For Immediate Release
Contact:
Wednesday, June 7, 2012
Cindy Johnson
(773) 227-7715
CJ@BigPictureMarketing.net
Gear Up. Get Ready. It can happen! Outreach Campaign
Preparing Residents for Disaster and Emergency One Community at a Time
CHICAGO, IL – Emergency management officials at the local, state and federal level as well as community based
partners have teamed up to launch a new emergency preparedness pilot campaign throughout the month of
June. The Gear up. Get Ready. It can happen! campaign encourages communities to increase their awareness of
how to get informed, get ready, be prepared in order to be able to respond in catastrophic situations. The
campaign serves to reinforce and support the existing outreach efforts of a collaboration of public safety officials,
non-profit, community and faith based organizations called the Regional Catastrophic Planning Team (RCPT), for
Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. The program’s reach spans across the three states and includes 16 counties.
“Emergency preparedness is not always top of mind; no one thinks an emergency or catastrophe can happen to
them. However as we experienced with devastating tornados just this year, it absolutely can happen and when
it does there’s no time to get informed, get prepared or plan. The Gear Up. Get Ready. It can happen!
campaign equips communities with the knowledge and resources needed to make a plan for themselves, their
family and community now,” states Earl Mashaw, Project Manager Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant
Program.
The Gear Up. Get Ready. It can happen! campaign is part of the FEMA Regional Catastrophic Preparedness
Program and just one extension of the consistent and ongoing work from the Illinois- Indiana-Wisconsin
Regional Catastrophic Planning Program (RCPGP). Additional initiatives include Private Sector Integration and
Mass Care and Sheltering Planning, which also plays a key role in establishing emergency systems that support
whole communities.
Gear up. Get Ready. It can happen! provides a unique emergency preparedness experience for community
members. The outreach approach is based upon best practice and demographic research to help ensure the
campaign is effective and resonates across multiple audiences. The findings set a foundation for the campaign
which includes compelling preparedness messages and an “attention grabbing” 16’ yellow and black all-hazards
campaign vehicle.
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The message centers on the campaign tag line “It can happen!” to battle misconceptions and lack of interest
around emergency preparedness. The goal is to strike a messaging balance of not being alarming, yet promote
preparedness as a priority.
The campaign will tour six counties, Will (IL), Cook (IL), Lake (IL), DuPage (IL), Porter (IN), Lake (IN) June 8th
through July 1, 2012. Other county partners in the CSA include DeKalb (IL), Grundy (IL), Kane (IL), Kankakee (IL),
Kendall (IL), McHenry (IL), Jasper (IN), Newton (IN), Porter (IN), and Kenosha (WI) will collaboratively engage at
events and spread the message through public relations and marketing.
At the events attendees can enjoy activities such as a taking a readiness assessment test to gauge their
preparedness level, build a family plan, get information and links to resources, participate in emergency
demonstrations, and take fun pictures at the preparedness photo booth, along with other games and
giveaways.
This message is further “mobilized” by bringing the campaign to communities where citizens work, live, play
and worship. Counties in collaboration with community and faith-based partners are using the campaign to
make a series of appearances at major events and small celebrations in the heart of communities. “Churches
have always served as a refuge and advocate for communities, especially in times of emergency. I am grateful
that government agencies, organizations and the faith community can come together to further motivate
people from all walks of life to be proactive and better prepared,” said Reverend Francine Stark, Chairperson
for the Social Justice Committee, American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago.
For more information, visit the Gear Up. Get Ready. It can happen! web portal at www.gearupgetready.com .
The portal is available in both English and Spanish.
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The Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) was initiated in 2008. RCPGP is focused on increasing
catastrophic preparedness planning in high risk, high consequence areas. The central objectives of the grant program is to
build a regional planning process within planning communities, fix shortcomings in existing plans and link operational
needs to resource allocation. The latter provides the ability of the grant to promote citizen preparedness through
messaging and outreach. Resource allocation is our ability to promote readiness and citizen preparedness steering toward
the operational necessity of being prepared. The RCPG team reaches out to the citizens of the Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin
Combined Statistical Area with the one common goal of driving action toward preparedness.