CSD Appointed Regional Provider on Federal Emergency Preparedness Grant

From: CSD - Feb 14, 2005
_______________________
PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT
Release Date: Feb. 14, 2005
Contact: David Rosenbaum
CSD Community & Media Relations

CSD Appointed Regional Provider on
Federal Emergency Preparedness Grant

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — CSD, a national social service, human service and telecommunication organization, will be one of four regional providers on a grant TDI received from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office for Domestic Preparedness. This national project involves taking necessary actions to assure a better, more responsive climate for any community, region or state to support the needs and issues of individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing prior to, during and in recovery from disasters.

Project partners will work with TDI in developing model community education programs for deaf and hard of hearing consumers and provide oversight of accessibility of resources and services in emergency preparedness, homeland security and public safety. TDI will serve as a national resource subcontracting work on a state and local level with community leaders, first responders, social service, disability agencies, government officials and business communities to four regional providers including CSD. CSD will provide services in the Midwest and Southwest Region (Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming). The other organizations are DEAF, Inc. (New England and Great Lakes Region), NVRC (Mid-Atlantic and Southeast USA Region) and DCARA (West Coast and Hawaii Region).

"TDI is enormously pleased to receive the grant," said Claude Stout, TDI executive director. "In the next two years, we will be committing ourselves to the best of our ability and through collaboration to generate an inclusive community approach to emergency preparedness. Thus, Americans who are deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, and deaf-blind, and their contacts will be better equipped and more prepared to deal with any natural or manmade disaster."

"Every single American citizen counts when it comes to emergency preparedness," said Benjamin J. Soukup, CSD Chief Executive Officer. "The awarding of this grant does great service to the deaf and hard of hearing community who are sometimes overshadowed by the existing emergency communication infrastructure in regards to appropriate and timely communication of emergency broadcasts and educational materials."

For further information, contact Lori Breslow, Chief Program Officer with CSD's National Programs division, at (800) 642-6410 (Voice) or (866) 273-3323 (TTY).

About CSD – CSD (also known as Communication Service for the Deaf) was established in 1975, primarily to provide sign language interpreting services to deaf and hard of hearing adults in South Dakota. Today, CSD employs approximately 3,000 individuals in offices across the nation, providing a broad continuum of social and human service programs, as well as telecommunications relay services. CSD is a private, nonprofit agency dedicated to providing quality services; ensuring public accessibility; and increasing awareness of issues affecting deaf, hard of hearing and individuals with speech disabilities. For more information, please visit www.c-s-d.org.

About TDI – Also known as Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc., TDI is a non-profit advocacy organization that promotes equal access to telecommunications and media for individuals who are deaf, late deafened, hard-of-hearing or deaf-blind. Since 1968, TDI has successfully advocated for federal legislation such as the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Television Decoder Circuitry Act, both of 1990, as well as other legislation and policies mandating greater access to wireless technology, captioning as well as other telecommunications and media technologies. Since its inception, TDI has been promoting access to 9-1-1 centers and other public safety answering points, and is now working to ensure full access to information during natural or manmade disasters and other types of emergencies. TDI publishes annually, a National Directory & Resource Guide, commonly known as The Blue Book, a popular resource book for people with hearing loss, as well as The GA-SK quarterly news magazine. For more information about TDI, go to www.tdi-online.org.

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