Decide who you would like in your neighborhood network. Some considerations are:

Proximity: If a storm leaves you confined to your neighborhood, those living closest are those on whom you will need to rely.

Resources: Who can you share your resources with? Whether it's a snow blower, child care, medical training or just a sympathetic ear, how can your neighbors pool your resources in an emergency?

Needs: Are there people in your neighborhood who have needs that you could help meet:

• Wheelchair users
• Young Children
• Elderly

Remember you can continue to grow: the bigger your network, the greater your resources will be.

Decide when and where you and your neighbors could meet.

Examples on where to meet:

• Neighbor's Home
  
• Neighborhood picnic
• Dessert and coffee gathering
• Bus stop

Download the forms you need to get started:


These include the:

1. Sample Invitation Letter (use as-is or write your own)
   
   
   
2. Fact sheets on Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) and Howard County's Community Emergency Response Network (CERN)
   You can include these in your Sample Invitation Letter or they can be given out at your meeting.
   
   What is N2N?
   What is CERN?
   
   
   
   
3. Neighbor Information Form
   This is an inventory of your neighbors' skill sets and needs - information that will be necessary pre-disaster and post-disaster.
   
   
4. Family Communications Card
   This is an essential component of planning. Your family unit will most likely not be together when a disaster strikes. Having this contact information in hand reassures family members this piece of planning has taken place. Complete this information with family cell phone numbers and work numbers.

Distribute (by hand, or electronically) prior to your neighborhood meeting.

At your get-together, discuss the plans that you need to make to keep your community safe and prepared. You can use the information provided on the emergency preparedness section of this website.

Be sure to develop a directory of your network that includes:

• Contact Information
• Needs
• Resources

Create the directory by collecting completed neighbor information forms, compiling the data and distributing the completed directory to your neighborhood network.


Keep a hard copy of your directory available: don't be foiled by a power outage!