One of America’s top homeland security experts, Dr. Stephen Flynn, recently highlighted Eden Prairie’s Partnership for Emergency Readiness in his just-released book, The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation. Flynn points to PER as "an outstanding example of a community-based initiative that is a model for how cities and towns around America should be fostering the kind of preparedness we must have to deal with 21st Century hazards."
Excerpt from The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation:
"An excellent example of a community-based initiative that fosters greater preparedness is under way in America’s heartland. Inspired by the painful example of Hurricane Katrina, the City of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, launched a "Partnership for Emergency Readiness" in August 2006. The program’s goal is to develop contacts, build trust, and coordinate planning so as to bolster the community’s ability to respond and quickly recover from a disaster. This includes creating an inventory of assets that businesses would be willing to make available to assist during an emergency. The city’s information technology department has created a secure Web site to enable the partnership’s participants to share information before, during, and after an event. All companies with more than 250 people are being encouraged to develop business continuity plans, with larger companies assisting smaller ones by sharing their plans as templates. Businesses participating in the partnership also agree to provide annual awareness training on security and emergency preparedness for their employees and to develop a preplan for emergency situations together with the city’s police and fire officials."