Home Safety Council to Conduct Facilitator Training for Three High-Fire-Risk States:
Arkansas, South Carolina and Tennessee

The gathering sets the stage for safety educators and literacy providers across the U.S. to prepare high-risk populations for fire and other disasters.

With support from a 2006 Fire Prevention and Safety grant, the nonprofit Home Safety Council (HSC) is introducing a program to pilot test in-state educational workshops to expand the Home Safety Literacy Project (HSLP) in three states that have exceptionally high fire-death rates: Arkansas, South Carolina and Tennessee. HSLP unites fire department educators with literacy providers so adults with limited reading or English-language skills can access vital fire safety and disaster preparedness information.

The HSLP was developed with Fire Prevention and Safety Grant funding in 2003-2004 by the Home Safety Council with its partners ProLiteracy Worldwide and Oklahoma State University’s Fire Protection Publications. The hallmark of HSLP materials is its unique plain English format, accompanied by vivid illustrations. Easy-to-understand safety education materials are essential because more than 93 million adults in the U.S. read English at basic or below-basic levels. Introducing HSLP’s highly visual safety messaging helps high-risk populations increase their safety at home.

HSC’s three-day training program will begin November 29, 2007 in Charleston, SC, providing leaders from fire prevention education, disaster preparedness, and adult literacy in the three high-risk states with the opportunity to review a draft facilitator training module for use by others wishing to implement the program. These new support materials will be based in part upon successful practices underway in U.S. communities utilizing the HSLP.

The draft facilitator training module will be pilot-tested in the three states over a 12-week period. Each state will execute team-training workshops to implement the fire and disaster preparedness safety program in three to five of their states’ local communities. Following the pilot test, the training module and materials will be refined. The final facilitator’s training module will be published by the Home Safety Council and made available to all literacy and fire and life safety educators in the U.S., upon request and at no charge to them.

“Thanks to a generous grant from FEMA, this new program makes it possible for virtually any community to expand the use of the Home Safety Literacy Project, making a real difference in family preparedness for fires and other disasters,” says Home Safety Council President Meri-K Appy. “Uniting key community advocates and arming them with proven safety education resources is a smart strategy to reach high-risk populations with life-saving messages.”

Learn more about the National Home Safety Literacy Project on the Home Safety Council Expert Network Web site: www.homesafetycouncil.org/expertnetwork. The Expert Network serves more than 5,700 fire and life safety educators in the U.S., the vast majority in fire departments.

About Home Safety Council
The Home Safety Council (HSC) is the only national nonprofit organization solely dedicated to preventing home related injuries that result in nearly 20,000 deaths and 21 million medical visits on average each year. Through national programs, partnerships and the support of volunteers, HSC educates people of all ages to be safer in and around their homes. The Home Safety Council is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization located in Washington, DC.