NENA NEWS
A new NENA Executive Board took office during the Installation Banquet & Gala at the NENA 2013 Conference & Expo last week in Charlotte, NC. Bernard "Buster" Brown, ENP was sworn in as President, while Christy Williams, ENP became 1st Vice President and Cheri Lynn Rockwell, ENP assumed the office of 2nd Vice President.
After the ceremony, Brown addressed the attendees and put forward his goals for the coming year. Most notably, he spoke about the critical role the association continues to play in ensuring 9-1-1 professionals are equipped to meet the challenges presented by the 21st Century communications environment. "Wherever someone may be, however they may try to reach [9-1-1], whenever that call may come... if there's an emergency, that call [must] be answered promptly and professionally by a trained and compassionate 9-1-1 telecommunicator," he said.
"The work [of 9-1-1] is of critical importance — seconds count, accuracy is vital, and mistakes can cost lives," Brown continued. "It's for my family, your family, and families across North America that I'm in public safety. No matter where, no matter when, I want to make sure that every call for help is answered to the very best of our ability."
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Thanks to all who helped make NENA 2013 such an amazing event! Big thanks to our sponsors, speakers, exhibitors, volunteers and especially the attendees who took the time out of their busy lives to join us in Charlotte!
For 9-1-1 professionals looking to prepare for the Emergency Number Professional (ENP) examination, there is no better way than to participate in a study group. Participants will be better prepared for the ENP exam by increasing their general knowledge on telephone, radio, PSAP infrastructure, and human resource issues. Participants will also gain an understanding of the concept and purpose of NG9-1-1 and will be given a sample test.
This study group is conducted by Mission Critical Partners, and the group's first hour-long class will be on Monday, August 5 at 3PM Eastern.
Email Louisa King to register or for more information.
State and local 9-1-1 professionals, Federal agency representatives, and other 9-1-1 stakeholders will gather to participate in the "State of 9-1-1" webinar discussion, presented by the National 9-1-1 Program, Wednesday, July 10 from 12PM-1PM Eastern.
This webinar, the fifth in a bimonthly series, will feature a discussion of activities in support of NG9-1-1 being conducted by law enforcement, a presentation from the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), and an open Q&A session.
To register for the webinar, Wednesday, July 10 2013 from 12PM-1PM Eastern, please go to www.911.gov and click on the "State of 911 Webinar series" under "Announcements" in the lower-right corner of the home page.
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We are excited to announce the launch of a new rewards program - available exclusively to you as a member of NENA! To join, log in to nena.org and click on the Member Rewards link from your member profile menu.
Designed to provide exclusive money-saving offers to our members, the new Member Rewards program gives you immediate access to THOUSANDS of discounts from a wide variety of exciting companies like AMC Theatres, Sprint, Walt Disney World, Red Lobster, 1-800-Flowers, Macy's and many more. There is an annual fee of $19.95* to join.
Join now, browse great deals, and start saving today! PLUS, a small portion of the proceeds will go to support NENA initiatives and help keep your membership dues low. Thank you for your support... and happy savings.
NENA's Center Manager Certification Program (CMCP) is designed to equip recently hired, newly promoted, and aspiring PSAP and 9-1-1 Authority managers and supervisors with the tools needed to effectively manage their agency through a rigorous 40-hour course of lecture and lab-based education. For more seasoned 9-1-1 professionals, the CMCP may serve to fill in some of the gaps and strengthen core competencies required in emergency communications center management.
The CMCP, unlike many other upper-level emergency communications training programs, utilizes a real-world, hands-on approach that is focused on topics encountered daily by managerial and supervisory level personnel: Business Writing, Financial Management, Human Resources, Legal Issues, and Communications Skills. With a curriculum built by current and former 9-1-1 center managers with decades of combined supervisory and training experience, the program will provide you with knowledge and skills that can immediately and drastically improve your on-the-job effectiveness and enhance your agency's everyday operations.
Register for upcoming CMCPs:
Registration coming soon for:
- 12.09-13 in Gainesville, FL
Curious about how to get the most out of your membership? Check out the new 2013 NENA Membership Guide! It's full of information about the myriad benefits and resources available to you as a NENA member (We've got a lot to offer!). In addition to the virtual edition, keep your eyes peeled for the print version, which should be arriving in your mailbox shortly. Contact us if you would like additional copies to distribute as part of our 2013 recruitment efforts!
Make sure the addresses (email and postal) that we have on file for you are current! Please log in to your online member account to verify or update your information, or send an email to Bri Robinson.
OPS UPDATE
NENA is in the process of establishing a Special Committee to work with the Department of Defense and representatives of its branches for the purpose of sharing our collective knowledge pertaining to 9-1-1. The Department of Defense is pursuing an agency-wide initiative to deploy E9-1-1 on every military installation. Military installations have a variety of existing 9-1-1 systems ranging from E9-1-1 answered on base to E9-1-1 answered off base to nothing at all, and most other situations in between. Our goal is to ensure that the department has the knowledge and understanding to make intelligent decisions as they move through their deployment activities.
In terms of participation, we are looking for NENA PSAP representatives that deal with each of the branches (i.e. one for Army, one for USAF, one for USMC, and one for Navy). We expect to use web-based teleconferencing to the greatest degree possible to achieve our goals.
We will be having a committee kick-off meeting at NENA 2013 in Charlotte on Tuesday, June 18 at 1:00PM ET in Room 205. A phone bridge will also be available.
TECH UPDATE
Today, NENA is pleased to announce the public availability of the NENA Registry System or NRS. We are excited about this important milestone and want to thank Brian Dupras for all the hours of personal time he spent in developing and coding this critical system. Without his commitment to NENA and 9-1-1, the NRS would not be available today. NENA would also like to thank Jason Horning and Delaine Arnold for the time they have spent making the NRS a reality and available to all parties requiring this information. The NENA Registry System may be found at http://technet.nena.org/nrs.
The NRS was documented in the NENA Registry System Standard ( NENA STA 70-001) to serve as a central repository and access point for registries created within NENA standards. Registries are the byproduct of thoughtful workgroup consideration and serve as consensus on the allowable identifiers, constants, and other well-known values that are exchanged within NG9-1-1. Today the NRS holds many of the registries created by NENA's Detailed Functional and Interface Specification for the NENA i3 Solution – Stage 3 (08-003 v1). In the future, the NRS will hold new registries already under development. As NENA's standards work their way through the necessary comment and approval processes, updates will be made to the NRS.
Through the NRS, NENA is also offering everyone an opportunity to submit new registry values. Each submittal will be considered in accordance with the NENA Registry System Standard and, if approved, added to the NRS.
NENA and URISA are calling for volunteers to assist with an update to the FGDC United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data Standard.
URISA's Address Standard Working Group (ASWG), a collaboration of volunteers from over 50 federal, state, tribal, local and private organizations, was convened in 2005 to draft an address data standard for submission to the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). That task culminated in February 2011 with the formal endorsement of the United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, and Postal Address Data Standard by the FGDC. The US Census Bureau is the maintenance authority for the Standard.
Since the endorsement in 2011, some issues and problems with the current version of the Standard have been brought to light, and opportunities for collaboration have been identified to improve the standard.
Under the auspices of the US Census Bureau, the ASWG is reconvening to draft a revision to the current version of the Standard to: Correct typos, errors and omissions in the standard; make adjustments to improve and ease the implementation and usage of the standard; improve its coordination with other national and international standards; and correct any issues that have arisen due to implementation of the Standard.
If you have professional or academic expertise in address or information exchange systems, you are encouraged to volunteer by sending an email to Keri Brennan at URISA Headquarters by Monday, July 15.
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS UPDATE
FEMA provides state and local governments with preparedness program funding in the form of Non-Disaster Grants to enhance the capacity of state and local emergency responders to prevent, respond to, and recover from a weapons of mass destruction terrorism incident involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive devices and cyber attacks.
Click here for more information.
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION NEWS
NENA recently launched a FREE email news service called Public Safety SmartBrief. It provides a weekly summary of news, trends and updates on public safety issues - not just 9-1-1, but police, fire and EMS. Knowledgeable editors handpick key articles from hundreds of publications, summarize them, and provide direct links to the original sources.
In other words, we do all the research and you get the latest news in your inbox or on your handheld device, absolutely free.
HELP WANTED
NENA's new and improved career center now offers more options and search functionality to job seekers and recruiters, including the ability to browse openings by category, subscribe to receive email notifications of new openings, and apply for openings directly online. Recruiters can now view and rate candidates applying for openings, search the resume database of available candidates (members-only feature), and manage postings online.
UPCOMING EVENTS
NENA and URISA are pleased to announce the newly re-engineered Locating the Future Conference (formerly known as the URISA/NENA Addressing Conference). The conference will take place at the historic Union Station in St. Louis, MO, from November 3-6, 2013.
With the new theme comes an invigorated slate of topics relating to location, addressing, public safety, emergency management, and 9-1-1. The world is changing at a rapid pace, and technologies related to location are more and more common. How do location and addressing adapt?
Call for Presentations
Consider participating as a speaker to showcase innovation, case studies, and best practices. There is a format to fit your speaking style, from a formal presentation and panel discussion to a complete interactive session or IGNITE talk.
Housing Information
The conference will take place at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel. We were able to obtain an extremely attractive room rate of $119 single/double. Reservations must be made by October 2, 2013. Make your reservation now while there is availability.
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