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John Jay College Gets Grant To Develop CUNY Emergency Management System

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 08/14/09

The Office of Continuing and Professional Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice received a $768,000 grant to develop an emergency management system. The award was issued by the United States Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. The new system is intended to be used across all campuses in the City University of New York (CUNY) system.

Along with an assessment of current emergency notification systems in use in CUNY institutions, the office in charge of the project will develop and install a secure, searchable IT/GIS-based emergency management tool. Part of the initiative is to create a "shift in organizational culture" to support the deployment of the new platform, as well as work to link CUNY to New York City's Office of Emergency Management and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

"The goal of this project is to develop a single, CUNY-wide, structured, comprehensive all-hazards, fully integrated plan between July 2009 and December 2010," said Project Director Richard Glover,. "As this goal is accomplished, the CUNY community will realize an increase in campus safety and the safety of the New York City physical communities of which the individual colleges are an integral part. The resulting [emergency management system] is intended to become a model of higher educational institution readiness and emergency management for small, medium and large campuses throughout the country."