New York, N.Y. -- Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, addressed representatives from 17 large U.S. cities at the first annual Citizen Corps Mega-Cities Conference today.

"Thanks to President Bush's vision, every citizen volunteer can take an active role in preparing his or her city or community to be more secure and better able to respond to disasters of all kinds," said Brown. "This is especially important in our major cities, where so many businesses and ethnicities come together."

The Mega-Cities Conference focused on large metropolitan areas and addressed the unique issues that these cities encounter in implementing Citizen Corps and preparedness planning. Some of these issues are: high-density residential areas, critical infrastructure, high-density business areas, mixed-use space, school system and private sector participation, special needs populations, and language barriers. Discussions also focused on setting up Citizen Corps Councils for the entire urban area, to include multiple Councils within the County or City.

The following cities sent representatives to participate in the conference: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami-Dade, Newark, New York City, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, San Juan, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.

Experts from the VIPS (Volunteers in Police Service) program and Neighborhood Watch, both sponsored by the Department of Justice, the Medical Reserve Corps, sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Service, and FEMA's CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) training program also shared lessons learned in implementing these programs in a large urban environment.

Under the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, Citizen Corps is a community-based initiative to engage all citizens in homeland security and community and family preparedness through public education and outreach, training opportunities, and volunteer programs. Programs under the Citizen Corps umbrella include federally sponsored programs and other activities that share the goal of helping communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to all-hazards. Citizen Corps encourages all Americans to take an active role in building safer, stronger, and better-prepared communities.

President Bush created the USA Freedom Corps office at the White House to foster an American culture of service, citizenship and responsibility. Through the USA Freedom Corps, President Bush wants to help every American answer the call to service by strengthening and expanding service opportunities to protect our homeland, support our communities and extend American compassion around the world. Interested volunteers can find information on the USA Freedom Corps at www.usafreedomcorps.gov or by calling 1-877-USA-CORPS.

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