Tuesday, June 25, 2013
The Providence Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), in collaboration with Code Red Business Continuity Services, LCC successfully concluded a year-long project bringing business continuity seminars and assessments to small business owners in the Providence Metropolitan area. During the project PEMA and Code Red BCS trained over sixty unique SMB's through eight Business Continuity and Resilience Workshops; twelve businesses received Risk Assessments which lead to an improved business continuity and disaster recovery posture.
The project, funded under a US Department of Homeland Security grant, offered specific information on how business owners can assess risk, create a Business Continuity Plan, with a focus on emergency response and preparedness. The goal was to help businesses to understand and implement their own continuity plan, which is instrumental to keeping a business operational following a disaster. The workshops were geared to small to mid-sized businesses.
Part of the project was to award a free Business Continuity and Response Plan to a participating small business. Mayor Taveras is proud to announce the recipient of this Plan as the PACE Organization of Rhode Island located at 225 Chapman Street, Providence. The mission of this organization is to preserve and sustain the independence of frail elders wishing to remain in the community. "We are proud to have been selected to receive this comprehensive response plan. Safety is the foundation of the PACE model of care. The more information we have about our potential safety risks, we then can make the needed improvements and be fully prepared to respond in a real emergency situation. And, most importantly, we can ensure the safety of the older adults in our care," said Joan Kwiatkowski, CEO of PACE.
"This was an important project that is essential for building resilience in the small business community in Metropolitan Providence. As a community we depend on small businesses to be open as soon as possible after an emergency in order be responsive to the needs of their stakeholders, constituents and customers after an emergency or disaster," said Director Gaynor.
For more information on business continuity planning visit these websites: NEDRIX.com or Disaster Recovery International Institute (DRII.org).