(Miami, FL) - Miami-Dade County’s Office of Emergency Management conducted a table-top exercise on February 20, 2014 to test how faith-based and community organizations affiliated with Miami-Dade Communities Organized to Respond in Emergencies (M-D C.O.R.E.) activate and respond to the needs of the community during a disaster.  The Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships’ Deputy Director Jannah Scott was on site to observe the exercise. M-D C.O.R.E. is recognized by the Federal Emergency Management Administration as a best practice and model for national adoption.

Participants of the exercise included representatives from the following faith-based and community organizations: Family in Distress, Christ Fellowship, Notre-Dame D’Haiti Catholic Church, Adventist Community Services, Stanton Memorial Baptist Church, The Resource Room/NAACP Youth Council, Liberty City Trust, Overtown Community Optimist Club, Communities United, Curley’s House of Style, Inc., Hope Relief Food Bank, Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, Belafonte Tacolcy Center, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Brownsville, New Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church Branches, Victory for Youth and ICNA Relief, USA.

M-D C.O.R.E. is a program designed to better engage Faith Based and Community Organizations (FBCO’s) in planning for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. It is also a component of the DHS’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, “Building Resilience with Diverse Communities” initiative.  Miami-Dade C.O.R.E. identifies ways to connect FBCO’s along the emergency management continuum. The program seeks to incorporate a whole community approach in emergency management by engaging non-traditional partners.