VALs Within Emergency Management

In the Emergency Management industry, VALs are the central point of coordination between voluntary, faith-based, and community organizations responding in times of disaster and State, Local, Tribal, Territorial (SLTT), and Federal governments. They support coordinating volunteers, donations, and people/groups providing disaster services and continue to be a source of programmatic information and subject matter expertise. VALs aid in addressing unmet needs for individuals following a disaster, in both immediate and long-term recovery efforts. VALs must know how to pull in the right resources at the right time and how to appropriately engage with organizations.

Source: FEMA. (n.d.). FEMA Voluntary Agency Liaisons History. [Internal Microsoft Word Document]

A Federal Coordinating Officer addresses FEMA staff at an operating facility to share information between FEMA and State agencies as part of recovery operations.