News & Events

Press Releases

New Jersey Recognized for Having Citizen Corps Councils Serve Entire State Population

Release Date: July 23

(WEST TRENTON, NJ) Today, the Department of Homeland Security recognized the State of New Jersey for their leadership in establishing 131 county and local Citizen Corps Councils to serve the entire state population. Working closely with the 21 county offices of emergency management, the New Jersey State Citizen Corps Council has advocated and supported the creation of Citizen Corps Councils in each county and in 109 local communities, giving New Jersey the largest number of Citizen Corps Councils of any state.

Speaking at the CERT graduation ceremony of State employees, David Hagy, Director for Local Coordination from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of State and Local Government Coordination, presented a certificate of commendation to New Jersey State Attorney General Peter Harvey saying, "New Jersey has shown outstanding leadership in developing this critical grass roots initiative. We must have the participation of all citizens to make our nation safer and the leadership of New Jersey as well as its citizens have embraced this responsibility through Citizen Corps."

With this network of Citizen Corps Councils, New Jersey has created a powerful infrastructure to include citizens in a range of hometown security activities. New Jersey has more than 100 Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), 17 Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) programs, seven Medical Reserve Corps Units (MRC), and hundreds of Neighborhood Watch Groups. The State has also partnered with Citizen Corps affiliate programs and other organizations to expand opportunities to participate, including the Boy Scouts to reach younger ages and Business Executives for National Security to engage the private sector. New Jersey has also taken steps to educate all state residents on emergency preparedness, distributing thousands of "Plain Talk on Terrorism Preparedness" newspaper inserts.

New Jersey was also notably recognized for its commitment to the CERT program by training over 2500 citizens, forming partnerships with New Jersey Transit to train employees, and for creating the State Employee CERT initiative. Today's graduation brings the number of trained state employees to over 600.

Nationally, Citizen Corps is experiencing continued growth of county, local, and tribal Citizen Corps Councils, from less than 700 a year ago to nearly 1300 today - serving 50% of the U.S. population. Participation in each of the charter Citizen Corps programs has also doubled in the past year. There are now more than 1250 Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) programs, over 900 Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) programs, 194 Medical Reserve Corps units, and nearly 10,000 registered Neighborhood Watch groups.

A vital component of USA Freedom Corps, Citizen Corps is the Department of Homeland Security's nationwide grass roots movement to actively involve everyone in America in making our communities and our nation safer, stronger, and better prepared for all hazards. Citizen Corps provides local opportunities for everyone to participate in hometown security and community/family preparedness through public education and outreach - including the Department's Ready campaign; training opportunities; and volunteer programs to support local first responders. Citizen participation is coordinated by the nearly 1,300 county, local, and tribal Citizen Corps Councils, which bring together the expertise of emergency responders with the energy and spirit of volunteers, the private sector and other community stakeholders. To learn more, visit www.citizencorps.gov.