Contra Costa CARD

Contra Costa County CARD is not currently funded to maintain a staff person. For support with disaster preparedness for people with special needs in Contra Costa County, please contact:

            Ana-Marie Jones
            CARD – Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters
            1736 Franklin Street, Suite 450 || Oakland, CA 94612
            (510) 451-3140 || info@firstvictims.org || Fax: (510) 451-3144


CARD (Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disaster) is a program of the Contra Costa Crisis Center. CARD provides disaster training to local agencies so that they can survive a catastrophic disaster and continue serving their clients, many of whom have special needs and can't be served by traditional responders.

Currently, more than 300 community-based organizations in Contra Costa County serve people with special needs every day by providing services to those who are:

  •   Physically and/or mentally disabled
  •   Frail elderly
  •   Chemically dependent
  •   Geographically or culturally isolated
  •   Homeless, marginally housed, or shelter dependent
  •   Children with special circumstances
  •   Non-English speaking
  •   Illegal residents
  •   Living in poverty
    •

    In a large-scale disaster, traditional responders such as police, fire, the Office of Emergency Services, and the Red Cross provide food, shelter, and medical care for the community at large. Who cares for those with special needs immediately after a disaster and in the weeks and months following, when traditional response agencies have closed mass service centers and moved on to other disasters?

    This is where CARD comes in. CARD trains community-based agencies to survive disasters so they can continue to serve their clients. This way people with special needs don't burden the traditional response system. CARD also is working to link community-based organizations with official relief agencies so that when a disaster strikes, everyone receives care.

    Mary Margaret Clark, the Crisis Center's Disaster Services Manager, is in charge of the CARD program. For more information on CARD, call her at 1-800-830-5380 (925-646-6116).

    Contra Costa Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disaster (CARD) - History
    PrepareNow.org