Because disasters know no boundaries...
The Mountain West VOAD was a concept that was brought to life in September of 2013. In an effort to bolster relationships and capabilities between states that experience similar challenges in response, it was decided that intentionally coordinating an effort to bring these states together would be invaluable. The states originially involved with the MWVOAD were Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. Today, over 15 states have participated in MWVOAD activities.
Bylaws: http://bit.ly/MWVOADBylaws
The mission of the Mountain West VOAD (MWVOAD) is to help voluntary organizations perform their individual missions, assist survivors, and help one another more easily across state borders by:
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Building and strengthening the capacity of VOAD coalition members.
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Highlighting accomplishments of individual VOAD coalition members.
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Promoting the 4Cs and helping to create relationships with colleagues in other states.
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Fostering relationships with other disaster-related industries, including emergency management, private sector, local governmental agencies, etc.
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Recognizing that participation by voluntary organizations is non-compulsory; consequently, “blue skys” or “peacetime” activities must have independent value to garner participation.
In each of these activities, MWVOAD will prioritize building capacity of VOAD coalition members above building a MWVOAD organization.