My friend, Devin Cohen, former President if Independent Neighborhood Democrats, is also a dedicated community member who has served as an EMT for 10 years and serves on Community Board 6. He has sent me the following information:

Hello Brooklyn friends and neighbors,

I'm writing to let you know about an opportunity to receive some cool training and to join a team of civilian responders for our community. These teams are being set up in the various Community Board Districts throughout the City, and it is now CB6's turn. We are recruiting through Community Board 6 and the board's Public Safety Committee, which I chair.

Please note that the Mayor's OEM is NOT recruiting residents who are already Emergency Responders in another capacity (i.e. EMTs who are already assigned to a unit.) They want citizens who do not yet have another assigned role during times of emergency/crisis.

I am writing today because the OEM has extended our application deadline to September 29th.

The New York City Community Response Team (CERT) Program is designed to train basic disaster skills and emergency preparedness to groups of neighborhood and community-based volunteers.

You will be taught to:
.educate neighbors about disaster preparedness
.assist agencies with public events
.respond to local disasters and support emergency personnel
.assist agencies at a disaster site

You must be 18 years of age or older and able to commit to a 25 hour/11 week course of lecture and hands on training.

Contact the Community Board 6 office no later than September 29th if you are interested in more information or would like to sign-up for training.

Training will begin October 10th and be held on Tuesday evenings. Space is limited.

Please call/email Samantha Cohen at (718) 643-3027 x200 / officemanager@brooklyncb6.org (subject: CERT)

I wish I had time to commit to this because I think this is a very important thing for people to do. Best I have done is gotten certified by the fire department to be a responsible party in charge of fire safety in my lab. I urge eveyone who can to get this kind of training. To find out if you are in the area covered by community board 6, click here. And to find out more about community board 6, click here.