Empowering Children to Lead Change: Incorporating Preparedness Curricula in the K-12 Educational System
Abstract : A combination of both man-made and natural disasters in recent years has revitalized the concept of civil preparedness and defense in the United States. During the State of the Union Address in 2002, President George W. Bush announced the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Citizen Corps, a component of the USA Freedom Corps initiative developed shortly after 9/11. Additionally, FEMA launched the "Are You Ready?" campaign to provide individuals, families, and communities with in-depth preparedness information and training, and the American Red Cross developed its own educational disaster preparedness program designed to coincide with the daily threat level. While the various programs include several common themes, including a special emphasis on disaster preparedness for children, they lack promotion, visibility, standardization, and coordination. Empowering children to lead change by teaching families and other citizens is one possible methodology to enhance visibility and inspire participation in such programs. This thesis examines the pros and cons of historical and current citizen preparedness campaigns and K-12 preparedness curricula, other countries' approaches to citizen preparedness, elements of successful preparedness programs, Homeland Security stakeholder benefits of preparedness programs for children, and potential arguments against the implementation of such programs. The author concludes the thesis with criteria for a successful K-12 civil preparedness curriculum.
United States and Israeli Homeland Security: A Comparative Analysis of Emergency Preparedness Efforts
Abstract : This paper will provide a comparative analysis of the United States (U.S.) Department of Homeland Security's Emergency Preparedness and Response directorate and the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command. It will focus on the preparedness aspect of homeland security and will address similarities and differences of both organizations, recent initiatives within each organization, and collaborative efforts between the United States and Israel in support of homeland security. It will illustrate that both organizations have made great strides in their homeland security efforts but there is still much that needs to be done. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was established on January 23, 2003, in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is built upon the long and solid track record of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It oversees the federal government's national response and recovery strategy and ensures our nation is prepared for natural disasters and terrorist attacks. Israel does not have a Department of Homeland Security. Israel established its Home Front Command, an entity of the Israel Defense Force (IDF), in February 1992, largely as a result of events of the 1991 Gulf War. The Home Front Command falls under the minister of defense within the IDF. There are certainly lessons the United States can learn from Israel's 35-year battle against terrorism. We must not forget, however, that Israel is a small country approximately the size of our state of New Jersey. Therefore, many of Israel's security initiatives are simply not practical or feasible for implementation within the United States of America.
Negotiating the cultural and economic outcomes of sport heritage attractions: the case of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
ABSTRACT Contemporary museums must balance their roles as commercial entities and repositories of various, and often dissonant, heritages and histories. Sports museums in particular often have clear commercial and nostalgic aims, particularly through tourist visitation, though the extent to which they represent more challenging narratives remains unclear. This paper examines how one of the most famous sports museums in the world, the National Baseball Hall of Fame (NBHF) in Cooperstown, New York, balances its dual role as tourist attraction and repository of baseball's sometimes checkered past. It was found that different sections of the museum provide greater or lesser degrees of engagement with more controversial issues, although the commercial outputs and appeal of the museum remains clear throughout. Utlimately, the NBHF demonstrates that balancing veneration and critique in collections can be commercially prosperous, and can provide a template for other sport and popular culture museums who may be wary of incorporating more challenging narratives in their exhibits. Furthermore, the symbiotic relationship between the Hall of Fame and the village of Cooperstown, particularly in creating and maintaining cultural and economic outputs, requires further exploration.