This course successfully completed its planned run of offerings on September 29, 2023, and is currently closed. While future offerings may be possible, none are currently scheduled.
Online Course – AWR 392
(Asynchronous, 7 hours, 0.7 CEUs)
Next session opening:
Now!
Workshop – AWR 389
(Synchronous, 8 hours, 0.7 CEUs)
Use the dropdown menu to the right to choose the
date, location, and format that work for you!
Workshop Dates & Locations (Closed as of 09/29/23)
(All times are in Eastern Time Zone unless otherwise noted)
Click an entry to register!
1. Virtual (for FEMA Region IX) | Feb 28 + Mar 1 | 9am – 1pm each day
2. Virtual (for FEMA Region I) | Mar 21 + Mar 22 | 9am – 1pm each day
3. Virtual (for FEMA Region V) | Apr 4 + Apr 5 | 9am – 1pm each day
4. Virtual (for FEMA Region VIII) | Apr 25 + Apr 26 | 9am – 1pm each day
5. Virtual (for FEMA Region X) | May 9 + May 10 | 9am – 1pm each day
6. Los Angeles, CA | May 18 | Time to be announced
7. Virtual (for FEMA Region VI) | May 23 + May 24 | 9am – 1pm each day
8. Virtual (for FEMA Region IV) | May 31 + Jun 1 | 9am – 1pm each day
9. TBD, Idaho | Jun 7 | Time to be announced
10. Virtual (for FEMA Region VII) | Jun 20 + Jun 21 | 9am – 1pm each day
11. Virtual (for FEMA Region II) | Jul 11 + Jul 12 | 9am – 1pm each day
12. Virtual (for FEMA Region III) | Jul 19 + Jul 20 | Time to be announced
13. TBD, Ohio | Aug 31 | Time to be announced
14. Indian River, FL | Sep 7 | Time to be announced
15. Mobile County, AL | Sep 13 | Time to be announced
The first in our new Rapid Response Resourcing training line, Lifelines, Logistics, and Supply Chain Awareness is a FREE 2-part program that’ll take you from zero to implementation.
You’ll start with an online course, working at your own pace to go from the basics of FEMA’s Community Lifelines – what are they, how do you plan for them, how do they help – to the specifics of using the “Food, Water, and Shelter” Lifeline to help your community respond to a complex crisis. You’ll even acquire basic knowledge in establishing, maintaining, and securing your community’s supply chain logistics along the way, because no plan to resupply your community works if the supplies can’t get from A to B.
Once you’ve successfully completed the online course, you’ll be eligible to participate in Part 2: a practical workshop* where you’ll come together with folks from across your region – plus an expert instructional team – to dig deeper, using real world scenarios and exercises to put your new knowledge of Lifelines and supply chains into practice. And who knows? While you’re working (and networking) with your fellow participants, maybe you’ll even spark up a new partnership or two to bring home to your organization as a useful real world souvenir!
*Workshops will be held in a format – virtual or in-person – best suited to ensuring participant safety, compliance with CDC and local guidance, and adherence to FEMA operating policy during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Why Lifelines?
We all know preparing for “all hazards” is more challenging every day – disasters are more frequent, come in a greater variety, and have complex, cascading effects as the systems they affect become more interconnected. With resources almost always at a premium, emergency management needs a new tool in the toolkit: a nimble, multipurpose way of planning and responding that can absorb more shocks while using less bandwidth.
That’s where FEMA’s Community Lifelines structure comes in. Rather than try to plan for every hazard, it drills down to just plan for restoring the key resources – the Lifelines – that keep a community running. Don’t fill your plan with an annex for every possible scenario that might turn out the lights; plan instead for what to do when the lights go out, so you’re ready for anything. It’s a practical tool for managing an incident, and an agile tool for reducing resource burdens and building partnerships.
We’re here to teach you how to use it.
Meet Your Instructors
Lew Raeder
Lew is an experienced, committed emergency management practitioner and educator, with over 50 years of extensive and diverse experience, culminating in his retirement as a Fire/Paramedic Battalion Chief from Prince George’s County (MD) Fire Department after 23 years of service.
His career has included service in operational command and logistical support roles with DHS/FEMA and the National Disaster Medical System, over 20 years as a National Registry Paramedic, deployments to national security events and disaster response incidents like Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Sandy, and the Earthquake in Haiti; and a variety of educational roles. Those educational roles have included time as the Program Manager of both our academic Emergency Management curriculum and “Maturing Public Private Partnerships” (or “P3”), one of our previous CTG-funded training programs, and the FCC Emergency Management program’s Internship Coordinator.
He holds a Bachelor’s in Fire Science/Administration from the University of Maryland, and he’s also an MICRB-certified Level II Instructor for the State of Maryland, and an adjunct instructor at FCC. He’s also our Community Lifelines Specialist, so he’ll be both the lead instructor for this training as well as the coordinator of training locations for the Workshop component.
If you’d like to set up a workshop in your area, you can reach out to Lew at communitylifelines@frederick.edu or lraeder@frederick.edu to start making plans!
Valerie Hawkins
Valerie Hawkins is currently the Emergency Manager for Carroll County, Maryland, and has been dedicated to public service since embarking on her emergency services career in 1997. Her varied experiences as an American Red Cross Disaster Services responder and instructor, as a career and volunteer paramedic in Carroll County, as a public health emergency preparedness planner, and in the field of emergency management provide a well-rounded perspective to her leadership role in emergency management operations.
Ms. Hawkins earned a bachelor’s degree in Emergency Management from the University of Maryland University College and has served as past Committee Chair of the Baltimore UASI Emergency Management Committee as well as the Chair of the MD Emergency Management Association’s Donald “Doc” Lumpkins Memorial Scholarship Committee.
Mark Hubbard
Mark’s notable career in the world of emergency management spans roughly four decades, including a 10-year term as a local Emergency Manager, leadership of a large, urban Fire/EMS service, retirement as a Senior Executive in 2015, and ensuing roles as a consultant, sharing his expertise on public safety, emergency management, homeland security, cybersecurity, and business continuity.
His instructional career is similarly distinguished. He currently teaches at the graduate and undergraduate levels at multiple higher education institutions. These include the Loyola University (MD) Sellinger School of Business [strategy, marketing, international business, organizational behavior, business law], the University of Maryland, Global Campus [emergency management, public safety administration], and FCC [course designer, adjunct instructor], where he was also the Lead Instructor for our P3 training.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, an MBA from Loyola University (MD), and a JD from the University of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law.
He is licensed to practice law in Maryland.
Arthur “Art” Kaplan
As a recognized practitioner, Mr. Kaplan currently consults in the areas of emergency preparedness, emergency response, hazardous materials, and public/occupational safety. His background includes nearly a quarter century as a mid-size county Emergency Management Coordinator, and 10 years as Chair of a Regional Counter-Terrorism Task Force representing 7 counties. During this time, he managed and coordinated Emergency Operations Centers during evolving incidents and events including disaster recovery operations, during both state and federally declared crises and calamities. Kaplan also has extensive experience in operational planning, public outreach and community preparedness; as well as exercise preparation and evaluation under the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) for state and federally evaluated programs.
Mr. Kaplan currently remains an adjunct instructor representing both the Pennsylvania and National Fire Academies and has instructed multiple class offerings for Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) at Emmitsburg; and remains active in the Pennsylvania Community College System. He likewise instructed in the Criminal Justice Curriculum at McCann School of Business and Technology for over 9 years.
In addition, he serves as project manager for Mass Evacuation Planning in the South Central Pennsylvania Task Force, a region encompassing 9 Pennsylvania Counties including some major metropolitan areas such as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s Capital and two nuclear power plants and is a special expert serving on both the NFPA 1616 technical committee for Mass Evacuation and Sheltering and the technical committee for NFPA 1091 Standard for Traffic Control Incident Management Personnel Professional Qualifications.
Samuel R. Lombardo
Sam is a retired Army military police officer with an extensive background in education, training, and leadership. Prior to relocating to North Carolina in 2020, he served as the Program Manager for the MACEM&PS Emergency Management academic programs, where he led numerous program improvement efforts to improve the experience of our students, as well as guided the department through its integration of the fire service administration, police science, and criminal justice programs.
During his FCC tenure, Sam also helped design, deliver, and instruct the P3 program, in addition to another CTG-funded MACEM&PS training program sequence on situational awareness during complex, coordinated terrorist attacks. Before coming to FCC, he spent over a decade studying emergency management while managing the infrastructure protection and resilience program fro the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, MD.
Sam holds a MEd from Wayne State University, Master of Military Art and Science from the Army Command and Staff College, and Bachelor’s in Social Science and English from Seton Hall University. He’s also earned several advanced educational certifications from Montclair State University, and a professional specialist graduate certificate from the Armed Forces Staff College.
Jim Wenzel
Jim is the retired Fire Chief of the Klamath County Fire District No. 1 in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and has been in the field of the Emergency Management and Public Safety for over forty years. He began his career as an explorer with both the California Department of Forestry and the U. S. Forest Service, became a paramedic, and soon after was hired by the Coronado, California Fire Department as a municipal firefighter – beginning his travels through the national fire and emergency management services. Mr. Wenzel’s experience ranges from wildland, rural, suburban, and urban firefighting, to emergency medical services and emergency management.
This is also not his first time teaching – he’s been involved in training and education at the local, regional, state, and national levels of fire, EMS and emergency management in various capacities throughout his career. On the EM front, he’s served as an Emergency Manager in the states of Washington, Oregon, California, and Wyoming, rounding out his experiences.
Mr. Wenzel holds an Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degree in Fire Science, a Master’s Degree in Education, certification as an Executive Fire Officer, and a Graduate Certificate in Emergency Management Executive Leadership.
Frances E. Whalen
Frances E. Whalen has over 19 years’ experience in the public safety and security sector. Currently, she’s the CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Specialist for the District of Columbia through Serve DC – The Mayor’s Office of Volunteerism & Partnerships. Most recently, she held the position of Emergency Operations and Information Specialist Watch Lead under the Operations Division at DC HSEMA-DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.
She has dedicated herself to spreading the word of preparedness and engaging with her community. Frances has been actively involved in various volunteer organizations throughout the Metropolitan DC area including service as the past PTA President at Houston E.S. and the Parent Member position on the Board of Trustees of Cesar Chavez PCS, and time with the MPD Volunteer Corps, CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), DC MRC (Medical Reserve Corps), Food and Friends, DCPS’s Student Safety Task Force and Strategic Planning Advisories.
This training program is offered in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and has been funded via a grant from the DHS/FEMA Continuing Training Grants (CTG) program.
[Images courtesy: Creative Commons & Lew Raeder (Page Lead Image), Wesley Tingey on Unsplash (Header 1),
and Nathaniel Sison on Unsplash (Header 2)]