Silver Jackets: Many Agencies One Solution - Be Risk Aware
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Effective and continuous collaboration between state and federal agencies is critical to successfully reducing the risk of flooding and other natural disasters in the United States and enhancing response and recovery efforts when such events do occur. No single agency has all the answers, but often multiple programs can be leveraged to provide a cohesive solution.

The Silver Jackets is an innovative program that provides an opportunity to consistently bring together multiple state, federal, and sometimes tribal and local agencies to learn from one another and apply their knowledge to reduce risk. State agencies, including those of the State Hazard Mitigation Officer and State NFIP Coordinator, come together with the Federal family of agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), come together in a common forum to address the state's flood risk management priorities. Silver Jacket programs are developed at the state level. There are currently 31 active state teams; the ultimate goal is to offer an interagency team in every state.

The program's primary goals are to:

  • Create or supplement a mechanism to collaboratively identify, prioritize, and address risk management issues and implement solutions
  • Increase and improve risk communication through a unified interagency effort
  • Leverage information and resources and provide access to such national programs as FEMA's Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (Risk MAP) program and USACE's Levee Inventory and Assessment Initiative
  • Provide focused, coordinated hazard mitigation assistance in implementing high-priority actions such as those identified by state mitigation plans
  • Identify gaps among agency programs and/or barriers to implementation, such as conflicting agency policies or authorities, and provide recommendations for addressing these issues.

Why the name Silver Jackets? Traditionally, different agencies wear different colored jackets when responding to emergencies. For example, FEMA personnel wear blue and USACE personnel wear red. The name Silver Jackets is used to underscore the common mission of the diverse agencies involved.

Silver Jackets Newsletter

Silver Jackets teams please visit the site between 3 May and 4 June 2012 to vote for your fellow Silver Jackets Team of the Year award recipient.

2012 Workshop
2011 Workshop

New!

Virginia Silver Jackets Brochure (pdf, 1.27 MB)
Brochure Template (pub, 12.9 MB)

Webinars Supporting Flood Risk Management

  • Community Rating System Webinar — May 1st
  • NRCS/USACE Partnership Handbook: A Field Guide to Working Together Toward Shared Goals — 2011
  • Risk MAP — 2011
  • ASFPM…Are We Reducing Risk? — 2011
  • Sustainability with US Department of HUD — 2011

 

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Revised 15 May 2012
National Flood Risk Management Program

Breakout flow over a road upstream of Granite Falls into a natural slough that bypasses most of the city. Credit: Mike Enstad, Water Superintendent for the City of Granite Falls

 

NEWSWORTHY…Granite Falls gets out of the way of the Minnesota River

As the spring thaw and rains threaten to cause havoc in Minnesota, the mayor of Granite Falls has been in the news offering his town as a poster child for what flood prevention efforts can accomplish.

The high waters on the river for the past two years have tested the city's ongoing mitigation efforts.

Following the local mitigation plan, according to the local newspaper, the town hall and several homes and businesses have been removed from the floodplain for a cost of over $17 million, saving the city and residents from filling hundreds of thousands of sandbags.

For more information on the story go to: Years of Flood Preps Paying off in Granite Falls