New School Year Homework: Family Emergency Prep

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Labor Day weekend often signals the last hurrah before the new school year begins in Minnesota. Before your child goes back to class, make sure the entire family is prepared to act in an emergency. Having a family plan is key to keeping your children calm and safe. Take these steps to be prepared throughout the school year.

• Prepare a document with the phone numbers of parents, grandparents and a close neighbor and place it in your child’s backpack.
• Make a kit that will help the family get by. You may need to survive on your own after an emergency. This means having enough food, water and other supplies to cover each family member for three days.
• Choose a safe meeting space during an emergency. Examples include a local church, store, library or other public location where the family would meet if they could not gain access to home.

Remember, emergencies are never planned. Communicate your emergency preparedness plan with all family members today. Review child-friendly education materials.

The Dollars and Cents of Storm Recovery

When a storm causes damage to public infrastructure, it can really throw your life off track. You depend on roads, water and utilities every day, and perhaps parks, schools and other public buildings, too.

So how do your local and county government agencies get things up and running again? It’s a little thing called the State Disaster Contingency Account.

Learn about it in the latest DPS blog.​