White House and FEMA Recognize Individual & Community Preparedness Champion

The White House Seal

In this newsletter issue devoted to CERT people and programs in the eastern states, we feature an Individual and Community Preparedness Award winner from New York City, John Solomon.

The White House’s Champions of Change series and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s 2011 Individual and Community Preparedness Awards recognized the achievements of individuals and organizations that help make our communities safer, stronger and better prepared to manage any emergency situation. Among the honorees, ceremonies at the White House and FEMA headquarters paid tribute to CERT member, the late John D. Solomon of New York.

Mr. Solomon received, posthumously, the John D. Solomon Preparedness Award.
He was the first recipient of this prestigious award created by FEMA in his honor. The award will be presented each year as part of the Individual and Community Preparedness Awards to a distinguished organization, program, or individual who has made a profound impact on ensuring our nation is more resilient.

Mr. Solomon was an active CERT member, author and relentless advocate for citizen preparedness. “John was a beloved, dedicated and passionate CERT member who worked hard to ensure that everyone is prepared for emergencies,” said Herman Shafer, Director of Community Outreach in the New York City Office of Emergency Management. “John was an excellent journalist and a great New Yorker. He devoted his life to serving others and challenged us all to do better and to give more. We are proud to have his legacy live on.”

In New York City, the John D. Solomon NYC CERT Award for Exemplary Service in Emergency Preparedness Education is now presented annually to a NYC CERT member who best embodies John’s enthusiasm for volunteerism and purposeful engagement to make their communities
better prepared for emergencies.

As a writer, John’s blog, In Case of Emergency, Read Blog: A Citizen’s Eye View Of Public Preparedness was launched in March 2008 as research for a book he was writing on emergency preparedness from the vantage point of a father, husband and son interested in helping safeguard his family and community. His body of work, until his untimely death in November 2010, was striking in its reporting, analysis and engagement in preparing the public and informing professionals in the public and private sectors.

John reported from conferences he’d helped to organize as well as those he had not. He devised legislation to incentivize the sale of emergency supplies via “tax holidays,” evaluated how government and non-profit disaster relief organizations were using social media tools, celebrated others’ initiatives by calling them to the attention of policy makers and conducted contests to foster citizen preparedness. He videotaped leaders in the preparedness community for their tips on readiness including an interview with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate which they taped just two months before John’s death.

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