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.

Please plan to join one of the scheduled webinars to learn more about this essential victim assistance protocol.