COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster)
COADs (Community Organizations Active in Disaster) work within the State VOAD structure at the local level. This group of local community organizations works together prior to a disaster to build relationships and to assess their capacity and capabilities for responding in an effective way. During a disaster, they work cooperatively to provide coordination of services to ensure that unmet needs are addressed, that financial assistance and supplies are available, and that knowledge and resources are shared with local residents during a disaster. Maryland VOAD supports the COAD with additional resources and connections for helping them move their community to recovery.
Please click on their logos for more information.
Carroll County COAD
Howard County COAD
Montgomery County COAD
LTRC (Long-Term Recovery Committee)
A Long-Term Recovery Committee is a cooperative body that is made up of representatives from faith-based, non-profit, government, business, and other organizations that works within a community to assist individuals and families as they recover from a significant disaster. Maryland VOAD has the expertise to assist the local community in forming a LTRC. The LTRC helps maintain local management of the disaster, while connecting the community to Maryland VOAD members’ resources and State and National resources. The personality and operation of each group is unique and reflects local needs, available resources, cultural diversity, leadership style, and community support. No matter how a group is structured or what it calls itself, the goal is the same — to connect recovery resources with community needs to ensure that even the most vulnerable in the community recover from disaster.
Active LTRCs in Maryland
Previous LTRCs in Maryland
The Somerset County Long-Term Recovery Committee (SCLTRC)
On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy slammed into Maryland Eastern Shore causing significant damage in Somerset County, Maryland, especially the City of Crisfield. Within two weeks, Maryland VOAD began assisting the community to organize and form a long-term recovery committee. The SCLTRC worked from November 2012 until September 2015, repairing over 350 homes, building 21 new homes, caring for the community’s emotional and spiritual care, caring for children’s recovery needs through four Camp Noahs, and assisting residents with other recovery needs. At the end of the response, the Committee and its staff created “The Legacy Project.” The Legacy Project is a large repository of documents and files that were created and used to guide the long-term recovery process. The SCLTRC has made these files available to assist LTRCs who are forming. “The Legacy Project” contains founding documents, bylaws, policies, forms, and many other documents we hope you will find helpful. There is no cost to use these documents. We ask only that you give proper credit. Please click on their logo below to be taken to “The Legacy Project”.
Following the Superstorm Sandy Long Term Recovery response, the SCLTRC (now the Eastern Shore LTRC) worked with FEMA Region 3 and the Maryland Department of Emergency Management in a three-year mitigation project (2016-2018) to elevate 11 homes out of the local Somerset County Floodplain. Of the 64 homes the County and SCLTRC built new or elevated following Superstorm Sandy, none of them received damage or had water intrusion from the October 2021 Tidal Flooding or subsequent flooding events.
Ellicott City—One EC Recovery Project
On July 30, 2016, torrential rainfall occurred in and near Ellicott City, Maryland, causing severe flash flooding and destruction to the historic Old Town portion of the city and to many residents’ homes. Shortly afterward, Maryland VOAD worked with the community to help create a long-term recovery committee which was named, One EC. This effort continued until 2018. Impetus for the creation of the Howard County COAD came from the One EC experience. While no collection of documents exists, if you wish to know more about One EC and learnings from that effort, please be in touch with members of the Howard County COAD. Please click on their logo below to be taken to their site and then click on “Contact.”
Somerset County Long Term Recovery Committee,
“The Legacy Project”
One EC (Ellicott City) connect to HC COAD