Nothing to report

Community Organizations Active in Disasters

The Community Organizations Active in Disasters (COAD) project has worked to establish two COADs in Western Massachusetts—one in the Pioneer Valley covering Hampden, Hampshire & Franklin Counties and the other in Berkshire County. A COAD Emergency Operations Plan describing communications protocols and member responsibilities has been developed and tested. Chapters on long-term case management and donations management will be added in the future. Emergency management directors seeking assistance from either COAD may contact the HMCC Duty Officer, 413-200-8537 to activate them.

The project is ongoing. Watch this page for more information.

Western Mass COAD Summit 2015 Presentations

Below are links to presentations that will be given at the Western Mass COAD Summit held in Springfield, MA on Thursday, April 30, 2015. Click here for more information about the summit.

If you’d like to become a member of either the Berkshire or Pioneer Valley COAD please download and fill out this form. Directions for submission are on the form.

National VOAD (Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters) Conference

On May 14-15, Tracy Rogers, project manager for the Western Mass. COAD project, attended the National VOAD conference in Indianapolis. She attended workshops listed under the “LEAD – Leadership, Engagement, and Development” track of the conference. These workshops provided information on how to start up new VOADs and COADs, whether a VOAD should consider becoming a 501(c)(3) organization, governing structures, and how to develop leaders with your VOAD. The most valuable piece of information Tracy picked up was the announcement of a new set of resources on the National VOAD website under this LEAD program. The website contains template documents such as bylaws, articles of incorporation, mutual aid agreements, and an emergency operations plan—just the kind of documents our western Mass COADs have been working through over the past year. Tracy intends to make full use of these resources, as well as the contacts she made while at the conference, to enhance the COADs in western Mass.

Western Mass COAD Summit 2014 Presentations

Here are links to presentations given at the Western Mass COAD Summit held in Northampton MA on Wednesday, March 26 2014

 COAD Informational Video