Posting on behalf of NEDCC for anyone in California:
NEDCC's "Ready – Or Not" Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness project is a three-year (2022-2025) initiative funded by the State of California to assess emergency preparedness at California organizations that care for cultural and historic resources (e.g., archives, libraries, museums, and tribal nations). The team consists of Lead Consultant Hillary Ellis, Outreach & Travel Coordinator Celeste Knight, and Consultants Jason Partida, Victoria Wong, Caroline Whyler, Mario Gallardo and Özge Gençay-Üstün. Emergency Preparedness Consultants conduct free on-site visits for participating organizations and deliver a summary report that documents the organization's current state of emergency preparedness. The report includes recommendations to guide the organization through a process of identifying and mitigating risks, taking emergency preparedness actions, and completing a disaster response plan.
The consultants are available by email and telephone to answer questions and give advice as organizations work through the recommendations to write their disaster plans. Consultants also follow up to monitor and encourage each organization's progress on completing its disaster plan.
Having taken these steps, each organization is better prepared to protect its unique collections in the face of a range of emergencies such as wildfire, earthquake, flood or mudslide, pipe break, extended power outage, pest infestation, terrorism, unexpected closure, and public health emergency. This ensures that California's cultural heritage is preserved into the future, and preparedness actions demonstrate commitment to preservation and can be used to support applications for grants and other funding that strengthen collections care and emergency preparedness.
California cultural heritage organizations can schedule a free consultation for an emergency preparedness assessment with "Ready – Or Not" at CAready@nedcc.org or by phone at 855-501-3020. Follow #ReadyOrNotCA to see what organizations the team has visited and project updates.
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Tiffani Emig
Deputy Director
American Institute for Conservation and Foundation for Advancement in Conservation
Washington DC
temig@culturalheritage.org------------------------------