

“In terms of our ability to respond to a massive disaster, we are at a pretty dangerously low capacity,” Boardman-Schroyer said. “We don’t have all the supplies we would need to handle a massive inoculation, evacuation or shelter.”

The plan will coordinate the work of the Red Cross, food banks, job training organizations, volunteer placement agencies and other service organizations, said Roundtable director Chuck Bean.

Nonprofit organizations are well suited to respond to disasters because they have a grassroots structure and the trust of the community, Boardman-Schroyer said.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, Washington-area organizations and government agencies have felt a particular need to improve their emergency-response plans, Bean said.

“There is an unprecedented level of planning in the country, but in Washington we feel we’re in the center of the bull’s-eye,” Bean said.

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