Hybrid CERT

The National CERT Association (NCA), in partnership with the University of Utah, Utah Division of Emergency Management, and the Listos California Emergency Preparedness Campaign, is proud to announce the Nationwide Rollout of the Hybrid CERT Training (updated for the 2020 CERT Curriculum).  This training resource is free for all CERT programs.

Developed in partnership between the University of Utah and the Utah Division of Emergency Management, the Hybrid CERT training offers an alternative option for delivering the CERT Basic course.  Traditionally the CERT Basic course is 20 hours of classroom-based training.  The Hybrid CERT Training incorporates 12 hours of online independent study followed by 16 hours of in-person skills training, and disaster simulation.  The Hybrid CERT Training has been updated for the 2020 CERT Basic Curriculum and is available in English and Spanish.

FEMA depends on State Coordinators and local sponsoring organizations to supervise volunteers and their training at all times, and has stated that so long as course objectives are met, the use and acceptance of the hybrid training is at the discretion of State/Territory CERT Coordinators, and local CERT Sponsoring Organizations respectively.

The Listos California Emergency Preparedness Campaign, out of the State of California Governor’s Office and State Emergency Management Agency (Cal OES), has collaborated with the team at Utah to provide additional features to the Hybrid CERT Training.  These features include an optional triage module, additional ADA (508) compliance features required by the State of California, and making the training available in Mandarin.

The nationwide rollout will start in September 2020.

To ensure that CERT programs across the US learn how to properly implement the Hybrid CERT Training, a series of webinars will be available to present the Hybrid CERT training and train programs on the implementation.  These webinars are hosted by FEMA Region IX in partnership with FEMA Region VIII.

The first webinar is scheduled for August 4, 2020 at 10am pacific, 1pm eastern.  This webinar is for State and Territory CERT Coordinators and interested CERT Program Managers.  The Utah team will give an overview of the training and answer any questions that interested programs may have.  Attached to this email is a webinar invite.  Please forward this email/invite to any CERT programs in your network that may be interested.

Following the webinar, CERT programs will be able to sign up to be part of the nationwide rollout.

Additional webinars will be scheduled to support CERT programs with the implementation of the Hybrid CERT Training.  Here is the schedule for the webinars (all webinars will start at 10am pacific, 1pm eastern:

  • August 4, 2020 – Informational webinar for State CERT Coordinators and Interested CERT Program Managers and Instructors
  • September 22, 2020 – Kickoff webinar for State/Territory CERT Coordinators and CERT Program Managers that have signed up to be part of the nationwide rollout.
  • September 29, 2020 – Review of any notable differences between the lecture portion of a traditional classroom-based delivery and the online independent study module
  • October 6, 2020 – Guidance on how to implement the in-person skills training and disaster simulation.

To sign up to be on the email list for the nationwide rollout, please complete this quick survey:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LY5H6FM.

We will be surveying all State and Territory CERT Coordinators to ensure that they approve the use of the Hybrid CERT Training in their state/territory before allowing programs to participate in the nationwide rollout.  Click here for a list of States and Territories that have approved the use of the Hybrid CERT Training: States and Territories

For questions specific to the Hybrid CERT Training please contact:

Rachel Brown
Hybrid CERT Training National Program Manager
racheltbrown@hsc.utah.edu

For questions regarding the nationwide rollout please contact us at info@nationalcert.org.