Regional Planning Documents

A frustrating aspect of personnel turnover is the fact that all the good work that has been done is sometimes (maybe more than not) lost to the ages because people don't know the information exists. The old people retire or take other jobs and the new people come in and don't know what exists in the electronic files or in all those three-ring binders on the shelves in someone's cubicle. 

I believe this is particularly true for regional planning documents. There is no mandate for regional plans so the focus is on individual jurisdictions and organizations — so that is what people look for and maintain. An example of this is the Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program documents. Did your jurisdiction participate? Where are the plans that were generated from those efforts? 

If you are looking for a treasure trove of information that you either directly use or translate to your own situation, check out the links below. The second one will take you to the individual planning efforts versus just a summary. If you are just starting a planning effort, this might be a good place to go prospect first so you don't have to completely reinvent the planning wheel. The information below was shared by Diane Newman. 

I’m not sure if other regions have public-facing websites where they have posted their products, but we worked with Washington State Emergency Management Division to post documents on their website.

Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP), 2014 National Report — This document highlights accomplishments of all 10 RCPGP regions during 2013-2014. It not only provides an overview of the national RCPGP initiative, but includes a project matrix of all 10 regions from the beginning of the program in 2007 through 2014.   

Puget Sound Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) — These documents were developed through RCPGP by the Puget Sound Region between 2008 through 2014 and are housed on the Washington State Emergency Management Division website.