Citizen Voice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT

August 29, 2007 Heather Atherton

                                                                   SAFELY OUT™ Media Coordinator
                                                                   916/316-4568
                                                                   heather@athertonpr.com

Sacramento County Intends to Support Citizen Voice’s SAFELY OUT Project With
Quarter of a Million Dollars Over Five Years
SAFELY OUT™ Pilot Project Marks Its First Anniversary on
Second Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

(August 29, 2007 – Sacramento, CA) -- Citizen Voice today celebrated the first successful year of its groundbreaking pilot project, SAFELY OUT™, to help safely evacuate the vulnerable during both natural and man-made disasters. SAFELY OUT is designed as a neighbor helping neighbor evacuation effort, assisting vulnerable populations in reaching safety and relieving the burden that emergency responders and caregivers often shoulder alone. It was launched on the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in 2006. The key transformational idea behind the project is that citizens themselves need to be “first responders.”

In just its first year, Citizen Voice has secured over a third of a million dollars in funding for the national pilot project to distribute kits to the vulnerable in the greater Sacramento region. It is believed to be the first strategic approach in the U.S. targeting our most vulnerable during disasters that involves the entire community in the evacuation effort. SAFELY OUT has already met its initial goal of distributing 10,000 SAFELY OUT Kits and the next 15,000 are in production. SAFELY OUT’s pilot phase will be completed upon distribution of 100,000 kits, when the project will expand its reach throughout California and then nationwide. Due to extensive media coverage of the precedent-setting effort, inquiries and individual SAFELY OUT Kit orders have already come from as far away as Chicago, Seattle and Hawaii.

Today, Citizen Voice is also proud to announce that Sacramento County has stepped up to protect the vulnerable of the Sacramento region. Sacramento County intends to support Citizen Voice’s SAFELY OUT Project with $250,000. Such a sizable financial partnership will secure 25,000 kits for residents of Sacramento County who are most at risk in a disaster, with particular concern in high-risk flood areas.

2007 has seen its share of natural disasters across the world. Overwhelming floods in the Midwest, major hurricanes skirting Hawaii and hitting Mexico, violent earthquakes in Peru and Japan, and devastating wildland fires across the West, including the catastrophic Angora Fires in South Lake Tahoe, remind us that we are at risk wherever we live. Over the past year, the SAFELY OUT Project has seen first-hand the need for organized evacuation efforts. SAFELY OUT deployed to the Angora Fire to distribute nearly 1,200 kits to homeowners, many on the edge of the fire line where kits were handed out door-to-door.

Gary Dietrich, a Sacramento broadcast political analyst and president of Citizen Voice, developed the idea for SAFELY OUT™ after broadcasting from and volunteering during the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort and the Hurricane Rita evacuation effort in 2005. As a broadcaster and evacuation volunteer in the hurricane zone, “I saw how desperate people were and the danger facing the vulnerable who couldn’t get themselves out of harm’s way,” explained Dietrich. More recently he felt the appreciation of those in Tahoe who received a kit during the Angora Fire. “We reached out to families who lived along the fire zone. Some were so moved by our efforts that they joined in and helped distribute kits to their neighbors’ homes to help protect them as well.”

“Summer’s heat and fire threats will soon give way to the rains of fall and winter,” stated Jerry Colivas, former Manager of Emergency Services and Homeland Security for the City of Sacramento and SAFELY OUT advisory board member. “We need to be vigilant about protecting our families throughout the year. SAFELY OUT is a simple solution that helps solve the very complex problem of evacuation, as we witnessed after Hurricane Katrina.”

According to a timely report by BusinessWeek on August 13, 2007, “an estimated 500,000 people are now in danger of flooding in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basin.” Additionally, “A 200-year flood would cause $35 billion in damages to greater Sacramento, the state forecasts, and it would take at least 2.5 months just to pump out the flooded areas.” Such scenarios sound potentially very similar to the devastation seen in New Orleans that began two years ago today.

The foundation of the SAFELY OUT Project, is the SAFELY OUT™ Kit. Elements of the kit include:

•    SAFELY OUT™ Door Hanger (that can be used to signal for assistance using the red “NEED HELP” side, and let others know when the vulnerable are “SAFELY OUT™” using the green side)
•    SAFELY OUT™ Refrigerator Magnet Booklet (with essential contact and evacuation information tailored to the needs of each individual or family)
•    SAFELY OUT™ Helper Information Sheets (giving those volunteering to assist a vulnerable person the information they need to help)
•    SAFELY OUT™ Storage Bag (for keeping spare medicines, medical insurance information, etc. safe inside the refrigerator – a place that is air tight, water tight, and fire resistant)
•    SAFELY OUT™ Wallet Information Card (carried by the vulnerable in the event of disaster while away from home)
•    SAFELY OUT™ Kit How-To Brochure
•    A permanent marker and erasable ink pen to complete the Kit contents
•    An adhesive strip to hang the “NEED HELP” sign in a window should the front door not be easily visible

SAFELY OUT Kits are now available online at www.CitizenVoice.org, or by mail. A $10 suggested minimum contribution per kit is requested (plus $2.50 shipping/handing per kit for mail orders.) Those individuals, groups and businesses interested in ordering kits, making a contribution to get kits to others in need, or becoming a SAFELY OUT™ project sponsor can inquire at www.CitizenVoice.org or by calling (916) 503-3194. Kit orders and contributions can be made online or by mail (mail only, there is no counter service available at this address) to Citizen Voice, 1215 K Street, 17th Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814.

ABOUT CITIZEN VOICE
Citizen Voice is a 501C3 nonprofit, nonpartisan movement with a mission to inspire, inform and involve citizens in the public arena on behalf of all, especially the vulnerable. Citizen Voice fulfills its mission by fostering active participation in the public arena as well as involving citizens in both practical immediate intervention and work towards long-term changes that protect the vulnerable. For more information on Citizen Voice, visit www.CitizenVoice.org.