Getting It Right 2018 National Inclusive Disaster Strategies Conference

Date/Time: May 23, 2018 8:00 pm to May 25, 2018 5:00 pm

Location: Marriott Metro Center Washington, DC.

Description: The focus of Getting it Right is on expanding a shared commitment to achieving and maintaining disability inclusive whole community emergency preparedness, community resilience, response, recovery and mitigation before, during and after disasters.

• Building capacity, relationships and skills to meet the access and functional needs of the whole community

• Sharing promising and good practices for achieving and maintaining accessibility and inclusion before, during and after disasters

• Finding resources to meet the needs of your community

• Moving from words into actions, measuring progress and results

Why do we need to GET IT RIGHT?

The past year has been a time of devastating community and economic impacts due to disasters around the world. In the U.S., there were at least 16 billion-dollar catastrophic disasters and hundreds of lives lost. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the cumulative cost of these disasters is already more than $306.2 billion dollars, which shattered the previous U.S. annual record cost of $214.8 billion dollars established in 2005 due to the impacts of Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Of the people who lost their lives or sustained serious injuries, people with disabilities and older adults continue to be impacted at disproportionately high rates. Disability inclusive emergency preparedness is imperative to whole community readiness and resilience.

We can, and we must GET IT RIGHT!

Our Getting It Right conferences bring together leading inclusive emergency and disaster experts, disability leaders, emergency managers, planners, federal, tribal, territorial, state and local government, elected officials, public health and public safety experts, faith leaders, business and industry and higher education leaders who want to learn more about how to improve readiness and recovery for individuals, families, communities and businesses. The focus of Getting It Right is on expanding our shared commitment to achieving and sustaining disability inclusive whole community emergency preparedness, community resilience, response, recovery and mitigation before, during, and after disasters.

What is the Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies?

The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies (the Partnership) is a national coalition of thousands of individuals and organizations with a shared mission. We are committed to increasing individual and community capacity for equal access and full inclusion of people with access and functional needs for optimal whole community emergency preparedness, support when disaster strikes and community engagement throughout disaster recovery to build back better and truly improve safety and community resilience for all.

Since hurricane Harvey made landfall in August, the Partnership and conference sponsor, Portlight Strategies have been leading local and national response, relief and recovery initiatives. We have been working around the clock to meet the access and functional needs of children and adults with disabilities, older adults and many others impacted by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, as well as the devastating wildfires in northern and southern California.

Why should I attend GETTING IT RIGHT 2018?

Here are some reasons to attend the Getting It Right 2018 National Inclusive Disaster Strategies Conference:

• Learn about promising whole community emergency management practices, solutions for complying with laws and regulations, achieving and sustaining individual, family, community and business readiness, community resilience, optimizing disaster recovery and finding the funds to get it right.

• Learn more about inclusive disaster strategies. Conference session topics will address community engagement, physical and communication accessibility, exercises, registries, emergency alerts, evacuation, health maintenance, medical equipment and assistive devices, sheltering and housing, accommodating access and functional needs, media, universal design, laws and rights, including federal, tribal, territorial, state and local emergency programs.

• Visit the exhibit hall to gather information from companies and organizations working on emergency and disaster strategies, while networking with current and future inclusive emergency management leaders and key decision-makers.

• Exchange promising practices with other whole community inclusion experts, creating stronger, bolder and more effective solutions for the future.

Individuals and organization interested in sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities are encouraged to contact Michael Decker at development@disasterstrategies.org.

American Sign Language interpreters and Computer-Aided Realtime Transcription (CART) will be provided. Attendees who require other accommodations are asked to email Jessica Justus at Jessica@disasterstrategies.org with “disability accommodation” in the message subject heading. Jessica Justus can also answer your conference-related questions.

Registration

• Registration is now open

• The early-bird registration price, available until March 31, is $200. After March 31, registration for the 3-day meeting will be $295.

• To register please click here

• A limited number of scholarships are available.