Evacuteer.org raises $8,300 at benefit and hosts successful summit
NEW ORLEANS-
On Thursday June 17, 2010 evacuteer.org raised $8,300 at its Hello Hurricane Season benefit presented by AT&T. City Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, AT&T Regional Director Leo Marsh and evacuteer.org executive director Robert X. Fogarty spoke about the improvement in emergency preparedness and the need to invest in social innovation organizations like evacuteer.org.
On Saturday June 19, 2010 evacuteer.org hosted its first ever “Hello, Hurricane Season Summit,” which brought together all of the organization’s 25 partner organizations and independent evacuteers. The keynote panel included Deputy Mayor Colonel Jerry Sneed, Chief of Fire Charles Parent, Superintendent of Police Ronal Serpas, and special operations director for EMS, Jacob Oberman.
Hello Hurricane Season Benefit Tickets on Sale Now
BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE: http://hellohurricaneseasonbenefit.eventbrite.com/
Evacuteer.org Investment Video
Evacuteer.org Investment Video from evacuteer.org on Vimeo.
City Council President Arnie Fielkow, Evacuteer Shawn Chollette, and former Homeland Security Director Colonel Terry Ebbert talk about the value of investing in and contributing to evacuteer.org.
evacuteer.org in final three of $20,000 Tulane NewDay Challenge
NEW ORLEANS- Tulane University’s NewDay Challenge, a business plan competition surrounding social enterprises in New Orleans, has announced that evacuteer.org in in the final three for its $20,000 first place prize. We are very excited about this news and are crafting a dynamite final round presentation.
BEGIN RELEASE FROM TULANE:
Thank you to all the participants of Tulane’s first NewDay Social Entrepreneurship Challenge. It’s clear from the range of proposals that the Tulane community is developing and testing many incredibly innovative solutions to our most pressing social challenges.
After two rounds of judging, we would like to congratulate the following three teams for progressing to the final round of the 2010 NewDay Social Venture Competition.
Drop The Chalk (Jonathan Rovick, Stephen Corburn, Kurt Gerwitz, and Jen Schnidman)
Nanofex (Justin Levy, Xavier Cabo, Julio Moscoso, and Ashton Prat)
Evacuteer.org (Louise Murphy, Robert Fogarty, and Guillermo Olivos)
On Friday, April 16, 2010, these three teams will pitch their social ventures
to a panel of five judges for the chance to win $20,000.
The panel will be made up of the following accomplished professionals:
1. Flozell Daniels, Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation
2. D’Juan Hernandez, Sun Energy Group
3. Nadiyah Morris Coleman, Lt. Governors Office of Social Innovation
4. Andrea Chen, Social Entrepreneurs of New Orleans
5. Tim Williamson, Idea Village
Along with the Tulane Business Plan Competition, the final round of the NewDay Challenge will take place on Friday, April 16th in Goldring-Woldenberg II (GWII) at the Freeman School of Business.
Presentations will take place between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm. Lunch will
be served in the Executive Dining Room of GWII from 12:00 – 1:00 pm.
Immediately following lunch, the Tulane Entrepreneurs Association will
host a panel discussion on entrepreneurship from 1:00 – 2:00 pm.
The panel of speakers will consist of our final round judges and Ben
Kleinman, a Tulane alumnus who specializes in intellectual property
rights. The event is open to the public; however, space is limited. To
secure your spot in the audience for the 2010 Tulane Business Plan
Competition, please follow this link to RSVP:
https://nykotai.wufoo.com/forms/rsvp-tulane-business-plan-competition/
evacuteer.org goes to Thailand
New Orleans–In cooperation with Prince of Songkla University in Phuket, Province Thailand, evacuteer.org director Robert X. Fogarty will be spending the month of April studying the improvements in disaster preparedness of that community five years after the Asian Tsunami of 2004. This summer, Fogarty will be working in conjunction with the University of New Orleans and LSU Center for Transportation research on the improvements in New Orleans.
The main questions:
1. To what extent has Thailand’s individual, private enterprise and governmental preparedness systems improved since the Asian tsunami in 2004, and what innovations can be taken as lessons learned for New Orleans?
2. How can the lessons learned and preparedness strategies in New Orleans be applicable to Phuket with its similar population and tourist-based economy and vice versa?
3. How has private enterprise, specifically hotels and resorts, improved disaster preparedness techniques in regards to tourists, who usually have little or know knowledge of local hurricane or tsunami preparedness procedures in Phuket and New Orleans?
4. Finally, if we accept the premise that we learn from experience, what are the top 10 innovations in government, individual and private enterprise preparedness to have appeared in New Orleans and Phuket since the disasters?
During the trip, Fogarty will be blogging rom www.rxfogarty.com and evacuteer.org/thailand
evacuteer.org co-hosts CrisisCampNola, builds neworleanshaiti.org in one day.
NEW ORLEANS–In a sign of generosity and community, 30 members of the New Orleans community came together last Saturday for CrisisCampNola. The event, billed as an “unconference” brought the New Orleans’ creative and tech class together with non-developers and 10 haitian New Orleanians.
By the end of the day, the developers built a website, www.neworleanshaiti.org, to serve as a communication tool for the 4,000 New Orleanians of Haitian descent. Also, developers worked on national scale open source technology for Haitian relief efforts.
“We can’t thank you enough for helping us through this tough time,” said Hector Louis-Jeune, a representative from the Haitian Catholic Community of New Orleans.
The causemoplitan.com, evacuteer.org team up to host CrisisCampNOLA
NEW ORLEANS–via neworleanstech.net: http://bit.ly/8h0XFo
No one has been immune to the recent news about the devastating earthquakes that rocked Haiti. Support in the form of money, clothes, and food have already poured out to aid the the nation. But technologist across the country have found an unique way to support the disaster. Under a cause called Crisis Commons programmers, developers, and everyday volunteers have united together to use their skills for good. Crisis Commons spawned from talks that happened at Transparency Camp 09 and Government 2.0 Camp. Several “campers” exchanged ideas about how to better connect people, utilize social networks, and disseminate information through the use of technology, especially during times and places of crisis.
Crisis Common is now a national event to develop technology tools to assist in times of crisis — particularly in support of the recent Haitian earthquakes. So far Crisis Common techies from Atlanta to Los Angeles have helped develop such tools as Mobile Applications For Crisis Response, a Craigslist style exchange area for self-identified needs and requests by non-profits assisting in Haiti relief operations, and family reunification systems. These are just a few of the tools that people have created by pooling their skills sets and resources.
Sloane Berrent from The Causemopolitan and Robert Fogarty from Evacuteer have partnered to put on a barcamp style event on this Saturday modeled after Crisis Common called CrisisCampNOLA. The event will get volunteers together for a day to contribute something in line with the Crisis Commons cause. Developers (people with skills in programming, web design, application development, UI) and non developers (everyday people who are good at organizing, planning, social media, or scribing) are asked to come out this Saturday, January 23rd from 9AM until 6PM to help the group achieve its goal. The event will be held at LaunchPad NOLA, 643 Magazine St.
If you want to help the CrisisCampNOLA cause feel free to show up at the event on Saturday and give a helping hand, tell a friend, or just get the word out.
Register: http://crisiscampnola.eventbrite.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Orleans-LA/Crisis-Camp-NOLA-crisiscampNOLA/260688229635
Twitter: http://twitter.com/crisiscampnola
Phone: 310.422.4895 (Yes, this is a local person)
Hector Jeune estimates there are 4,000-6,000 Haitian New Orleanians
Evacuteer.org reports to City Council
NEW ORLEANS–On Thursday January 7, 2010, evacuteer.org director Robert Fogarty presented to the City Council the organization’s 2009 accomplishments and 2010 goals. In addition to the eight minute presentation, Councilmembers Jackie Clarkson, Cynthia Willard-Lewis and Arnie Fielkow gave positive feedback and asked engaged questions. Colonel Jerry Sneed director of the City’s Office of Homeland Security was scheduled to testifiy as well but had to attend to another matter. After the meeting, he sent an email to all of the council members:
“I feel it is important for you to know how well this organization is doing and how we plan to continue to use them. I can’t emphasize enough to you how important I think this organization is…”
In 2009:
~evacuteer.org recruited and trained 21 partner organizations and 426 “evacuteers” (evacuation + volunteers) nearly every Saturday throughout hurricane season in partnership with the Red Cross to train citizen volunteers on their roles within the City Assisted Evacuation Plan in advance of a category three or higher storm.
~evacuteer.org developed a defined and direct training program providing information on roles of citizen volunteers in the CAEP
~evacuteer.org received its 501c3 tax exempt status from the IRS six weeks after sending the application on model cooperative non-profit government model based much off of Parkway Partners where the City’s applicable director has a seat on the board and the non-profit’s mission is to directly enhance an initiative overseen by the government(In our case it’s Col. Sneed, in Parkway Partners, its Ann MacDonald)
~evacuteer.org developed an extensive social media following on twitter and facebook and traditional media outlets WDSU, WGNO, WVUE, WWOZ, WWNO, WEZB, the Times Picayune, the Gambit’s “40 under 40 issue” featured evacuteer.org
~evacuteer.org founder Robert Fogarty presented to a group of Pakistani diplomats on a trip to America studying recovery and disaster sponsored by the US Department of State
~evacuteer.org founder Robert Fogarty presented to the World Conference on Disaster Management about utilizing branding and social media innovation to engage citizens in disaster preparedness.
2010 goals:
~Host a beginning of hurricane summit for all 426 evacuteers and partner organizations to dust off CAEP concepts and prepare for storm season as well as new possible partner organizations
~Have all 17 CAEP pick-up points “adopted” by neighborhood associations and/or faith based groups
~Increase unaffiliated volunteer involvement by 20 percent to from 100 unaffiliated volunteer to 120
~Increase partner organization involvement and commitment by 30 percent form 21 groups to 28
Evacuteer.org to apply to Tulane University’s Business Plan Competition
NEW ORLEANS- Equipped with a good idea, momentum and two talented MBA students, evacuteer.org is writing its business plan tailored towards an upcoming entry into Tulane University’s $50,000 business plan competition.
Guillermo Olivos, a Yale MBA who interned with evacuteer.org in the summer 2009 and now holds a seat on the organization’s board of directors, and Louise Murphy, a Tulane MBA, are writing the plan. Professor Peter Ricchiuti, a business professor at Tulane, is the team’s faculty advisor.
Evacuteer.org, however, is an unlikely organization with a niche so narrow and defined that constructing a business plan in a traditional manner has its challenges.
“We fill a need that exists in New Orleans and we fill a need that could exist in several locations around the world,” founder and director Robert X. Fogarty says. “But our initial business plan is focusing on our operations in New Orleans and defining why we are a worthy organization, valuable enough to be invested in by philanthropists and the public sector.”
Evacuteer.org’s mission is to aid and enhance the operations of the City Assisted Evacuation Plan with volunteer labor in the event of mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. The City Assisted Evacuation Plan is a free evacuation option for New Orleanians with out their own transportation out of the City.
“Some say that an organization that is relevant six months of of the year isn’t a sustainable concept,” Fogarty says. “I say that if there is any place in the world that needs to be thinking, working and preparing year-round for a window that’s only open six months (hurricane season) it’s New Orleans.
In addition to the $50,000 Tulane business competition, Tulane University also is sponsoring a $20,000 “New Day” competition awarding a winner with a plan based in social entrepreneurship. Organizations are eligible to apply–and win–both competitions.
In 2009, evacuteer.org recruited 426 New Orleanians and 22 partner groups to assist should a mandatory evacuation be called by harnessing social media, powerful branding and leveraging in-kind resources. The organization received its 501c3 status charitable status in six weeks and spent less than $1,500 in 2009 to create and build an organization that was featured on WWNO, WWOZ, WDSU, WVUE, WGNO, The Huffington Post, Change.org, The Times-Picayune, and the Gambit Weekly.
Evacuteer.org has also been featured on numerous blogs and social media sites including Curious Tribe, 504ward, Humid Beings, and Launchpad TV.
Its first fundraiser, the “Bye Bye Hurricane Season” celebration, netted close to $8,000 for the organization including nearly $1,000 in post-party unsolicited donations.
For more information about the Tulane University Business Plan and New Day competitions click here:
How it all began
http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1223097623224550.xml&coll=1
Volunteers key to successful evacuation
by Robert X. Fogarty, Guest Columnist, The Times-Picayune
October 04, 2008
It seems a long time ago now, July 9, when volunteers portrayed homeless men, elderly women and mothers with children during a dry run of the city’s assisted evacuation plan. Afterward, everyone involved not-so-quietly hoped we’d never have to do it for real.
But when Mayor Ray Nagin called for assisted evacuation buses to roll Aug. 30 at 8 a.m., I nervously called the non-profits and New Orleanians who had agreed to volunteer should the plan be activated, hoping they’d come through.
The next morning and over the next 35 hours, more than 300 people — individual citizens, non-profit organizations, city and state employees as well as young AmeriCorps members who moved to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina — helped evacuate approximately 18,000 New Orleanians in the first no-kidding rendition of the plan.
The evacuees were among New Orleans’ most vulnerable citizens.
A homeless man with one shoe. A mother with five kids under 8. An 80-year-old married couple.
Family after family arrived at the Union Passenger Terminal. And off they went. Almost 800 Latinos with few English skills arrived, and bilingual volunteers assured them they wouldn’t be hassled about their residency status. The spectrum of evacuees was large.
Many evacuees were run-of-the-mill New Orleanians, who, for some reason or another, have not adopted the American “I need a car” mindset. My favorite group was the 20 international young people who work on temporary visas as servers and busboys, linen changers and line cooks in French Quarter restaurants and hotels. They arrived with huge traveling backpacks and “What did we get ourselves into?” looks on their faces.
As each bus approached the terminal from the 17 pick-up points, volunteers distributed water or grabbed wheelchairs when special needs residents unloaded.
We waved to several people I’d known pre-evacuation and wished them well, including a clerk at the Walgreens near my apartment and a retired bookkeeper who volunteers at City Hall.
The local city-bus operators shuffled thousands from the different neighborhood pickup points to the Union Passenger Terminal. Special needs citizens were given door-to-door service. The planes, trains and buses took evacuees to cities and towns in northern Louisiana like Shreveport as well as shelters and Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas.
Once the terminal shut its doors about 12 hours before Gustav made landfall, it looked perfectly ready to resume Amtrak and Greyhound service. A city employee who worked the Superdome during Katrina said one of the assisted evacuation plan’s litmus tests was the appearance of the Union Passenger Terminal after the last train headed to Memphis.
When we left, I told him I’d be happy to eat a bag lunch on the floor.
And just as they departed, they soon returned. Larman Sparkman’s left foot hit New Orleans soil Thursday, Sept. 4, making him the first returned resident in the city’s historic and unprecedented assisted evacuation.
There wasn’t a welcoming committee waiting for Sparkman and the people he’d spent the past week with, just a few people who happened to be on site at Union Passenger Terminal planning for the first of the evacuee arrivals to begin the following day
Sparkman and 26 returned others became the impromptu trail-blazers of an elaborate plan that, by and large, was a success. The evacuation would have saved many lives if Hurricane Gustav had actually carried the bite forecasters feared.
There are two camps with observations about the treatment of city-assisted evacuees at shelters.
Some evacuees said they were treated miserably in northern Louisiana. Social activists are protesting allegedly inhumane shelters. But some activists also told me during the evacuation how well they thought the plan was working.
Shelter-condition protesters came to City Hall recently. As residents of Galveston and other Texas communities dealt with Hurricane Ike devastation and several southern Louisiana parishes were still in states of emergency, the timing seemed off. However, there is no doubt that a time and place are needed for those conversations.
The other camp included evacuees who said they were treated well and would use the assisted evacuation program again. Discussions will continue to occur in preparation for the next hurricane. The biggest fear for us all, however, is that many evacuees who returned weary, beleaguered and bleary-eyed from Gustav will choose to stay for the next storm.
There is work to do.
Sparkman said he’d do it again. Beverly Mitchell, the volunteer at City Hall, said the same.
Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make the Hurricane Gustav assisted evacuation program a success.
. . . . . . .
Robert X. Fogarty is Mayor Ray Nagin’s volunteer coordinator. He can be reached at rxfogarty@cityofno.com.
Love Notes to NOLA. Bye Bye Hurricane Season 2009
NEW ORLEANS–Thanks to all those who came to evacuteer.org’s first annual “Bye Bye Hurricane Season” celebration. It was an amazing night and all proceeds will go to purchase supplies so the organization can be ready for the 2010 season.
As a component of the party, we had attendees write their “love notes to New Orleans” or their “farewell messages to hurricane season.”
We think they turned out pretty well.
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Bye Bye Hurricane Season Celebration
Buy tickets here: http://evacuteer.eventbrite.com/
In a city that celebrates everything, we think it’s appropriate to say thanks to a safe 2009 hurricane season.
New Orleans’ first “Bye Bye Hurricane Season” party.
Proceeds from the $20 tickets go to Evacuteer.org. The organization trains New Orleanians willing to help during a mandatory evacuation in the event of a Category 3 or higher storm.
Open bar courtesy of:
~Glazer’s
~NOLA brewing company
~Lazy Magnolia brewing company.
New Orleans food by Langenstein’s Supermarket
Venue courtesy of Lifestyle Revolution Group
Live Music:
My Name is John Michael
Stooges Brass Band
Buy your tickets here:
http://evacuteer.eventbrite.com/ or at the door.
Gambit names Evacuteer.org director to its 40 < 40 list
NEW ORLEANS–Evacuteer.org founder Robert X. Fogarty was named one of New Orleans young and emerging leaders in the Gambit weekly’s 40 un
der 40 list.
“I am tremendously grateful for the recognition,” Fogarty said. “But, this couldn’t have been done without a lot of really smart people believing in the idea and helping make evacuteer.org become a reality.
To read the article:
http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A64079
Evacuteer.org teams up with Rebuilding Together for build
NEW ORLEANS–Last month in a weekend effort, Evacuteer.org teamed up with Rebuilding Together New Orleans for their annual October build. Evacuteer.org was one of over 20 different organizations that rehabbed homes in New Orleans over the first two weekends in October.
Thanks to all the evacuteers who came out to scrape, prime and paint.
Fogarty a panelist at Voodoo Fest’s Tribecon
NEW ORLEANS–Evacuteer.org’s Robert Fogarty has been invited to speak at the inaugural Tribcon, an interactive conference at the internationally known Voodoo Fest in New Orleans over Halloween Weekend.
TribeCon will be held October 28-30 in New Orleans, Louisiana in partnership with the Voodoo Experience. Join us under the oak trees of City Park on the grounds of Voodoo to connect with hundreds of other community leaders from all over the world.
Here is more on the panel:
Ernie Svenson, Brian Oberkirch, Robert Fogarty
4 Years After The Storm: How Social Media Would Impact Hurricane Response
If we accept the premise that we learn from experience, New Orleans is a leader in emergency preparedness, response and recovery. The city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina transpired as the social media boom spread across the world. We will speak about how social media tools could and would be used to communicate all the things New Orleanians know now about hurricane preparedness and recovery four years later.
To buy tickets to Tribeon visit: http://www.thevoodooexperience.com/2009/tribecon.php
Evacuteer.org gives presentation to delegation from Pakistan
NEW ORLEANS-A delegation of Pakistan relief workers traveled the U.S. visiting disaster-affected areas to learn more about the challenges and best practices in managing disasters. Their visit, sponsored by the Department of State, US AID and the Pakistani Embassy, also included a service component with Evacuteer.org partner organization, Phoenix of New Orleans.
During their visit to New Orleans, they asked to meet with evacuteer.org Founder and Director Robert Fogarty to learn about the genesis of evacuteer.org, how the organization recruits volunteers, and how it assists New Orleans residents to evacuate for hurricanes in a safe and efficient manner. They also learned how evacuteer.org can be used as a model domestically and internationally to recruit and retain volunteers in emergency situations.
New Orleans, four years after the storm, has been an apparatus of social innovation, and organizations like evacuteer.org hope to export the knowledge and experience gained here to other cities in the United States and around the world.
Photos and text courtesy of Julie Plonk
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Evacuteer.org teams up with Rebuilding Together
NEW ORLEANS-As the city of New Orleans begins to see the end of hurricane season in sight, Evacuteer.org wanted to expand and grow its use of committed and energetic citizens so they decided to team up with partner organization to put a brand new paint job on the house of Mary and Ezell Jacobs at 1014 N. Derbigny.
This Saturday, October 10, 20 Evacuteers will be helping out a great organization, Rebuilding Together New Orleans. RTNO has rehabbed the homes of over 200 New Orleanians post-Katrina.
The following Evacuteers will be participating:
Anna Leslie
Charles Sanchez
Emily Bussen
Erica Johnson
Happy Johnson
John Bardes
Kalen Wright
Kalyn Horst
Laine Frey (House Captain)
Leigh Vidrine
Luretha Williams
Mairin Charles
Marc Monbouquette
Megan Hargroder
Nick Roosevelt
Robert Fogarty (House Captain)
Shareen Nasser
Shawn Chollette
Tim Singer
Tim Soslow
Evacuteer.org director pens guest commentary
Read it at nola.com here
NEW ORLEANS-Evacuteer.org director Robert X. Fogarty wrote a guest commentary for the Times-Picayune yesterday about the role newcomers have in the City since Hurricane Katrina. Community members quickly hyperlinked and emailed it via social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Some of the descriptions and emails received are below.
From Twitter: Robert X. Fogarty of @evacuteer writes a must read column for NOLA newcomers and natives in today’s TP http://bit.ly/1d7s1
From Twitter: Great guest column by @evacuteer in today’s Times Picayune. He gets it! Offers a nice nod to New Orleans & its people.
From Twitter: @evacuteer, we have learned from u as well & thanks 4 investing ur time in this great city
From Twitter: Beautiful op-ed by @evacuteer in today’s TP: http://bit.ly/1d7s1 Newcomers need New Orleanians & vice versa.
From Facebook: A great guest column in today’s Times-Picayune. A must read for NOLA natives and newcomers, an interesting point of view of their complicated but awesome relationship
Evacuteer.org on Launchpad TV
Thanks to Benjamin Reece and Chris Schultz for having Evacuteer.org on LaunchPad TV two Fridays ago. Their show catches the up and comers in the New Orleans tech and entrepreneur and social innovation markets. Click on the picture to go to the episode. We are on at minute 21:30.
Training on Saturday, September 19
Go to the “become an evacuteer” button to sign up for this month’s final evacuteer training. The day begins at 9am and ends at 2pm at the Red Cross Building (2640 Canal).
Session 1: A psychological first aid class from the Red Cross
Lunch: You’ll learn how to eat Meals Ready to Eat (MRES)!
Session 2: A training on the City Assisted Evacuation Plan and how evacuteers fit in. 
Fourth and First
As the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, we are also approaching the first anniversary of the rollout of the City Assisted Evacuation Plan (CAEP) in advance of Hurricane Gustav. This rollout was also the birth of Evacuteer.org, and as we commemorate these anniversaries, we want to thank each of you for becoming Evacuteers. This summer, we have recruited 324 Evacuteers and 18 partner organizations to be involved if the CAEP is activated.
Evacuteer.org has grown exponentially over the past two months and not just in numbers. Last week, we received our 501(c)(3) status and we have appointed an Evacuteer.org support team to further develop our operations and communications protocol. Each week, this all-volunteer group meets to build out the future of Evacuteer.org, and we thank all of you for being a part of this future.
While there is plenty of work yet to be done, we are confident that Evacuteer.org is fully prepared to harness the power of you in the case of a mandatory evacuation.
Best,
The evacuteer.org team
Photo Credit: Watts Photography. More photos from Watts Photography who photographed New Orleans EMS personnel during Hurricane Katrina can be found here: http://bit.ly/4e8BNR
evacuteer video story 4: The Judge
Evacuteer video 4: The Judge from evacuteer.org on Vimeo.
Retired Judge Calvin Johnson.