How Can Our House of Worship Plan a Support Center?

Building internal consensus within your organization is an essential starting point. Developing a readiness plan to serve as an Emergency Support Center represents a purposeful commitment by the membership to support and protect the surrounding neighborhood during times of unexpected crisis.

IPERC provides the planning toolkits, assessment guides, and educational materials to help your leadership navigate the development process. Please contact us to access our foundational resources.

1. Learn: Review our educational resources to understand the various operational models—from a simple daytime cooling/warming refuge to a full short-term relief center.
2. Present: Share basic preparedness concepts with your congregation, answer structural questions, and utilize our independent informational materials.
3. Evaluate: Use self-assessment tools to gather member feedback, evaluate volunteer interest, and identify your community’s unique safety priorities.
4. Draft: Utilize our standard organizational frameworks to compile an independent proposal tailored to your specific facility's capacity.
5. Approve: Present your completed planning strategy to your organization's internal governing board for their independent review and official approval.
6. Connect: Establish vital coordination guidelines with primary disaster response entities. IPERC assists by providing outreach templates and facilitating initial introductions to the American Red Cross and your municipal emergency management office.

An Active Bridge to Primary Partners: You don't have to navigate the disaster response network alone. Because the American Red Cross and local response agencies are primary partners in this mission, IPERC actively helps facilitate the initial introductions. We guide your team through the preliminary exploration phase to ensure your facility's capabilities align seamlessly with local disaster response frameworks.