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Scholar alum Sarah Wappett to enhance nonprofits' influence in regional disaster preparedness

(Oct. 11, 2007)

While the public looks to government agencies for relief in times of natural and human-caused  disasters, the influence and capabilities of the nonprofit sector can be just as vital.

2004 DHS Scholar Sarah Wappett is working to raise the emergency preparedness profile of the nonprofit sector in the Washington D.C. area. As a 2007 Deloitte Fellow for Emergency Preparedness, Wappett, a first year student at the Georgetown University Law Center, is working under the direction of The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington and Deloitte to develop an emergency preparedness strategic plan for nonprofits in the Greater Washington Area.

Her work will assess area nonprofits' preparedness capabilities, strengths and gaps, as well as their capacity.

Events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina point out the need for nonprofit involvement in response and recovery, both in the short-term and long-term.

“Nonprofit organizations are a critical component of the response, providing mass care, shelter and human services support to people in need,” says Wappett.

Wappett, the first-ever Deloitte Fellow for Emergency Preparedness, will assess these areas through surveying and interviews with the potential governmental and private sector stakeholders  who would be nonprofits’ partners  in a crisis.

Her next step is designing a strategic plan for nonprofits that aligns with  the National Capital Region’s Homeland Security Strategic Plan. This is a regional “all-hazards” approach for weighing the impact of potential crises in the National Capitol Region and aligning multiple partners, including the public, in preparedness, prevention, response and recovery operations.

The plan could become a pilot for the rest of the U.S. Wappett says, “This important regional planning initiative will develop a strategic roadmap, in partnership with government and the private sector, to make the region the best prepared in the nation.”

Upon its completion, Wappett will track implementation of strategic initiatives within the plan to close gaps in the collaborative relationships between government, private industry and the nonprofit sector.

Wappett herself is just back from Dublin where she spent the 2006-07 academic year on a  George Mitchell Scholarship. She completed her master’s degree in international security and conflict studies at Georgetown in 2006, and will focus upon international and national security and criminal justice at the Georgetown Law Center.