INDUSTRY

ARLINGTON, VA -- The Multi-Sector Crisis Management Consortium (MSCMC), a non-profit organization supported by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), will work with the U. S. Junior Chamber of Commerce to establish a nationwide network of emergency response volunteers and emergency response command centers, the Jaycees and the MSCMC announced today. The Jaycees, a volunteer organization with 70,000 members between ages 21 and 39, will encourage all its chapters to recruit and educate citizens in crisis response and management. Eventually, the Jaycees plan to establish volunteer crisis command centers in every state and 200 mobile field command stations equipped with advanced technological and communication capabilities. The network of centers will be part of the Jaycee's nationwide crisis preparation and response program called ACCESS 250. The organization established ACCESS 250 in response to President Bush's call for citizens to serve the nation in a new Citizen Corps after last year's terrorist attacks. These centers and their volunteers will activate in response to man-made and natural disasters, including terrorist attacks and other national security threats. They could also be used for education, training, and economic development programs. The MSCMC, a group that promotes using and deploying new technologies to better prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from disasters, will work with the Jaycees to deploy cutting-edge technologies at the centers. These technologies could include high-performance networks and computing and visualization tools capable of analyzing real-time data at disaster sites and modeling various response and rescue scenarios. "Our overall goal is to build the capabilities of these centers so that they become advanced technology deployment centers similar to the Alliance Center for Collaboration, Education, Science and Software (ACCESS).," said Janet Thot-Thompson, associate director for ACCESS with NCSA and executive director of the MSCMC. "In order to do this, we need to start out by raising awareness and building human capital at the grassroots level. The Jaycees have that grassroots volunteer network." The Jaycees are launching a nationwide pledge campaign to commit their chapters to participating in ACCESS 250. Members from 650 local chapters have already committed to the project. The Jaycees and members of the MSCMC are meeting this morning at ACCESS to announce their grassroots organizing effort and to explain and demonstrate a state command center prototype and the advanced communication and data management tools that would be available at a center. ACCESS, a facility just outside Washington that offers training, information and access to advanced technologies being developed by NCSA and the National Computational Science Alliance, is also a prototype of a high-tech command center and the monthly meeting place of the MSCMC. The MSCMC was established in 2000 and is chaired by the executive director of the National Response Center. Member organizations include technology companies, research institutions, and agencies in the national emergency response community.