6/30/09: Disaster Accountability Board Member Appointed FEMA ‘Senior Advisor, Disability Issues’

June 30, 2009

Contact: Ben Smilowitz, 314-761-7631

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

FEMA Appoints Marcie Roth as ‘Senior Advisor, Disability Issues’
Roth was Disaster Accountability Project Board Member

The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) commends FEMA for the appointment of Disaster Accountability Project Board member Marcie Roth to the position of ‘Senior Advisor, Disability Issues.’ In her position, Ms. Roth will work to ensure the needs of individuals with disabilities are properly addressed in emergency preparedness and disaster management. The Disaster Accountability Project has frequently identified FEMA’s efforts in this area as deficient.

By creating a senior staff position to address disability issues, FEMA is a step closer to compliance with the Post-Katrina Act and implementation of unfulfilled post-Katrina recommendations. For example, FEMA’s National Disability Coordinator has yet to be elevated to the Administrator’s Office pursuant to the Post-Katrina Act, and the FEMA Regions are still without Regional Disability Coordinators – a key post-Katrina recommendation – leaving millions of Americans with additional needs more vulnerable at some of their greatest times of need.

“Marcie’s appointment to the newly-created position of ‘Senior Advisor, Disability Issues’ is a step in the right direction. Her experience and dedication will better position FEMA to improve preparedness and relief services for over 50 million Americans with disabilities,” said Ben Smilowitz, Executive Director of the Disaster Accountability Project. “Hopefully this appointment is only the beginning of necessary improvements at FEMA that will save lives this hurricane season.”

“The disability community is very excited that FEMA will have an aggressive disability advocate who is an expert on disaster preparedness,” said Curtis Decker, Executive Director of the National Disability Rights Network. “We are hopeful that this will bring the issue of disability preparedness to a heightened level at FEMA.”

Ms. Roth has been active at a local, state, and national level advocating for disability issues over the past twenty years. Prior to her appointment at FEMA, she held a position as the Executive Director of the National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR). While there, Roth led a campaign for public awareness about the Americans with Disabilities Act and its recent amendments, as they apply to disaster preparedness. Roth has also led national public and private efforts to address the additional needs of people with disabilities before, during, and after disasters. The Disaster Accountability Project benefited greatly from Roth’s policy expertise in the area of disability preparedness.

To avoid any conflict, Ms. Roth resigned her position on the Disaster Accountability Project’s Board of Directors prior to assuming her position at FEMA.

—-

The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to the improvement of the United States disaster management systems through public accountability, citizen oversight and empowerment, whistle-blower engagement, and policy research and advocacy. The Disaster Accountability Project’s website is https://disasteraccountability.org.

A toll-free hotline (866-9-TIP-DAP) is available as a public service for disaster survivors, workers and volunteers to report critical gaps in disaster prevention, response, relief, and recovery services or planning. The group is recruiting a national network of Disaster Accountability Monitors and Bloggers to help report, verify, and publicize gaps in disaster services or planning.

Disaster Accountability Project is a 2008 Echoing Green Fellowship Organization.

For more information: http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/ben-smilowitz

—30–