The King County Regional Trusted Partner Network: A case study of programme development, implementation and lessons learned from the first two years
Abstract
In 2017, Washington State passed a law requiring life-safety alerts and warnings to be delivered to its residents in languages they understand. In response, King County Emergency Management and its partners developed an inclusive emergency communications plan to address this challenge. A key goal of this plan was the development of a trusted partner network (TPN), run by volunteers from the county’s various language and ethnic groups, to relay timely life-safety alerts to their communities, in order to save additional lives and property. This paper outlines the development of the TPN from concept to activation, and shares the lessons learned along the way. It also describes the limitations of the programme and the various factors that jurisdictions should consider before replicating such a programme.
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Author's Biography
Sheri Badger is the Public Information Officer (PIO) for the King County Office of Emergency Management in Renton, Washington. Sheri started her emergency management career in 2001, at the Human Services Department in Pierce County, WA. Her first activation was as a supporting PIO at Pierce County Department of Emergency Management (DEM) during the Nisqually earthquake. Several years later, she was hired by Pierce County DEM to develop Vulnerable Populations Planning. She also worked as the Joint Information Center Manager during various activations. She was a Pierce County Incident Management Team member, serving as the PIO for seven years, where she deployed to multiple disasters, including the Taylor Bridge Fire in Kittitas County, Carlton Complex Fire in Okanogan, the Roy Silo collapse, the Lakewood Four Police Officer shooting, and the Oso landslide. From 2018 to 2021 she served as North Carolina Emergency Management’s first Disability Integration Specialist, responding to hurricanes Florence, Dorian and Isaias, as well as the North Carolina COVID-19 response. She took a break from emergency management to fulfil her lifelong dream of joining the Peace Corps, and served in Ghana from 2015 to 2017.
Susanna Trimarco is an emergency management programme specialist who focuses on public outreach and community education for the King County Office of Emergency Management in Renton, Washington. She began working for the Office of Emergency Management as an AmeriCorps Fellow in September 2020 and was hired as a programme specialist in August 2021. She holds a bachelor of science in marine biology from the University of Oregon and a master’s in teaching mathematics and science from Seattle Pacific University. Although King County Emergency Management is her first professional role in emergency management, Susanna was introduced to the field when she deployed to the Oso landslide as a member of the Washington Conservation Corps. She is passionate about individual and community disaster preparedness and seeks to broaden access to information and equitable education for all community members.
Citation
Badger, Sheri and Trimarco, Susanna (2023, February 1). The King County Regional Trusted Partner Network: A case study of programme development, implementation and lessons learned from the first two years. In the Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, Volume 16, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.69554/QUAS3476.
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