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Guest Blog by Mimi Mills

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three part series about Southern Maine Community Organizations Active in Disaster (SMCOAD). Part I focused on the mission and history of SMCOAD. Part II focuses on the successes of SMCOAD, as well as lessons learned. Part III discusses how to get involved.

SMCOAD, Two years later:

Successes:

SMCOAD is a viable, collaborative and highly function network that now supports County systems during times of disaster or emergency. 211Maine is the source to receive, refer and record all disaster related calls for both immediate help from volunteers and long term help in meeting essential unmet needs.

• • Hundred’s of individuals and families have been helped that otherwise would not have received help and perhaps may never had recovered.
• • SMCOAD network covers both York and Cumberland Counties.
• • SMCOAD supports another viable network, Long Term Disaster Recovery Committee (LTDR) that serves three counties, York Cumberland and Oxford.
• • United Way’s of York County and Greater Portland, SMCOAD partners, are in agreement with York County Emergency Management to provide a Volunteer Reception Center to recruit, screen and deploy “unaffiliated” disaster volunteers.
• • SMCOAD received grant funding from Maine Commission for Community Service to sustain SMCOAD activities and share this experience through a state-wide Americorp/VISTA grant.
• • SMCOAD article and manual in final draft. This work can be shared with others that wish to start a COAD in their town or region.
• • SMCOAD received national recognition for Project TAHS, Technical Assistance in Homeland Security.

Lessons Learned:

• • Networks make a lot of sense. They build capacity, they are a great source of information and a community can achieve more by working together.
• • Network partners trust each other and can be more creative as they understand that “give and take” is essential to any good network.
• • Networks take time. It is often difficult for potential partners to know how they may serve or benefit from a network.
• Network resources vary from time to time and event to event. It is a challenge to maintain a log of available resources.
• Networks should be dynamic, with many sources but also be comfortable with some uncertainty and changes.
• Finding leadership and a home for this network has been a challenge.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 7:03 am and is filed under Disaster. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.