Mass Violence and Terrorism Volunteer Management (Webinar)

The Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center Helping Victims of Mass Violence and Terrorism: Planning, Response, Recovery, and Resources Toolkit web training series continues with an in-depth look at the Volunteer Management victim assistance protocol.

Volunteers play a key role in our communities in the aftermath of crises, disasters, emergencies, and incidents of mass violence. Many government, nongovernmental, nonprofit, faith-based, and philanthropic agencies and organizations rely on volunteers to supplement their existing staff to increase their capacity to respond.

Engaging volunteers in the response to a mass violence incident will enhance your ability to serve the needs of victims, survivors, and the community. Learn more about --

- the factors related to planning to use volunteers in disaster response;
- the importance of recruiting, vetting, training, and managing volunteers;
- the needs of survivors, families, and responders in terms of what roles volunteers will play;
- the process of coordinating the response agencies and volunteers; and
- the different training needs for volunteers.

Lessons learned from previous incidents consistently underscore that all response and recovery efforts are more effective when --

- organizational roles are defined prior to the incident;
- relationships are in place to create a more efficient response and faster recovery; and
- there is a planned and comprehensive communications management strategy that focuses on communication among all responders, with victims and survivors, and with the community during the response and recovery phases.