Disaster Response Policy

COVID-19 NOTICE:


Memorandum
To: Adam Lounsbury, Executive Director, Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service
From: Governor Kim Reynolds
Date: March 20, 2020
Re: Deployment of Iowa AmeriCorps members for Disaster Assistance

Pursuant to Section One of the Proclamation of Disaster Emergency signed March 17th, 2020 and the severity of the public health emergency occurring throughout Iowa with the COVID-19 outbreak, please suspend any state polices, contract or grant award provisions necessary to allow any Iowa AmeriCorps members and staff serving on grants made or administered by the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service to provide assistance. Furthermore, while any member or staff should not be required to fulfill their term of service or official duties by providing disaster assistance aid, please allow for AmeriCorps members or staff to use time spent with disaster assistance towards their grant or member service hours as allowable by federal laws regulating AmeriCorps.
Please set any reasonable limitations to this allowance as you see fit to prevent any unnecessary hardships to local AmeriCorps programs and the valuable services AmeriCorps members are providing to Iowa’s communities.

Kim Reynolds
Governor of Iowa

https://volunteeriowa.org/sites/default/files/documents/2020/03/deployment_of_iowa_americorps_directive_from_reynolds_3.20.2020.pdf

Disaster Policy

In accordance and guidance from the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service (ICVS), members will be expected to participate, on some level, with disaster preparedness and response activities in the event one occurs as outlined in the Member Service Agreement and Handbook. Members can respond to local, state and national disaster. Members will be approved by the AmeriCorps Director before responding to the disaster. Members may complete up to 40 hours of service in response to a disaster or as determined by Partners in Learning AmeriCorps Director depending on the scope and severity of the disaster.

Disaster Cadre

AmeriCorps Partners in Learning is a member of the Iowa AmeriCorps Disaster Cadre. Therefore, AmeriCorps Partners in Learning will respond to disasters or assist in recovery efforts and deployment under the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Services’ Disaster Response Cooperative Agreement with the Corporation for National and Community Service or direct deployments initiated from Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

AmeriCorps members who are interested in being a part of AmeriCorps Partners in Learning’s Disaster Cadre will sign up at the beginning of their term. When the AmeriCorps Director is contacted about potential members for deployment, the AmeriCorps Director will contact this subset of AmeriCorps Partners in Learning members. If any of these Members are able for deployment, the AmeriCorps Director will share this information with the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service. AmeriCorps Partners in Learning is eligible for cost reimbursements associated with a specific mission assignment. Allowable expenses include travel, lodging, meals, supplies, and equipment incurred from deployment and any negotiated expenses specific to deployment or mission assignment.