Tribal Nations Training Week is hosted by FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), a member organization of the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium (NDPC). This year’s training week – which was themed “Healing the Nation: Strong, Unified, Prepared” – was held from March 13-17 at the CDP’s campus in Anniston, Alabama. Over two hundred tribal leaders and first responders from more than 70 tribal nations participated in 29 courses from various NDPC member organizations and the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC). Courses covered training on a wide range of man-made and natural disaster prevention, response and recovery.
The in-person training week was followed by two weeks of virtual courses that focused on topics including active shooter preparedness and response, disaster response and recovery, infectious disease prevention and response and more.
Tribal Nations Training Week is just one of the many ways NDPC partners strive to strengthen and nurture their relationships with tribal communities. NDPC members deliver flexible, high-quality, relevant training year-round to tribal nations. All NDPC training is available at no cost to state, local, tribal and territorial responders.
The LSU National Center for Biomedical Research and Training/Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education (NCBRT/ACE) has worked with the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians to bring multiple deliveries of its course PER-275: Law Enforcement Active Shooter Emergency Response (LASER) to the tribe’s public safety department.
Traditional LASER deliveries are typically conducted over a three-day period; however, to meet the needs of the tribe’s responders, LSU NCBRT/ACE delivered three LASER courses in September 2022 that were spread out over a span of three weeks. The flexible course availability allowed participants to choose the days that best suited their needs while still receiving the full, high-quality information of the course.
“I liked the three-week approach because it allowed time for the process and information to set in,” said one participant. “It also allowed us to assist with scheduling officers on attending the course. It was easier for me to adjust my personal and professional schedule to this course. The training was overall outstanding!”
In addition to the customized courses in September, LSU NCBRT/ACE returned to San Manuel and delivered standard, three-day LASER deliveries in November and December.
Texas A&M’s Engineering Extension Service’s National Emergency Response and Recovery Training Center (TEEX/NERRTC) worked with Chippewa-Cree leaders and responders in Box Elder, Montana, to deliver AWR-213: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Awareness and MGT-310: Threat & Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment and Stakeholder Preparedness Review in June.
“We would have never had that opportunity before if [TEEX/NERRTC] hadn’t worked with us,” said Stone Child College Chairman and Chippewa-Cree Tribal Leader Calvin Jilot. “With the help of their amazing team, we come more prepared, skilled and knowledgeable to execute our hazard response with better efficiency.”
For more information on the NDPC, its members or available training, please visit ndpc.us.
