PERI Restructure

I've been thinking about how people perceive risk here in the United States.  There can be facts, studies, afteraction reports, but it all counts for nothing in the end if people don't have an emotional stake in the game.  As PERI moves forward with its restructuring of its efforts I would urge them to focus on the sociology of disasters and how people perceive risks.  That seems to be the real issue in our world of perceptions that we live in today. 

 

PERI Restructure

Fairfax, Virginia (August 8, 2011) - The PERI Board of Directors has decided to focus the organization's efforts on providing direct resources to public risk management.

Effective immediately, PERI is developing an operational model to directly expend funds to support local, institutional, and educational risk management efforts. PERI will greatly reduce overhead and administrative expenses to create this shift, and to provide more direct distribution of financial resources to those it serves.

“This operational shift helps PERI meet its core mission to offer practical enhancement of public risk management by directing efforts and funds to exactly the level where they can be most useful,” said PERI Board Chair Deb Carson. The refocused structure of PERI activities is under continued Board development.

As the PERI Board works to finalize details, existing staff and infrastructure are being disbanded. For the time being, the PERI Bookstore, e-training, and resource library remain operational at www.riskinstitute.org.

PERI welcomes suggestions about where its efforts can be most useful to local government risk management. Comments should be directed to PERI Chair Carson at debra.carson@ci.longmont.co.us.

About Public Entity Risk Institute

The Public Entity Risk Institute (PERI) is a nonprofit research institute that develops risk management education and training resources for local governments, school districts, small businesses, nonprofits and others. PERI's Website serves as a clearinghouse and library with information on a wide range of topics including disaster preparedness, response, and recovery; public health and safety; land use and planning; environmental liability; risk financing and insurance; technology risks; and workers' compensation. PERI also operates a national performance measurement and benchmarking database known as the PERI Data Exchange, which allows local governments to compare liability and workers' compensation data with their peers and identify strategies to reduce losses and control costs. To learn more about publications and services available from PERI, go to www.riskinstitute.org.