Schedule Subject to Change
Monday, May 4
Pre-Conference Trainings: 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Additional Registration Required
Space for each training is limited, and registration will close once capacity is reached. If you register but later find that you are unable to attend, please notify us as soon as possible at [email protected].
Beyond the Flames – Navigating the Financial Maze of Wildlife Recovery
Facilitators:
Valerie Brown, CA VOAD Chair, SBP, After the Fire USA
Jeri Curry, Marshall ROC Executive Director, Crisis Cleanup
Sidra Goldwater, Advisor, Industry and Community Impact, Fannie Mae
Kate Bulger, Vice President, Business Development, Money Management International
In addition to the potential loss of life and property, natural disasters cause significant and long lasting financial challenges. Many disaster response and recovery organizations only see the immediate financial challenges a disaster affected household faces. Join us to learn about the full range of financial challenges, choices, and decisions wildfire survivors face and the programs, tools, and resources available to them as they deal with financial instability, mortgage, insurance, rebuilding, DOB, fraud, taxes, settlements, legalities and more.
Centering Children in Disasters
Facilitator: Greta Wetzel, Senior Advisor, Psychosocial Support (PSS), Save the Children
A training for all members and partners to build tools and capacities on how they can recognize and incorporate the wellbeing of children in their disaster operations. This training provides participants with practical means to recognize how disasters impact children, tools to engage children in positive and trauma informed ways, and to apply these same principles to caring for caregivers and other responders. Critically, the training also offers essential checklists and guidance to ensure the safeguarding of children, informed by Save the Children’s work across the county and around the world. This trainings is for participants of any level of knowledge in mental health, psychosocial support, and safeguarding.
DCM Essentials: Blended Delivery with Applied Learning Experiences
Facilitator: Melissa Hruska, Director of Disaster Case Management, Catholic Charities USA
DCM Essentials covers the disaster cycle—preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation—with a focus on vulnerable populations and navigating recovery systems. The training will focus on specific regional risks and hazards and covers needs assessment, service coordination, and recovery planning.
This training will be facilitated in the following sessions:
Virtual Pre-Training: Wednesday, April 29th 1-4PM EST (3 hours)
In-Person Training: Monday, May 4 8AM-12PM (4 hours)
Virtual Post Conference Training: Wednesday, May 13 2-4PM EST (2 hours)
A certificate of completion will be issued upon completion of all sessions (virtual pre training, in person and post conference training).
Finding Your Leadership Core In Times of Uncertainty (Additional Fee Required)
Facilitator: Leonard J. Marcus, Ph.D., Director, National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University
This is a seminar about you, a visionary leader in your community and in your organization. And it is about your story, leading now through a time of great need, transformation, and complexity. You will learn about Meta-Leadership – an original approach developed by the Harvard team with the National Preparedness Leadership – and how to make it part of how you guide people and organizations through this uncertain time. There are three dimensions to the practice of Meta-Leadership: 1) The Person, that’s you, your emotional intelligence, your growth mindset, and your capacity to rise up when you and others are in panic; 2) The Situation, finding ways to lead through the fog of unrest by determining what is really happening and what can be done about it; and 3) Building Connectivity of action, leading in all directions – down, up, across, and beyond – to forge influence well beyond your authority. To bring people together, you will learn how to leverage our social instincts to forge a human swarm. And finally, when conflict emerges, you will find ways to bring people together to create more than anyone could accomplish alone. By the end of the seminar, all these ingredients will become part of how you lead.
Tuesday, May 5
Workshop Session 1: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Beyond Immediate Relief: Long-Term Resilience and Sustainable Housing Solutions for Low-Income Survivors
HOMES, Inc has provided affordable housing solutions in Eastern Kentucky since 1984. The 2022 flood and recovery have offered ways to not only address impacted housing stock, but to provide innovative opportunities, like Net-Zero rated and Solar Ready Houses, to focus on other needs in the community. Learn more about how cross sector partnerships, a commitment to mitigation and sustainable building, disaster related programs, volunteer labor and sustainable funding are supporting a wholistic recovery.
Tech Tools for Disaster Response, Recovery & Rebuilding – Is there an APP for that?
The presentation will explore the rapid adoption of AI and technology tools in the aftermath of the Tubbs, Marshall, Eaton, and Palisades Fires. Driven largely by survivors and family members supporting them in their recovery, these communities have created the tech tools wished already existed to help navigate recovery, whilst navigating recovery themselves. Sessions will provide examples of innovation in tech, how barriers to adoption were tackled, and the game-changing value of these tools.
Including Inclusion: A Reflective Exercise on How Emergency Responses Failed People with Disabilities—and How We Must Do Better
In the U.S., people with disabilities are up to four times more likely to die in disasters than people without. This session uses a research-backed facilitation method to examine how current emergency practices exclude children, adults, and families with disabilities, and to identify concrete ways to make systems accessible and inclusive. By surfacing assumptions, biases, and systemic barriers—and drawing on disability community expertise—participants reverse-engineer inclusive actions that ensure safer evacuation, equitable services, and stronger recovery.
Building Community Resilience through Fellowship in Mass Casualty Events
Participate in a hands-on workshop exploring the Bucksnort, TN industrial explosion response. Learn how agencies set up a family assistance center to not only provide essential resources, but to also foster survivor and community resilience through opportunities for fellowship. Additionally, this session will look at the impact of bulk distribution of relief supplies for survivors and their families.
Rebuilding From Within: Community-Led Recovery Through Workforce Partnerships and Local Capacity Building
This session explores how disaster recovery strengthens when communities tap into local skills and workforce resources to overcome volunteer shortages and rebuilding delays. Participants will learn how to identify underused talent, collaborate with workforce development partners, and navigate real-world challenges such as coordination, readiness, and safety. The workshop provides practical tools to design community-led recovery strategies, assess risks, and build partnerships that expand rebuilding capacity and long-term resilience.
Transforming Disaster Response Through Innovative Partnerships
Transforming Disaster Response Through Innovative Partnerships explores how cross-sector collaboration can reshape disaster relief amidst the evolving funding challenges. The session will be led by Airlink, who will highlight best practices for building high-impact partnerships that strengthen response efforts. The session will also include participants from several of Airlink’s nonprofit and private-sector partners. Participants will hear how innovative alliances can help fill gaps and enhance operational effectiveness.
Imagining a World Where the Emotional Aftershocks of Disaster No Longer Define Lives, But Give Way To Healing, Resilience and Hope
In every disaster, there are losses we can see and those we cannot. Homes and infrastructure can be rebuilt, yet invisible wounds left on responders, families, and entire communities often go unhealed.
Join us in an experiential activity that brings the Recovery Curve to life through the voices and experiences of disaster impacted community members. This workshop provides a model and resources for practical use for you and your team.
Wednesday, May 6
Workshop Session 2: 10:15 am – 11:15 am
The Appalachian Relay: Visionary Leadership, Trusted Messengers, Building Recovery
This session traces how rural Appalachian communities turned post-disaster confusion into coordinated, long-term recovery. Through live polling and a multi-step communication experiment, participants experience how fractured information shapes crisis response and recovery. The presentation follows the region’s challenges, rise of visionary local leadership, and the creation of durable structures-regional coordination, trusted messengers, & early funding lifelines. Attendees leave with practical models for strengthening trust, aligning efforts, and cultivating resilience already rooted in their own communities.
Master Disaster Communication: A Hands-on Lab with Next-Gen Tools
This immersive session, led by experienced emergency communicators, will highlight new, field-tested risk communication tools to help responders organize, prioritize, and deliver messages during disasters.
This workshop is for anyone who may communicate with the public before, during, or after a disaster — seasoned PIOs, volunteers, nonprofit staff, agency leaders, or the person who suddenly becomes “the communications person” because no one else is available.
Participants will practice using the tools to navigate real-world scenarios.
Small Disasters, Big Impact: The Importance of Community Resilience and Local Disaster Coordination
Most disasters never reach federal thresholds—yet they strain communities, nonprofits, and emergency managers just the same. This highly interactive session explores CADRE’s Community Support Network (CSN) model as a visionary framework for cross-sector coordination during low-visibility, resource-limited events. Participants will map their own local networks, examine real-world micro-disaster scenarios, and practice rapid coordination strategies. Attendees leave with actionable tools to strengthen preparedness, response, and recovery when traditional large-scale support isn’t available.
Rehumanizing Long Term Recovery: Centering Survivor-Determined Measures of Success
Commonly, disaster recovery is measured by homes repaired, services delivered, and other quantitative outputs. This workshop invites participants to explore human-centered techniques that evaluate recovery through survivors’ own narratives of resiliency, expressed through stories and images. Attendees will learn and practice tools such as PhotoVoice and listening-session methods. Participants are encouraged to bring a picture or story that reflects what resiliency means to them.
The Continuity You Can’t Download: Practicing Mentorship as Leadership
VOAD continuity doesn’t fail because of a lack of talent—it fails when knowledge, access, and decision-making remain concentrated. This interactive workshop reframes mentorship as essential infrastructure for VOAD sustainability. Participants will map where continuity currently breaks down, practice making intentional space for others in real leadership moments, and build a 90-day mentorship-to-continuity action plan. Attendees leave with practical tools to strengthen leadership pipelines before—not during—the next disaster.
Building the Next Generation of Disaster Data Tools: How Louisiana VOAD Is Developing Innovative Technologies to Improve Disaster Response
Participants will explore Louisiana VOAD’s innovative cross-sector effort to develop modern data tools that identify service gaps, connect residents to resources, highlight unmet needs, and enhance agency coordination during disasters. This interactive workshop invites participants to test LAVOAD’s cutting-edge tools, learn about modern business intelligence practices, and collaboratively brainstorm data-driven solutions that would address their community’s unique needs. Attendees will leave with practical strategies and customizable templates to modernize disaster response in their regions.
“Cast a Wider Net!”: How Collaboration with Non-Traditional and Traditional Partners Enhanced Community Recovery
Over 60% of SBA loans go to homeowners, renters, and non-profits. To better connect disaster survivors, SBA leveraged partnerships on the national, regional, and local level. This session will explore efforts taken in response to the Maui and California Wildfires, Hurricane Helene, and the New Years Eve Attack in New Orleans, to enhance partnership collaboration. Attendees will learn about the SBA declaration process, assistance available, and strategies to supplement their programs and support community recovery.
Wednesday, May 6
Workshop Session 3: 12:45 pm – 1:45 pm
AKVOAD: Unique Challenges for Disaster Response in Rural Alaska
On Sunday, October 12, 2025, Typhoon Halong battered the western coast of Alaska. In the days and weeks following this disaster, numerous governmental and non-governmental agencies collaborated to support the victims of this massive disaster. In this interactive workshop, participants will gain insight into the unique challenges of disaster response in remote areas, informed by actual experiences from Typhoon Halong.
The Future of Multi-Agency Resource Centers: Advancing Disaster Response with Fintech
This interactive workshop will explore how emerging technologies and innovative funding models can transform multi-agency resource centers into highly efficient, sustainable hubs for disaster recovery. It will use Islamic Relief USA’s partnership with SKUx as a case study; highlighting the distribution of emergency funds during the 2025 California Wildfire Resource Center. Participants will step into a simulated resource center to experience streamlined survivor registration, digital fund disbursement, and the operational efficiency demonstrated by California VOAD.
Engaging Youth in Disaster Management: A Hands-on Exploration of a Summer Camp in Texas
The proposed session highlights a new summer camp at Texas A&M University called Camp DASH, a first-of-its-kind overnight camp that gets high school students excited about disaster topics and careers in disaster management. This conference session will replicate some of the camps’ activities for the NVOAD participants to play along and suggest new ideas. Participants will explore two interactive activities that emphasize hands-on learning and conclude with group discussions on additional strategies for youth engagement.
Expanding Generosity: building lasting recovery, resilience, and resource strategies
Floods. Fires. Hurricanes. When disaster strikes, there’s a familiar rhythm: viral images, a wave of media coverage, a rush of generosity—and often, a complicated and fragmented response. The ecosystem of disaster relief is vast, not always aligned, and long term recovery efforts are often slower and more complex than headlines suggest. This small group based discussion will analyze and problem-solve long-term recovery efforts and how communities can build resiliency ahead of a crisis.
Advancing a Unified Vision for Community Pet Protection: The Evolving Role of NGOs in Disaster Planning, Response, and Recovery
Join the ASPCA’s National Field Response Team for an interactive roundtable exploring the vital role pets play in the lives of disaster survivors and how NGOs can better support community pets before, during, and after emergencies. Through guided discussion and collaborative brainstorming, participants will gain practical insights and a shared vision for strengthening outcomes for pets and the people who love them.
Strategies for Effective Community Engagement and Partnerships in Disaster Recovery
This practice-based workshop examines how trusted relationships, local partnerships, and culturally responsive approaches strengthen resilience and inclusive disaster recovery in underserved communities. Using a case study from Habitat for Humanity of York County’s response to a damaging microburst, participants explore how community-based organizations coordinate resources, communication, and equitable recovery through asset-based strategies, trauma-informed engagement, and resident-led structures. The session provides actionable tools to enhance readiness, build trust, and support families through preparedness, response, and resilience.
From Abstract to Action: Practical Applications of Disaster Research
This panel will delve into the challenges and successes of integrating disaster-affected communities into academic research within the disaster sphere. Panelists will share their personal experiences of conducting community-based work in academia, and the ways that the National VOAD community can engage with academia, and importantly, how academics can give back and support all of the communities National VOAD interacts with.
Beyond the Basics: How Government and VOAD Partners Elevate Mental Health in Response and Recovery
Hurricane-prone Pinellas County, Florida illustrates how strong government–NGO partnerships can improve survivor care and responder well-being. This workshop highlights collaborative strategies for integrating behavioral health into shelter operations, including embedding mental health professionals in general and special-needs shelters, conducting coordinated post-event debriefings for staff, and offering joint pre-season resiliency training. Participants will gain practical tools and models for weaving behavioral health support throughout the disaster cycle through effective cross-sector collaboration.
Wednesday, May 6
Workshop Session 4: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Frontline Responders: Community Justice Workers Leading Long-Term Disaster Recovery
The CJW model embeds locally trained legal helpers in rural disaster-impacted communities to ensure survivors receive timely, culturally grounded support where traditional systems fall short. Our panel will share early CJW deployments in Alaska’s most remote regions, and expansion efforts nationwide. Through live polls, scenario-based discussions, and an “imagine a CJW in your community” activity, participants will explore strategies to build local capacity, strengthen long-term access to justice, and integrate culture into disaster response.
Activating Communities: Reimagining Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) Methods for Improving Community Access and Agency
Communities are facing increasingly diverse emergencies, yet many CBDRR methods remain too complex for communities to implement or fail to communicate local needs clearly. This workshop presents design-based tools developed through two years of iterative international testing that help communities identify their own needs, organize knowledge, and engage more effectively in preparedness planning. Participants gain hands-on experience and leave with adaptable, open-source materials that support deeper collaboration within communities and clearer communication with response organizations.
Visionary Logistics: Securing Infant Health with Infant and Young Child Feeding Integration (The 4 C’s in Action)
This experiential 60-minute presentation and workshop session provides VOAD leaders and partners with actionable tools to successfully integrate Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) services into disaster preparedness and response plans. We move beyond clinical care to actively practice the vital skills—cross-sector collaboration, empathetic communication, and resource flexibility—needed to establish safe, resilient IYCF support for families with infants in chaotic environments. Participants will leave with a framework for multi-disciplinary integration.
Mapping Needs of Underserved Populations for Rural Resilience
Rural places have unique challenges in disaster preparedness and recovery. This workshop explores the current vulnerabilities of rural areas and Tribal places as a starting point for strategic approaches. While rural areas experience significants challenges, they are also areas of high social capital. The session will focus on using asset based community development strategies, building partnerships, establishing cross cultural connections using the NVOAD network for culturally relevant rural resilience.
Fighting the Fires of Wildfire Recovery
A wildfire survivor’s recovery and rebuilding journey is long and filled with layers of complexity at every turn, especially in communities where multiple funders, governmental partners, nonprofits, and the private sector all have a role in meeting survivor’s needs such as financial, housing, food insecurity, and mental health. Join us as we discuss and strategize the challenges and possible solutions for wildfire recovery.
Safe, Sanitary, Secure and CHOSEN: How to embed survivor choice into disaster programming
This workshop will present several case studies and share innovative tools related to integrating survivor choice into response and recovery programming, particularly related to cash-voucher assistance projects and how we can better serve households choosing to relocate post-disaster. These case studies will walk participants through the process including data collection and show how that data was used to adapt programming moving forward, and will provide time for small group reflection and practice on these methods.
Feeding Hope: The Hidden Impact of Disaster Feeding
When disaster strikes, food becomes more than sustenance—it’s hope, dignity, and stability. This panel reveals the unseen impact of feeding operations led by the Texas Feeding Task Force under ESF-6 Mass Care. Through stories and data, learn how partners restore normalcy, energize responders, and sustain volunteers. Discover the financial and operational investments that reduce local burdens and accelerate recovery—showing why coordinated feeding is essential to resilience nationwide
From Crisis to Clarity: How GIS Supports Disaster Response
GIS is a critical tool for organizations that work in a dynamic environment like disaster response, where every second counts. Join us for a discussion on how organizations can be better prepared to respond to disasters by having their technology ready to deploy when disaster strikes. This presentation also includes a review of resources available to the community from Esri’s Disaster Response Program (DRP), information about Esri’s Nonprofit program, and provides updates on relevant public safety solutions and ready-to-use applications.
Thursday, May 7
Workshop Session 5: 10:15 am – 11:15 am
Innovation in Disaster Case Management: Florida’s Combined Helene and Milton Program
Florida has administered DCMP since Hurricane Irma, 2024 introduced an unprecedented test following back-to-back hurricanes. For the first time, Florida combined funding and operations for Hurricanes Helene and Milton and awarded DCMP to two Long-Term Recovery Groups while piloting new approaches to survivor support. This session will share lessons learned from the combined model, highlight innovative pilot efforts, and discuss early successes and challenges shaping the future of disaster case management in Florida and beyond.
Don’t forget to help the helpers!
The future will rely on new partnerships, including known organizations that can help the helpers – assisting those groups that form to prepare for or respond to disasters and assist survivors. Surprise! These partners exist in VOAD. Legal aid organizations may be able to assist by serving on boards, helping survivors with legal needs, and assisting groups with legal formation. The United Way is here and can also assist with fundraising in multiple ways.
Disaster Systems in Remote America: Lessons from the Pacific, Arctic, and Caribbean
U.S. territories, COFA nations, and states like Hawaii and Alaska face structural gaps that stateside disaster models often overlook. Different time zones, legal systems, and federal relationships create persistent challenges in communication, continuity, and response. This session examines documented barriers and lessons from the Pacific, Arctic, and Caribbean. Participants will consider how historical federal oversight shapes current conditions and explore practical ways to strengthen continuity and coordination in isolated or federally overlooked communities.
Getting Cash Assistance Right: From LA Wildfires to a New Vision for Domestic Cash Assistance
This interactive workshop introduces participants of all experience levels to the design and delivery of domestic Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA). Using the LA Wildfires as a central scenario, attendees will explore user journeys, design Minimum Expenditure Baskets and transfer values, and navigate survivor access barriers. Through hands-on exercises and lessons shared from NGOs, donors, and financial partners, participants will leave with practical tools, best practices, and people-centered insights to implement coordinated, effective CVA programs.
80 years later, reimaging the Emergency CARE Package
Have you ever received or sent a Care Package? CARE was founded in1945 when Americans gathered to build the original CARE Package of food items and send to families in war-torn Europe. Today, CARE working with partners like the UPS Foundation has reimagined the CARE Package in how it can unite volunteers and disaster survivors in building a culture of care and compassion in the U.S. when they need it most.
Stronger Together: A Community-Wide Disaster Simulation
There’s nothing fun about meeting survivors’ needs during an actual disaster. But that doesn’t mean preparing for it can’t be.
Join American Logistics Aid Network for an interactive and collaborative game-based session mimicking the complexities and chaos of disaster response.
In this session, participants will put their business, supply chain, and humanitarian skills to the test through an assigned role tasked with delivering various commodities to a community with limited resources following a disruptive event.
Better Together: How a Long-Standing LTRG from the Camp Fire Built a Collaborative Hub for Lasting Recovery
This session shares a proven Hub-and-Spoke model from a rare long-standing LTRG that continues to operate seven years after the Camp Fire. Through sustained partnership, the LTRG helped steward tens of millions in assistance and supported partner missions totaling hundreds of millions. Participants will explore strategies that reduce blind spots and increase efficiency, then use a hands-on mapping lab to identify gaps and strengthen VOAD and LTRG collaboration in their own communities.
Practical Climate Adaptation for VOADs in a Changing Disaster Landscape
Climate adaptation and disaster resilience explored through expert-led breakouts, equipping VOAD members with practical, nonpartisan strategies to communicate risks, strengthen capacity, and implement actionable, community-centered solutions.
Thursday, May 7
Workshop Session 6: 1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
The Power of Play in Disaster Recovery: Experiencing What Children Need Most
What does emotional recovery look like in a disaster, especially for children and teens who cannot fully explain what they feel? This immersive session places participants inside a disaster-response playspace to experience how evidence-based, play-centered interventions restore emotional regulation, safety, and resilience. Even for those who don’t work directly with children, this session demonstrates how child-centered spaces and practices can improve disaster recovery outcomes for entire communities.
Information as Infrastructure: Redefining How Communities Access Help Before, During, and After Disaster
This session reframes information itself as critical infrastructure in disaster response and recovery, as essential as food, shelter, and power. As disasters grow more complex, the ability to provide curated, credible, and coordinated information is a matter of community resilience. This session invites VOAD members to shape what a “thriving” information ecosystem looks like, from immediate response to long-term recovery, and also gives attendees tools on how they can be effective information partners in disaster.
Reimagining Disaster Relief Through Small Business Support
In this interactive session, we’ll show you how empowering local businesses means revitalizing your entire community. Using live polling and real-world planning tools, and stories from LTRG leaders, we’ll reveal why business recovery is the missing link in most disaster plans. You’ll learn how targeted business support can stabilize families, protect jobs, and accelerate long-term recovery. Walk away with a framework you can use immediately to help your community’s businesses survive, rebuild, and thrive.
A New Vision for Collaboration: Reshaping State and VOAD Partnership for Recovery (a case study discussion)
In this session, participants will engage in discussion based on an undeclared 2023 flooding event that impacted Berks County, Pennsylvania. Local and state VOAD partners engaged with governmental partners to help survivors access state Individual Assistance grants and disaster case management services. While there are many bright spots, we will be vulnerable about areas for improvement and invite participants to analyze gaps and develop actionable steps for improving operations and working with whole community partners.
BE READY: Visionary Disaster Cooking & Community Feeding Models for the Next Era of Crisis Response
Discover how Friends of Codey’s BE READY Disaster Cooking model transforms community feeding during crises using next-generation partnerships, rapid-deployment food strategies, and culturally relevant meal design. This interactive session immerses participants in hands-on cooking simulations, resource-limited decision-making, and collaborative problem-solving. Attendees will leave with practical templates, scalable feeding frameworks, and new tools for empowering local food entrepreneurs as disaster-ready assets. A visionary approach to community resilience—rooted in innovation, collaboration, and lived experience.
The Power of Stories in Navigating Change: How MDS Used Personas in Updating its Volunteer Software
Learn how Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) and Impeligence utilized human-centered design to re-imagine how technology can improve the volunteer experience. Learn about personas and journey mapping as tools to help your organization create better experiences and processes for your clients, volunteers, and staff.
EMAC for Volunteer and Donations: How VALs Deploy, Integrate, and Serve Across State Lines
Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) deployments for Volunteer and Donations are becoming more common, many partners do not fully understand how the VAL function operates across state lines. This session will feature a panel of experienced Volunteer and Donations liaisons from both sending and receiving states, sharing how EMAC works, how coordination occurs with NVOAD and State VOADs, and what partners should expect before and during deployment. Attendees will gain practical insight into interstate partnerships.
Forging Cross-Sector Partnerships: Helping mothers and babies in Emergencies
As disasters intensify, maternal mortality in the U.S.—already the highest among developed nations—continues to rise. Through a unique cross-sector partnership, CARE and March of Dimes are leading a national initiative strengthening preparedness and response for moms and babies through coalition building, training emergency and health workers, and creating accessible resources that state and communities can use to help protect this most vulnerable population when it matters most.