Community Education Project Picks Pilot Communities:

The new ARRL Community Education Project (CEP) has targeted a dozen communities from Maine to Oregon to learn about the value of Amateur Radio to community safety and security. Between now and next August, CEP Coordinator Bill Barrett, W1WJB, will be visiting the 12 localities to explore the best ways Amateur Radio can work with Citizen Corps councils. Barrett wants to enlist local Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) teams and ham radio clubs to demonstrate Amateur Radio as a source of trained communicators--equipped and ready to serve.

"We hope to leave behind new and durable working relationships between Amateur Radio groups--as embodied in ARES, RACES and local ham clubs--and Citizen Corps councils," Barrett says. In addition, he wants to share the message about Amateur Radio and emergency communication with community leaders and have ham radio written into local and state emergency plans. The overall effort, he hopes, will result in ongoing relationships that will "mutually educate and develop a well-integrated local emergency communication capability" to serve the public--in line with the goals of the grant funding the CEP.

At the same time, Barrett says, the scope of his project is limited out of sheer necessity. "Since this is a developmental pilot program, we are not attempting to go everywhere at once," he said. The 12 target locations were chosen with guidance from Citizen Corps, a community volunteer organization operating under the Department of Homeland Security umbrella.

Barrett also took pains to explain what the CEP is not trying to do. "Our purpose is not to recruit a lot of local emergency workers--professional or volunteer--to become licensed amateurs," he said. "Quite probably, some will go this route, but that would be a desirable side effect and not a main goal."

Barrett has been enlisting the assistance of ARRL Field Organization officials and ARRL-affiliated clubs in the affected sections to coordinate his visits. In addition to local Citizen Corps councils, Barrett wants to reach Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members as well as "other interested parties, such as local educational system officials."

Barrett is filling a new one-year position at ARRL. The League received a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) of nearly $90,000 to develop the pilot Community Education Project.

The 12 pilot communities are York County, Maine; Shenandoah Valley, Virginia; Jefferson County, Alabama; Old Hickory, Tennessee; Galesburg, Illinois; Humboldt County, Iowa; Bates County, Missouri; Arapahoe County, Colorado; Phoenix, Arizona; Clackamas County, Oregon; Grant County, New Mexico, and Concord, New Hampshire.

Source:

The ARRL Letter Vol. 23, No. 45 November 12, 2004

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