Whole Community Program

Building a Learning Community and Body of Knowledge by Implementing “Whole Community” Approach to Emergency Management

CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response’s (OPHPR) Learning Office is working in support of the CDC Foundation on a pilot program to identify and promote promising examples of existing community efforts that reflect and embody FEMA’s “Whole Community” approach to emergency management.

In September 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requested that the CDC Foundation, in partnership with CDC’s OPHPR Learning Office, contribute to the development and implementation of its “Whole Community” approach to emergency management. The “Whole Community” is FEMA’s philosophical approach on how to conduct emergency management in a way that integrates the needs, capabilities, and resources across the community. It attempts to engage the full capacity of the private and nonprofit sectors, including businesses, faith-based and disability organizations, and the general public, in conjunction with the participation of local, tribal, state, territorial, and Federal government partners.

The Final Report

CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response’s (OPHPR) Learning Office in partnership with the CDC Foundation produced this final report, which describes the programs’ findings and highlights the Whole Community Program efforts. This report was submitted to FEMA in October 2013. Click here to view the Whole Community Program Report.

Program Updates

Evacuteer.org Program Leader, Robert X. Fogarty, interviewed by Tom Foreman of CNN on the group’s determination to continue building evacuateer.org to help those who need it to evacuate New Orleans in an emergency.

Partners in Preparedness Program Leader, Ira Tannenbaum, recognized as White House Champion of Change in Community Resilience and Preparedness October 2013. Click here to read Tannenbaum’s article “Preparing Businesses When They Can’t Prepare Themselves“.

Site Visits

PROGRAM OVERVIEW