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Building Better Resiliency — Together

Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate, a tire-
less advocate for teamwork, told a gather-
ing of U.S. private sector leaders last year,
“There’s no way government can solve the
challenges of a disaster with a government-
centric approach. It takes the whole team.”

This philosophy is central to everything
we do. We are better able to serve our
neighbors, fellow citizens, and our na-
tion’s disaster survivors in particular,
when public sector and private sector
representatives are both active members
of the same team. FEMA believes in the
value of public-private partnerships, and
has worked steadily to provide tools, mod-
els, and resources designed to inspire
their creation and nurture their success.

“There’s no way government can solve the

challenges of a disaster with a government-

centric approach. It takes the whole team.”

Why Partner?
Through public-private partnerships both
government and the private sector can:
• Enhance situational awareness

by sharing. Rather than rely only
on information gathered by govern-
mental means, all levels of govern-
ment and the private sector have
much to gain through shared
situational awareness.

• Improve decision-making. Ideally,
enhanced situational awareness
will lead to real-time capabilities
that allow decision-makers to make

informed choices based on the
most up-to-date, relevant, and
accurate data.

• Access more resources. Working
together results in more resources
to help communities recover from
emergencies. Resources can be
donated or paid goods and services,
or business and strategic knowledge
from private sector executives.

• Expand reach and access for commu-
nication efforts. Regular, meaningful
communication is vital to the success
of any effort. When private sector
partners are willing to carry
a message, article, or other commu-
nication through their internal and
external channels, they help increase
access to vital information by people
who may need it.

• Improve coordination with other
efforts by segments of the private
sector. No matter what stage of
the emergency management cycle
you are in, the private sector has a
related piece of the puzzle. Close

collaboration and coordination
through ongoing partnership efforts
will support effective planning,
preparedness, and response by
all participating members of a
public-private partnership.

• Increase the effectiveness of
emergency management efforts.
Public-private partnerships increase
transparency and understanding

by all parties involved. For example,
individuals may be more likely to
take appropriate action when they
learn of it through their employer,
and government efforts can be more
effective when they consider private
sector capabilities, limitations,
and requirements.

• Maintain strong relationships, built
on mutual understanding. It is
essential that all stakeholders
involved in a response have estab-
lished relationships long before
something happens. The result is
faster, more effective response
and recovery.

• Create more resilient communities
and increase capacity to prevent,
protect against, respond to, and
recover from major incidents.
The effort that government and
private sector partners contribute
toward collaboration, coordination,
and communication throughout the
year can be measured in the resil-
ience of a community to all hazards.

tools to start your
oWn PartnershiP
FEMA offers a variety of tools to help
organizations interested in starting
public-private partnerships, including:
• Public-Private Partnership Models.

Many states and big cities have
already entered into public-private
partnerships to improve capabilities
in emergency management and are
willing to share best practices.

FEMA has collected some of the
most promising and exciting models
in the nation and made them avail-
able at http://www.fema.gov/priva-
tesector/ppp_models.shtm.
We’re always looking to build this
collection. If you have an interesting
public-private partnership best prac-
tice to share, send them to us.

• Public-Private Partnership business
Case. To help jumpstart partnerships
in every state and territory, FEMA has
developed a business case and sam-
ple position description. Interested
in checking it out? Drop us a note,
we would be happy to share.

• An introductory course on public-
private partnerships. FEMA IS-660:
Introduction to Public-private Partner-
ships is a free web-based course on
building public-private partnerships
in emergency management.

Designed in collaboration with both
the public and private sector, the
training is offered at http://training.
fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is660.asp
and is recommended for those
involved in collaborative continuity
planning efforts.

• Grant funding. The Fiscal Year 2012
homeland Security Grant Program
Supplemental Resource, which is
a one-stop resource for the latest
information on the monetary support
available for public-private collabora-
tion efforts, is available to download
at -http://www.fema.gov/pdf/govern
ment/grant/2012/fy12_hsgp_public.
pdf. In addition, state and local-level
governments can learn more about
the grants available to them at
http://www.fema.gov/government/
grant/index.shtm.

Making it last
So you have a partnership… how do you keep it alive? In our experience, the public-private partnerships that are continually
most effective are those that are infused with the following foundational core attributes, easily remembered as “PADRES” –
Publicly accessible, Dedicated, resourced, engaged, and sustainable.

Publicly
accessible

The contacts, leadership, skills, information, resources, and capabilities of the collaborative
partnership are recognized by, available to, and accessible by the general public. This ensures
that before, during, and after an incident, the general public has trust and confidence in the
partnership to provide accurate and timely information and meaningful services.

Dedicated Successful partnerships have identified a full-time liaison or other organizational structure
to staff and manage the public-private partnership and implement the partnership’s
strategic plan.

resourced Resourced partnerships have funding, facilities, tools, and staffing available to support
partnership efforts.

engaged There should be active support, participation, and two-way communication by public and
private sector leadership and members in a successful partnership. The partnership actively
trains, exercises, prepares, responds, recovers, and mitigates.

sustainable Sustainable partnerships are supported by strategic plans, funds, and resources necessary
for long-term viability. Activity takes place around the year, and throughout the emergency
management cycle.

For more information, please visit http://www.fema.gov/privatesector. For more
discussion, reach out to us at [email protected], or sign up to receive
email updates at http://www.fema.gov/help/getemail.