ReadyCommunities Partners gather in Buffalo

| 06.04.2008 | 15:08:358683 |

June 4 '08: First responders, local officials and community stakeholders will gather in Buffalo, New York today to discuss the upcoming Buffalo pilot program during a planning session and symposium with the ReadyCommunities Partnership working with symposium co-chairman Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. Building on the Niagara's key location for commerce and security for both American and Canadian governments, RCP and Mayor Brown's office will work to design a pilot project planned for later this year.

Stakeholders will focus on 4 goals for the Buffalo pilot. First, leaders will work toward linking federal FEMA and city government services, communications, distribution infrastructure and then pairing those services with private sector organizations and corporations which could reinforce that infrastructure through a virtual surge depot.

Secondly, using the Essential Public Network, planners will tie Crisis Response Officers (CROs) in this critical private and community infrastructure into the existing FPS secure portal which is being developed by the Buffalo police department along with Canadian, maritime and other regional officials.

Third, RCP partners including Buffalo City officials will invite Niagara-region U.S. Congressional, state legislative, agencies, local representatives and their senior staff into the Essential Public Network to connect with the FPS portal to improve secure communications between government and community/regional leadership.

Finally, the RCP partners will develop a template of the private sector best practices required for the pilot to form the basis of a request for government funding to expand the pilot results into a regional UASI demonstration in 2009.

Mayor Brown's participation with the ReadyCommunities Partnership began in December when he attended the second annual National Congress for Secure Communities. Mayor Brown traveled to Washington D.C. in April to attend a following up briefing and initiatives planning session that helped to lay the groundwork for this June's Buffalo Symposium.