Mayors, County Executives, Other Officials Learn About the Planning Guide

The U.S. Conference of Mayors were the latest group of local officials and staff to learn about the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure when they gathered in mid-January as part of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington, DC.  NIST Community Resilience research engineer Steve Cauffman participated as part of a January 17^th panel focusing on community initiatives. Since the Guide was issued in late 2015, elected local government officials and staff have been hearing about the Guide at their national association meetings, via webinars and blog posts, and in customized sessions in their communities. Last year, NIST exhibited at the annual conferences of the National Association of Counties (NACo), International City and County Managers Association (ICMA), and National League of Cities (NLC). NACo sponsored a special webinar and hosted a blog; ICMA ran a newsletter item and the NLC ran a blog. NIST also presented at a Public Technology Institute gathering of community officials from around the country and at multiple resilience-oriented conferences sponsored and attended by state and local representatives. NIST also explained the Guide to representatives of national and state Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOADs). NIST plans additional outreach in 2017 focused on attracting specific communities interested in seriously exploring use of the Guide. NIST is offering technical assistance to a limited number of potential users.