(Washington, DC)  Fifty young people ages 16 – 21 participated in the 2006 Team DC program sponsored by the District of Columbia Emergency Management Agency (DCEMA) in cooperation with the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services (DOES).

Tomorrow, August 4, Team DC is conducting their closing ceremony from 10 am until 2 pm in the lobby of the Frank D. Reeves Center at 2000 14th Street, NW. The program includes guest speaker Gregory A. Thomas, MS, Director of the Program for the School of Preparedness and Planning in the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He is also author of the book Freedom from Fear: A guide to Safety, Preparedness, and the Threat of Terrorism.  The ceremony will also include skits from the Team DC program participants.

Team DC was created in 2002 as part of the Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program. Each year the program enrolls 40 to 50 young people and teaches them about emergency preparedness. During several weeks of intensive emergency management training, participants learn how to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters of all types. After their training, they spend the remaining weeks of the program conducting presentations on personal and community preparedness to some of the city's most vulnerable populations, including senior citizens, elementary school students, church groups and other community groups.

This year, participants took part in Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, which prepares citizens and communities to take care of themselves during the first 72 hours of a disaster or until professional first responders can reach them. They also took an overnight trip to New York City where they toured Ground Zero and visited the local chapters of the American Red Cross and the Emergency Management Agency.

Team DC is managed by the DC Department of Employment Services and funded by the DC Emergency Management Agency.