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 REGION 2 BI-WEEKLY 
      	Volume 1, Issue 26							           Oct. 2,  2009
	
 FACES OF THE REGION
	Ken Curtin (left), Region II’s Voluntary Agency Liaison, with David Myers (middle), Director of the DHS Center for Faith Based and Community Initiatives, and Nancy Turnbull, FEMA HQ Voluntary Agency Liaison (second from right), meet with Rabbi Menachem Shagalov (with fedora), and Warren Chan (far right), Executive Director, Asian Community United Society, of Sunset Park, Brooklyn.  The reception  for community leaders and activists was hosted by DHS to discuss  disaster preparedness.
	
  PREPAREDNESS TAKES OFF

	Preparedness’s David Fortino (far right) prepares for takeoff for an aerial overview of Monmouth County, NJ’s countywide Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) exercise last week.  
	Hosted by Monmouth County OEM, the multi-agency exercise brought together more than 200 emergency responders, including CERT, Medical Reserve Corps members (MRC), local firefighters, first aid squad members and other emergency preparedness partners from local, county and state agencies, left and above with Fortino.

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 REGIONAL HAPPENINGS
				REGION II FRONT AND CENTER
	Antonio Vazquez (yellow shirt, center) and Marsha Kellogg (visible over his shoulder, right) represented Region II in Emmitsburg earlier this month at the national Disaster Field Training Office course. With credentialing on the horizon, the 40 students were drilled in mandatory training requirements, and procedures for training requests. 
    ONE MONTH, $4 MILLION LATER 

AND THE WINNER IS…

	To cap National Preparedness Month, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Local 2203, raffled-off an individual preparedness kit among Region II staffers. 
	The lucky winner was Mary Colvin, prompting the Acting Director of the Mitigation Division to ask, “Does this mean management wins?” Clearly, with preparedness,  and AFEG, everyone wins.

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THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM
THE THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM
	Last week’s telework and connectivity exercise was a triumph: 100% of the 84 Region II employees assigned laptops were able to successfully  log on to the FEMA network from home (see left). This follows two previous drills in which only 40% and 90% were successful. 
	Region II’s Continuity of Operations (COOP) Manager Russell Fox cited IT’s heroic efforts in making it all happen. An order for 36 additional laptops for the Region II  employees currently without is making its way through HQ.   
	Half way through the registration period for DR-1857, more than $4 million in Individual Assistance (IA) has been authorized in the three counties — Erie, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua — along New York’s southern tier that were devastated by August storms and flooding.
	 Gigi Perez (far right) explained the IA process to an applicant at a Disaster Recovery Center in Gowanda, one of the hardest hit communities.
	Last week also saw the addition of another county — Allegheny — for Public Assistance, bringing  to six the number of counties declared eligible: Allegheny, Erie, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chenango and Cortland. 


 
 
		
of the Office of Regional Operations, reporting directly to Deputy Administrator Dave Garrett. Patty’s job is to advocate for regional operations at HQ. 	
	During her visit last week, Patty meet with Mike and Kristina to discuss Region II’s implementation of Administrator Fugate’s priorities, and she listened as they listed the Region‘s needs. 
	Among the topics covered were the upcoming move to 290 Broadway, and the outfitting of 26 Federal Plaza with a wireless network.
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Region II Acting Regional Administrator Mike Moriarty (left) and External Affairs Director Kristina Simpson (right) double-team HQ’s Patty Kalla (center), who is Director 

	THE ADVOCATE AND THE LOBBYISTS 
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