Mission

Community Emergency Response Volunteers of the Monterey Peninsula (CERV) was formed in 2011 to promote and sustain preparedness, readiness and response to emergencies and critical events by:
Supporting local CERT programs in maintaining a full readiness status, their personnel, needed equipment, and supplies to function when activated
Working to build public awareness of the importance of planning/preparing for emergencies
Promoting individual and community capacity to respond to emergencies and disasters, with a focus on our most vulnerable populations.
Utilizing volunteers to keep the focus of funding on projects versus paid staff and infrastructure

The Big Idea

By enabling grassroots involvement, community building efforts and promoting existing partnerships with Monterey County agencies, non-profits, government entities and businesses throughout Monterey, CERV (the Community Emergency Response Volunteers of Monterey County) will create emergency preparedness materials, links, and resources to assist citizens throughout our diverse communities. With a focus on vulnerable populations, CERV’s Big Idea is to build community preparedness, recovery and resiliency, working with other non-profits and agencies who serve families throughout Monterey County and California. Targeted groups will represent all age and language groups, people with disabilities/access and functional needs and people who face significant socio-economic challenges.
We think our Big Idea can (and should!) benefit others. Thus, our goal is to extend resources developed in Monterey County throughout the state of California and beyond. What works here (and it does!), can and should work elsewhere. With the increase in wildfires, we do have much to share.

We conducted our trainings in Spanish; most of our participants were monolingual Spanish speakers, some participants with limited Spanish and no English, low-income, farm workers, low literacy, and special needs, in rural areas, and now we are reaching out to the indigenous population that speaks Mixtec. Mujeres en Accions’ participants are trusted members and are well connected with the community so they reach out to their networks to make sure all communities are represented.

- Maria Elena Manzo