Palo Alto Emergency Services is looking for one person on every block, or pair of blocks, in College Terrace to volunteer as a temporary Block Preparedness Coordinator (BPC). BPCs are Palo Alto’s most local level of emergency response. Their job is to check in with their neighbors in the case of major emergencies and report needs up the emergency response chain of command. There is supposed to one BPC per block across the city, but College Terrace has only three active at present. So we need some help!
During the shelter-in-place BPCs are being asked to knock on people’s doors about once a week and check that everyone in each house is okay. If people need help, BPCs can help them direct them to the resources they need.
Is this something you can do for either your own block or one near by?
If you volunteer, the city will supply you with an ID, a fluorescent vest, and informational materials to share with neighbors. You can also run through a brief online training module to help you understand what BPCs do.
BPCs report to a central Neighborhood Preparedness Coordinator (NPC) in each neighborhood. College Terrace’s interim NPC is local resident Andrea Edelman, who also works for the city’s Office of Emergency Services. Please contact Andrea if you are able to help keep our community connected and resilient at Andrea.Edelman@CityofPaloAlto.org.