Educate Vulnerable Communities
The Seattle Office of Emergency Management Community Safety Ambassador (CSA) program provides emergency preparedness education and skills to Seattle communities that could be disproportionately impacted by a major disaster. This is accomplished by partnering with multilingual community leaders and community-based organizations who serve BIPOC residents, limited proficiency or non-English speaking residents, immigrant and refugee communities, and people with access and functional needs.
Topics Community Safety Ambassadors teach and outreach about:
- Basic Disaster Preparedness
- Heat/Wildfire Smoke Preparedness
- Winter Preparedness
- Hands on only CPR
- Stroke Education
- 9-1-1 Education
Through the CSA program, the Office of Emergency Management can provide training to community members in the following languages: Amharic, Burmese, Cambodian Khmer, Chinese, English, Kiswahili, Laotian, Oromo, Spanish, Somali, Tigrinya, Thai, and Vietnamese.
The CSA program began in April 2015 and is funded by the Seattle Urban Area Security Initiative Grant and King County Emergency Medical Services Grant.
Please connect with Sophia Lopez, OEM Community Engagement Manager, at Sophia.Lopez@seattle.gov, if you are bilingual and interested in becoming a Community Safety Ambassador.
Apply if you are interested in becoming a Community Safety Ambassador! This is a vendor/contract position.
Community Safety Ambassadors in the Community!
Dagnew Kismu, Negyat Molla, Elise Tse and Ahmed Abdi tabling at the first annual Muslim Health Professionals Fair.
Former Outreach and Training Specialist (left), Tey Thach, and Community Safety Ambassador, Angelie Mendoza (far right) working wtih residents from Plaza Roberto Maestas on individual preparedness.
Amy Xu providing CPR education to students at Seattle World School.
Community Safety Ambassadors in the Community!
Dagnew Kismu, Negyat Molla, Elise Tse and Ahmed Abdi tabling at the first annual Muslim Health Professionals Fair.
Former Outreach and Training Specialist (left), Tey Thach, and Community Safety Ambassador, Angelie Mendoza (far right) working wtih residents from Plaza Roberto Maestas on individual preparedness.
Amy Xu providing CPR education to students at Seattle World School.
Schedule Community Safety Ambassadors
The Office of Emergency Management has over 20 trained Community Safety Ambassadors (CSAs) who can provide disaster preparedness and life safety training in the following languages: Arabic, Amharic, Cambodian-Khmer, Chinese, English, Kiswahili, Laotian, Moldavian, Oromo, Romanian, Spanish, Somali, Tigrinya, Thai, and Vietnamese.
Community groups and organizations can schedule CSAs to provide translated training on the following topics:
Emergency preparedness
During this hour-long training, attendees learn about Seattle's hazards and how to get prepared for disasters by building a kit, making a plan, signing up for emergency alerts, and helping each other.
Hands-only CPR/911 Education
During this hour-long workshop, attendees become educated about 911 and learn how to provide hands-only CPR through hands-on activities. Note: this training does not qualify for American Heart Association CPR certification.
Booth at Safety Fairs
If you expect members of the non-English speaking community to be present at your safety or health fair, you can request CSAs attend to educate community members on emergency preparedness.
Fill out the online request form to schedule a training. If you expect non-English speaking community members to attend the training, please specify which languages you need translation for on the form so the appropriate CSA trainers are assigned. To schedule training for multiple language groups, it is usually best to schedule each training at a different date/time for each language group.