Citizen Corp Teams up With Save A Life Foundation FEMA Deputy Director Mike Brown announced an official affiliation between Save A Life Foundation (SALF) and President Bush's Citizen Corps initiative. At the U.S. Conference of Mayors Meeting in Washington, D.C., Mr. Brown and Carol Spizzirri, SALF President, signed a partnership agreement to work together to raise public awareness about emergency preparedness with an emphasis on life-supporting first aid skills.

FEMA Deputy Director Mike Brown today announced an official affiliation between Save A Life Foundation (SALF) and President Bush's Citizen Corps initiative. At the U.S. Conference of Mayors Meeting in Washington, D.C., Mr. Brown and Carol Spizzirri, SALF President, signed a partnership agreement to work together to raise public awareness about emergency preparedness with an emphasis on life-supporting first aid skills. Together they will encourage communities to train and educate children and families in basic first aid through the Citizen Corps network of state and local councils.

"Everyone can do something to spread the word about emergency preparedness and first aid, and the affiliation between Citizen Corps and the Save A Life Foundation will help bring that message to the American people," Brown said. "I look forward to working with Save A Life Foundation and to expanding Citizen Corps' network of affiliate organizations and programs to make our nation safer and better prepared than ever before."

Signed at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting, where mayors from around the country meet annually to exchange ideas and information on all topics including homeland security and emergency preparedness, the agreement adds SALF as an affiliate to the four charter Citizen Corps programs: Neighborhood Watch, Volunteers in Police Service, Community Emergency Response Teams, and Medical Reserve Corps. SALF joins National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as a Citizen Corps affiliate program.

Issuing a call to service for all Americans to embrace a spirit of volunteerism, President Bush announced the creation of USA Freedom Corps in his State of the Union address last January. The President established Citizen Corps, a component of USA Freedom Corps, to provide people the opportunity to volunteer in a range of homeland security measures within their communities.

Citizen Corps' mission is to harness the power of individual citizens through education, training, and volunteer opportunities to make communities safer, stronger and better prepared for the threats of terrorism, crime, public health risks, and disasters of all kinds. FEMA coordinates these volunteer opportunities through Citizen Corps.

SALF is a non-profit organization that seeks to heighten public awareness in emergency preparedness by training and educating citizens on basic life-supporting first aid skills including the Heimlich maneuver and CPR.

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