Contra Costa CARD - History

CARD began as VOICE (Volunteer Organized Initiative for Community Emergencies) in 1996 with a $92,500 grant from the Northern California Disaster Preparedness Network. The network was endowed with money from the American Red Cross, which had $20 million in surplus donations following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Community pressure convinced the Red Cross to spend the money locally, to prepare the Bay Area for a large-scale disaster.

The purpose of the grant was to begin preparing local agencies for a disaster. Grant funds for Contra Costa County were awarded to the Contra Costa Crisis Center because it is the first point of contact in the county's continuum of care and because it is Contra Costa County's information and referral provider. Red Cross funding expired in 1997.

Similar collaboratives were funded in other Bay Area counties, including:

  •   Alameda County CARD Project
  •   San Mateo CARD
  •   CADRE of Santa Clara County
  •   Marin InterAgency Disaster Coalition
  •   San Francisco CARD Project
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    Several multi-county collaboratives also were funded. They included:

  •   Emergency Preparedness Coalition for Seniors and People with Disabilities
  •   Tri-Counties Collaboration Project
  •   The Volunteerism Project (a collaboration of Bay Area Volunteer Centers)


    • In the first year of the VOICE project, more than 80 community-based organizations in Contra Costa County were trained to survive a disaster. Many other agencies received VOICE-prepared disaster information.

    Originally, the Red Cross indicated that funding would last at least two years. After the first year, however, Red Cross decided to discontinue the Northern California Disaster Preparedness Network and cease funding all of the county coordinating groups (the balance of Loma Prieta donations--more than $10 million--were absorbed by Red Cross internally).

    CARD is now one of seven regional disaster preparedness collaboratives funded by the United Way. The Contra Costa County Employment and Human Services Department also provides financial support to Contra Costa CARD.
    PrepareNow.org