About

The Jefferson County Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) is a collective group of organizations, and is composed of representatives from public, private and not-for-profit agencies. The COAD is aligned with existing organizations as the goals and objectives of these groups overlap in many areas. The Jefferson County COAD enhances the community’s ability to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters using FEMA’s Whole Community concept to engage the full capacity of the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Our partners include businesses, faith-based organizations, community organizations, disability organizations, and community stakeholders, in conjunction with the participation of local, state, and federal government partners. The Jefferson County COAD’s mission is to coordinate emergency human services, thus ensuring that human needs, inherent in a disaster situation, are evaluated and addressed.

The Jefferson County COAD has a broad mission that will provide a platform for launching traditional programs such as a Long-Term Recovery Committee (LTRC), while promoting an inclusive concept to add more non-traditional programming into their organizations through the incorporation of the “Whole Community” concept. Most disasters and emergencies are local events, the COAD and local emergency management work collaboratively to continue to build more resilient communities. Effective communication and cooperation prior to an incident will influence community recovery following any emergency event.

Mission Statement

The mission of the COAD is to bring together community, government, faith based organizations, business, and volunteers committed to making their community become more prepared, resilient and self-sufficient. Together, members will enhance the community’s ability to mitigate, prepare, respond and recover from disasters thus ensuring that human needs compromised in a disaster situation are evaluated and addressed. This will be achieved through cooperation, coordination, communication, and collaboration of member organizations.