Under grants from the Florida Department of Community Affairs and the Economic Development Administration, Palm Beach County Division of Emergency Management organized the Business Addressing Readiness & Recovery (BARR) program to coordinate business preparedness and recovery initiatives throughout the country. Since its inception in 2001, BARR has assisted over 800 businesses prepare disaster survival and business continuity plans through workshops, created a business preparedness website for small businesses, and has prepared and distributed over 8,000 CD’s on preparing business disaster survival plans.
Coming out of hurricanes Frances, Jeanne and Wilma, the need for expanding the BARR program and developing public-private partnership initiatives became apparent. The Division of Emergency Management has recently established a formal ESF 18 Business and Industry emergency support function and is giving consideration to the creation of a full-time business and emergency liaison position to facilitate and coordinate joint government, non-profit organization and business initiatives.
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