Resources for neighborhood champions

Join one of our Champions meetings each month

• On the 3rd Wednesday of each month, 6pm at the Bayview Fire Station

• The next day (Thursday), 2pm at the Clinton Community Hall

• See our Events listings for details.

Reach out for support

Our Neighborhood Development Working Group serves as the point of contact to welcome and orient new neighborhoods and champions.

Draw from ready-made resources and ideas

Communicate the need to get prepared

• Sample letter of introduction which you will want to personalize

• Small pamphlet which partly explains the necessity of being prepared

• Sample agenda for your first gathering which you can customize to your circumstances

• Video of Scott James’ presentation to Whidbey Island June 2025

• Be sure to look at the list of videos from other sources for clips you can share to impress upon your neighbors the necessity to get prepared.

Map your neighborhood: discover all the resources and resilience you already have

• Get a map of your neighborhood by contacting us.

• Map Your Neighborhood is an excellent tool to discover your neighborhood’s skills and resources. MYN videos are available on the Island County Emergency Management at Map Your Neighborhood. The workbooks are available at our South Whidbey Fire/EMS in Bayview. Alternatively or additionally, you might use or customize any of these .docx files that you can download and edit:

  • Questionnaire appropriate for more rural areas

  • Neighborhood mapping for more suburban-type neighborhoods

Prepare as a neighborhood

• Learn how to turn off each other’s gas/propane tanks

• Develop your communications plan with help from How to get prepared: Communications

• Encourage your community to create some buddy systems for child care and animal care/protection in event part of the family is off island when disaster strikes.

• Conduct a FireWise assessment and create a mitigation plan for your neighborhood.

• Might building a tool library be smart for your cluster of neighborhoods? Asheville, NC, used theirs to accelerate their recovery from Hurricane Helene in September 2024.

Plan to review, renew and refresh your data at least annually

Being prepared is a journey without end. As people move into and from your neighborhood, your data will need to be updated. What new skills would you like to develop together? CERT? First Aid? Stop the Bleed? Wilderness First Responder? Ask what else can you do together? Help each other with small repairs? Build a common victory garden? Build a shared compost facility to reduce your garbage costs as you create rich soil amendments? Create an alliance with nearby neighborhoods?