What We Do

CADRE is the official Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster (VOAD) for Santa Clara County under Northern California’s State VOAD. VOAD supports County disaster response by coordinating nonprofits that come to assist the community.

Nonprofits voluntarily participate in CADRE coordination of disaster response. CADRE Board members, and staff, determine the direction of the group.

CADRE VOAD activates upon request of local government or nonprofits in Santa Clara County after disasters strike.

Providing a coordinated nonprofit relief response to disaster eases the burden on local government. CADRE provides a one-stop-shop for nonprofit disaster relief services by facilitating conversations and problem solving.

When a disaster strikes, the majority of our efforts switch to disaster recovery. This could be a few days, weeks, months or years.

Santa Clara County funds some CADRE training through Homeland Security Emergency Management Performance Grants, Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiatives, grants from private organizations and donations from organizations and individuals.

CADRE is developing 20 support networks intended to provide a method for nongovernmental organizations in Santa Clara County to communicate throughout the disaster cycle. These networks are broken up by different community services and functions to allow for more focused communication.

Each network will be started up by CADRE or an identified organizations that is already providing community leadership in a given service area. CADRE will provide leadership when necessary, but hopes to identify 2-3 individuals to lead each network.

All activities are conducted within Santa Clara County. Each developed network will host regular meetings, the cadence of which will be decided by network leadership.

Improving the skills and abilities of local nonprofits and local government – and developing pre-disaster relationships and dialogue – further CADRE’s purpose of easing the local government burden of having to coordinate hundreds of nonprofit agencies during disaster response and recovery. Our networks strengthen local nonprofit response and coordination to disaster.

Support networks and VOAD work take up the majority of CADRE’s time currently.

Supervisor Otto Lee has provided funding to develop the Food Support Network. CADRE is actively seeking grants to help support the development of the other 19 support networks.

CADRE conducts workshops on a variety of topics related to agency emergency planning and preparedness including, VOAD Activation, CBO/Government Coordination, Active Shooter, continuity of operations and disaster recovery as well as presentations on current emergencies impacting the community.

Activities are primarily prepared and lead by staff and consultants with participation and support of CADRE Board members.

All activities are conducted within Santa Clara County. Activities are conducted at least six times per year.

Improving the knowledge, skills and abilities of local nonprofits and local government – and developing pre-disaster relationships and dialogue – further CADRE’s purpose of easing the local government burden of having to coordinate hundreds of nonprofit agencies during disaster response and recovery. Our training strengthens the ability of local nonprofits to respond to disaster in a coordinated manner.

Depending on our grant agreements, this activity is allocated between 40 and 50% of total time.

Santa Clara County funds some CADRE training through Homeland Security Emergency Management Performance Grants, Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiatives, grants from private organizations and donations from organizations and individuals.

CADRE participates in Emergency Operations Center and field exercises conducted by local government and develops exercises to test nonprofit response.

Activities are primarily prepared and lead by staff with participation and support of CADRE Board members. CADRE Board members and partners also participate in EOC and field exercises developed by private business and local government.

All activities are conducted within Santa Clara County. Activities are conducted at least once per year.

Improving the skills and abilities of local nonprofits and local government – and developing pre-disaster relationships and dialogue – further CADRE’s purpose of easing the local government burden. Our exercises strengthen and validate planning and identify gaps used to improve disaster response and recovery performance and CADRE coordination.

Depending on grant agreements, this activity is allocated between 10 and 20% of total time.

Santa Clara County funds some CADRE training through Homeland Security Emergency Management Performance Grants, Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiatives, grants from private organizations and donations from organizations and individuals.

CADRE convenes nonprofit disaster-related conferences open to people from all over the bay area and offers a broad range of topics that help local government and nonprofits build relationships and develop a greater understanding of the requirements and coordination needed for disaster response and recovery.

Developed by the Director of Training, our CADRE Board members, local nonprofits, local and State government will conduct the activities.

Conferences will be held within Santa Clara County and the frequency will depend on funding.

Much like our workshops, conferences provide a greater amount of time to discuss issues, learn about new topics and best practices and strengthen relationships.

Each year, the CADRE Board will determine time allocated for each activity. Estimate is 15% of time to plan conference.

Santa Clara County funds some CADRE training through Homeland Security Emergency Management Performance Grants, Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiatives, grants from private organizations and donations from organizations and individuals.

CADRE works with individual nonprofits to guide them in developing a plan for their agency disaster response.

Activities are conducted by the Board, committee members and staff.

Activities are conducted within Santa Clara County at the requesting agency’s location.

When local nonprofits have strong emergency plans, it helps to ensure that they will be in a position to stay safe and support the greater community by functioning within the VOAD. This furthers our exempt purpose of easing the burden on local government and providing a single point of contact to coordinate recovery support.

Each year, the CADRE Board will determine time allocated for each activity. Agency Emergency Planning would be part of the current percentage allocated to Planning. Approximately 5%

Santa Clara County funds some CADRE training through Homeland Security Emergency Management Performance Grants, Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiatives, grants from private organizations and donations from organizations and individuals.