In an effort to help citizens get informed, be prepared and take action, the Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) launched the Gear Up. Get Ready! campaign across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin!

The Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP) was initiated in 2008. RCPGP is focused on increasing catastrophic preparedness planning in high risk, high consequence areas. The central objectives of the grant program is to build a regional planning process within planning communities, fix shortcomings in existing plans and link operational needs to resource allocation. The latter provides the ability of the grant to promote citizen preparedness through messaging and outreach. Our resource allocation is our ability to promote readiness and citizen preparedness steering toward the operational necessity of being prepared, not just talking about it. Our team will be reaching out to the citizens of the Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin Combined Statistical Area with the one common goal of driving action toward preparedness.
Being prepared requires a whole community approach and we are excited to work with the local emergency managers and volunteers to provide educational tools and resources to our neighbors.– Yvette Alexander-Maxie, Director, Community Programs and Volunteer Resources American Red Cross and Co-Chair of Citizen Preparedness Subcommittee of the IL-IN-WI RCPT
We want to encourage everyone to take actionable steps because actions taken by households can save lives and build community resilience.– Earl Mashaw, Project Manager Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program