From now through October 15, NENA is accepting session proposals for the NENA 2022 Conference & Expo taking place at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, KY from June 11-16.

Presenting a session at NENA 2022 is an excellent opportunity to share your knowledge and experience with an audience of 9-1-1 professionals eager to gain and share information. It is also your chance to give back to the profession and help inspire, inform, and educate attendees on a variety of important issues.

 To ensure your submission receives due consideration, please ensure that:

• Your proposal is issue-focused, not product-focused;
• Your 65-word presentation description contains a precise objective;
• You are able to identify three clear audience takeaways;
• You fully complete all areas of the submission form and provide accurate contact information, including phone number(s), email address(es), and mailing address(es);
• You use proper grammar, capitalization, and punctuation; and
• You provide the names of any co-presenters with your submission (or prior to the close of the submission window).

All proposals are due by Friday, October 15. Click here to learn more.

Are you interested in the health and wellbeing of the 9-1-1 industry's most important assets? As 9-1-1 professionals, regardless of your job title or role in the 9-1-1 industry, your health and wellbeing is important and NENA is committed to serving you in the best possible way.

NENA invites you to engage with your peers in this new bi-monthly, Zoom-based health and wellness discussion! We will be seeking important insight from you on the health and wellness challenges you're facing and how we can best tackle them as a community. At the beginning of each discussion period, we will host a guest speaker, who will offer some tips and tools to help you in your everyday life. Even if you just want to attend to enjoy some peer camaraderie, all are welcome!

Click here on Wednesday, October 6 at 6PM Eastern to join the inaugural huddle.

10.05.21 | Enhanced Caller Management | Middletown, CT | Register
10.06.21 | Enhanced Caller Management | Middletown, CT | Register
10.07.21 | Enhanced Caller Management | ILO* | Register
10.08.21 | SOP Development: Refining & Enhancing Your 9-1-1 Center | ILO* | Register
10.12.21 | (3-day course) | 9-1-1 Center Supervisor Program | Lakewood, CO | Register
10.14.21 | Recruit, Hire, Retain, & Promote for Success | ILO* | Register
10.15.21 | 9-1-1 Center Culture: A Strategy for Personal & Organizational Success | Castle Hayne, NC | Register
10.15.21 | Liability Issues in the 9-1-1 Center | ILO* | Register 

*ILO stands for Instructor-Led Online

Mental-Health Injuries & 9-1-1: A Silent Pandemic
Thursday, September 30 | 3PM Eastern (live) or On-Demand
FREE for NENA Members
Click here to register!

Mental-health injuries impact 9-1-1 professionals at an alarming rate. Every day, dispatchers are exposed to trauma and research shows nearly half of the workforce in the 9-1-1 industry is living with a mental-health injury. The operational stresses encountered in the line of duty are affecting the wellbeing of our teams and the organizational health of our centers. Attend this hour-long webinar to learn about:

• The current research on mental-health injuries and operational stress;
• How these injuries and stressors impact our teams and our centers; and
• What we can do to improve and protect the health and wellbeing of all 9-1-1 professionals.

Can't attend on the 30th? Register now and you will receive an email after the live presentation with instructions for accessing the on-demand webinar archive.

Presenter: Cindy Sparrow – Consort Strategy Ltd

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.

NENA is pleased to open the nominations process for our 2022-23 Board of Directors election! This election will be for the following positions:

• Second Vice President
• Southeastern Region Director 
• Western Region Director
• Private Sector Director

Click here to download a .zip file of documents and resources that includes:

• Statement of Responsibilities – Must be signed by nominee and co-signed by an agency representative (if applicable)
• Nomination Form – Can be completed by the applying candidate or by a third-party nominator
• Relevant NENA polices and procedures
• NENA's bylaws

Click here to fill out your board nomination form online. A paper form is available in the .zip file of documents and resources.

The nomination deadline is October 1, 2021 at 5PM Eastern. Contact the Elections Committee with any questions about the nomination process, eligibility requirements, or general election details.

9‑1‑1 is vulnerable to security issues, including call flood-based attacks such as TDoS, which saturate the network and prevent individuals from receiving timely service. 9‑1‑1 is vulnerable to TDoS, as a function being well known, having limited resources (especially call takers), older technology (in E9‑1‑1), and the need to answer every call. The NENA Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS) Information Document describes TDoS in 9‑1‑1 networks, including methods for detection and mitigation. 

Members of the Working Group may 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, and incorrect references/links to documents, please document them under 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 November 5, 2021. You may contact the NENA Committee Resource Manager with any questions or concerns.

The NENA Managing & Monitoring NG9‑1‑1 Information Document provides guidance to 9‑1‑1 authorities at all levels on considerations and best practices for adoption in managing and monitoring Next Generation 9‑1‑1 (NG9‑1‑1). The topics covered are comprehensive and general guidance is given to assist authorities in planning for NG9‑1‑1 as they transition from legacy 9‑1‑1 to a full implementation of NG9‑1‑1. The document has been updated to include Best Practice Thresholds for Monitoring NG9‑1‑1 Functional Elements, Threat Protection and Mitigation Strategy for handling various types of cyberattacks, and discussion of PSAP Credentialing Agency (PCA) and Validation Policy.

Members of the Working Group may 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, and incorrect references/links to documents, please document them under 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 Friday, October 15, 2021. You may contact the NENA Committee Resource Manager with any questions or concerns.

The NENA Standard to Protect the Wellbeing of 9‑1‑1 Professionals defines the potential impacts of 9‑1‑1 work on the wellbeing of the emergency telecommunicator and directs PSAP leaders to build Comprehensive Stress Resilience Plans empowering their personnel for wellness by preventing, managing, and healing from these impacts, using resource documents provided in the appendices.

Members of the Working Group may 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, and incorrect references/links to documents, please document them under 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 Monday, October 18, 2021. You may contact the NENA Committee Resource Manager with any questions or concerns.

Having adjudicated all comments, the NENA NG9‑1‑1 Operational Impacts on the PSAP Information Document is now considered "stable." Per NENA IPR & Antitrust Policy, Section 4.5.1 "Stable Form Notice" is being issued and can be viewed here.

On February 17, the Federal Communications Commission established the Ending 9-1-1 Fee Diversion Now Strike Force, a federal advisory committee dedicated to studying and making recommendations to address 9-1-1 fee diversion — that is, the practice of some states and jurisdictions of using the 9-1-1 fees that consumers pay on their phone bills for non-9-1-1 purposes.

On September 23, the FCC transmitted the Strike Force's report to Congress. Click here to read the report and review the findings.

The Public Safety Communications & Railroad Interaction Standard Operating Procedures standard aids PSAPs, railroad communication centers, and railroad personnel in the development and implementation of standard operating procedures for emergency communications protocols pertaining to railroad and railroad related emergencies.

NENA seeks volunteers with knowledge of PSAP operations, railroad operations, and related areas to participate in reviewing and updating the standard.  

Click here to join this work group.

Recently, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) published RTP-Mixer Formatting of Multiparty Real-Time Text, which describes the use of RTT mixers for multi-party sessions. This functionality facilitates the transfer of emergency calls involving real-time text and audio between call takers, callers, and other agents by identifying the source along with the text generated by each participant in a conference associated with an attended transfer. The NENA i3 Standard for Next Generation 9-1-1 provides standards to support RTT-to-RTT deployment. In order to determine if the NENA PSAP Readiness for Real-Time Text (RTT) Information Document should be updated to further support RTT-to-RTT calls, we would like to know what level of RTT deployment has occurred or is planned. Proprietary and/or confidential information is not being sought as part of the inquiry.

The NENA RTT Workgroup would like your input on the current state of your RTT support by answering the following:

• Do you have experience of RTT 9-1-1 calls handled by a TTY equipped PSAP?
• Do you have experience of RTT 9-1-1 calls handled in an RTT capable PSAP?
• Are you willing to be contacted by the NENA RTT Working Group Co-Chairs regarding your experience? 

Please submit your responses via email here.