Howard County Department of Recreation & Parks, in partnership with the Howard County Office of Emergency Management, has developed a team of professionals to provide coordination and centralized support for volunteers and volunteer groups during a disaster and/or crisis situation resulting from manmade causes or natural disasters. This level of support is referred to as Emergency Support Func-tion 14 or as we call it, ESF 14.
During the Ellicott City flood of 2018, the ESF 14 Team implemented its Virtual Volunteer Management Plan. The Virtual Volunteer Management Plan is designed to simplify the process of recruiting, organizing, scheduling, and connecting volunteers. The virtual plan allowed ESF 14 team members to organize large numbers of interested volunteers more efficiently by eliminating the need for time-consuming traditional volunteer management methods and paper signups. By using online database systems, the ESF 14 team was able to manage over approximately 12,000 volunteer offers of assistance in response to the Ellicott City floods. Additionally, local businesses and resident owners were able to receive volunteer support and coordination more efficiently.