NENA recently announced that it has cancelled its in-person 2020 Annual Conference & Expo and is replacing it with an online event due to public-health and safety concerns related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The face-to-face event was originally scheduled to be held in June in Long Beach, California, before being postponed to September. However, given the still-uncertain trajectory of the pandemic, and considering that conference participants would be coming from all over the country and around the world, NENA concluded that cancelling the in-person meeting was the only safe and responsible action.

NENA is working with speakers, sponsors, and industry partners to deliver a virtual event from September 22-24. More details will be announced soon.

As NENA continues to closely monitor the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, we have developed a list of resources for members, chapters, and the greater 9-1-1 community.

NENA's COVID-19 resource page contains items including PSAP-guidance documents, EMD protocols, on-demand webinars, CoOPs and planning checklists, event-planner assistance, public education graphics, health and hygiene best practices, and many more resources to support you and your work during this ever-evolving situation. This page is updated with new information as it becomes available. 

Do you have or know of other resources that should be posted? If so, you can contact NENA Communications Director Chris Nussman.

Being a kid or a parent in a public-safety household isn’t easy. You have to navigate the tough calls, exhausting schedules, and many difficult conversations. Attend this special NENA #WebinarWednesday to hear from Chloe, a 16-year old who has grown up in the 9-1-1 world, alongside her mother, Christine, a two-decade 9-1-1 veteran, as they share how they’ve created a strong, healthy 9-1-1 family. Whether you’re a parent or not, attend this webinar to explore:

• Tools and techniques that assist in time management, job stress, family priorities, intentional parenting, and more; 
• What the kids of 9-1-1 really need from parents (and it’s not perfection); and
• Ways that all of us – with kids or without – can support our fellow 9-1-1 teammates and improve our work- and home-relationships.

Can't attend on the 29th? Register now and you will receive an email after the live presentation with instructions for accessing the on-demand webinar archive.

Presenters: Christine Bannister, ENP – Waukesha County (WI) Communications | Chloe – Teenager 

CEUs: Attend this webinar and receive one-half ENP re-certification point towards the ten-point maximum for NENA courses in the Professional Development CEU/Course Credits section. 

Webinar Access Info: Dial-in and web-access details provided automatically via email upon registration. 

Questions? Contact Amanda Tegtmeyer with the NENA Education team.

The new NENA Free Training Resource Center provides a database of free online and in-person training opportunities to help you build your skills and advance in your career. Whether you are a training coordinator searching for training for your staff, or a 9-1-1 professional looking to add to your knowledge, the Resource Center is a go-to guide for industry-leading education from trusted providers including: DHS, FEMA, NJTI, FRA, NCMEC, and more.

Email Lisa Fulton from the NENA Education Team to suggest other free training programs to consider for inclusion in the Resource Center.

• Silent or Hang-up Calls for Service Operational Information Document;
• Guidelines for Minimum Response to Wireless 9‑1‑1 Calls;
• 9‑1‑1 Call Answering Standard/Model Recommendation; and
• Emergency Call Processing Protocol Standard.

In developing this new comprehensive call-processing document, NENA engaged both NFPA and APCO to ensure the harmonization of our standards. Most notable is the update to the standard for 9‑1‑1 call-answering times, now providing that 90% of all 9‑1‑1 calls be answered within 15 seconds and 95% answered within 20 seconds. The remaining call-taking standards (e.g., order-of-answering priority, answering-statement protocols, information gathering, transfer) have been updated to reflect PSAP best practices.

In the evolving environment of Next Generation 9-1-1, the data received will change and come from different sources. This document seeks to inform on E9-1-1 and NG9-1-1 data flow issues and identify at least a few transition issues for additional consideration.

Members of the authoring Working Group can download the document and submit comments by going here and then selecting "Add a Comment" from the "Edit" icon.

All others may download the document and submit comments by going here and then selecting "Add a Comment" from the "Document Actions" icon.

Please complete all requested data and "Save," or, if submitting multiple comments, select "Save and Add Another."

If submitting a substantial number of substantive comments and/or edits, commenters may add a single comment in NWS Comment Manager and attach an edited version of the document containing tracked changes. To do this, scroll down to "Add Supporting File" on the comment page and select the file you have edited.

If you are providing editorial comments, such as corrections to typos, grammatical errors, style/numbering errors, or incorrect references/links to documents, please document them in one comment and list the page and line number for each. For example:

• Page 22, Line 761: correct muse to most
• Page 51, Line 905: correct Maine to main
• If the correction is within a table, provide the table name and page number of error and specific details of change

All comments are due by August 7. You may contact the NENA Committee Resource Manager with any questions or concerns.

9-1-1 relies on data and information sharing, both locally and nationally. Because a standard 9-1-1 data system doesn't exist, the opportunity to share actionable data across the nation is limited.

The 911 DataPath is an initiative to produce a framework to enable the voluntary adoption of a uniform 9-1-1 data system. As a first step, stakeholders in the 9-1-1 community have come together to begin identifying important data points and a common way to reference them. This will help improve operations, support data needs to secure funding, and continue to standardize progress toward NG9-1-1.

The 911 DataPath initiative is underway and needs input on the types of administrative data for decision making that would be useful when shared with other 9-1-1 systems. In this webinar, initiative participants and the National 911 Program will address:

• How access to timely, automated, reliable data sharing will help PSAPs and ECCs in their everyday work;
• How the 9-1-1 community can learn about and contribute to this effort to ensure it best meets the needs of all 9-1-1 systems; and
• The types of data under consideration as the initial task of this data collection and sharing effort.

Lunch & Learn: COVID-19 & the Future of NG9-1-1
Wednesday, July 15 | 11AM Eastern
Click here to register!

Attend to learn about the importance of NG9-1-1 funding and technology in light of COVID-19. A panel of experts will cover a wide range of current topics, including PSAP's rapid response to COVID-19 by ensuring call-taker safety, educating call-takers to ensure the safety of field responders, and adapting to a shifting landscape of emergency calls. Panelists will tie these important trends into two pieces of legislation that would allocate $12 Billion in funding to a nationwide NG9-1-1 system and reclassify 9-1-1 call-takers.

America’s 9-1-1 community is energized and encouraged by the U.S. House of Representatives’ vote last week to create a new $12 billion federal grant program to upgrade America’s 9-1-1 centers to Next Generation 9-1-1.

The grant program was included in H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, a package of federal transportation and infrastructure bills, which was approved by the House on Wednesday. If enacted, the program will help 9-1-1 agencies across the nation accelerate the deployment of Next Generation 9-1-1 systems that can better withstand disasters and cyberattacks, push and pull data from smartphones and sensors, and better locate wireless callers.

"All Americans deserve high-performing 9-1-1 service, no matter where they live, work, or travel," said NENA President, Gary Bell, ENP. "We call on the House and Senate to work together to send a strong NG9-1-1 bill supported by all 9-1-1 stakeholders to the president’s desk as soon as possible."

Click here to read more.

The Vetting Mental-Health-Provider Resources for Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) working group will produce an information document that will inform agencies when developing or refining their EAPs. The document will define EAP, identify different types of EAPs with the advantages and shortcomings of each EAP type, and identify specific criteria for professional mental health and wellness consultants, clinicians, counselors, and therapists to be included as agencies’ EAP providers.

Any and all 9-1-1 professionals, mental health and wellness professionals, and persons with agency human-resource  experience and/or with EAPs are invited to sign up here.

The NENA 3D GIS working group will produce a document that will define requirements and guidelines for handling of expression of caller location in three dimensions (X/Y/Z coordinates), including confidence and uncertainty. These guidelines will include methods to convert a height above ellipsoid (HAE) value to height about ground level (AGL) or floor level, so that the information is more meaningful in the field, as well as guidelines to construct GIS datasets that can handle three dimensional location data, such as road or building geometry.

This work is intended to support updating 9-1-1 systems in concert with recent so-called "Z-Axis" regulatory developments that will call for all wireless carriers in the US to provide altitude in addition to X and Y coordinates when delivering 9-1-1 calls by April 2021 (NENA notes that the FCC published its most recent draft order on this topic on June 25).

The following expertise is needed to meet the challenges of completing this effort in a timely manner: PSAP operations (e.g. calltakers), GIS professionals, supplemental location providers, and operations vendors (e.g., call handling equipment vendors).

All interested parties are invited to sign up here.