EDITORIAL COMMENT: The officers of PAVOAD and the editors of this Update are doing our best to bring you the best and most up-to-date information available about meetings, training, and much more. Please verify that trainings, etc. you would like to attend are still being held and send us an email at pavoad4@gmail.com if you find we need to make corrections. Thanks!
🔵🔵 The NEPA Task Force Against Human Trafficking, in partnership with Safe Monroe, invites you to a free, full day professional training: Building a United Front Against Human Trafficking– on Thursday, January 22, 2026, from 8 AM – 3:30 PM at the Northampton Community College – Pocono Campus. This training is designed to equip professionals across all sectors with the knowledge and tools to recognize, prevent, and respond to human trafficking in our communities. Lunch is provided courtesy of Monroe County District Attorney’s office. Continuing education credits are available. For more information: Jennifer Kosakevitch, Task Force Consultant at jkosakevitch@gmail.com. Register.
🔵🔵 AWR-348 – Bombing Prevention Awareness will be held at the Northampton County Emergency Management Services, 100 Gracedale Avenue, Nazareth, PA on Thursday, January 22, 2026, from 8 AM to 4 PM ET. The Bombing Prevention Awareness course provides an overview of IEDs and explosive effects, homemade explosives, an introduction to the terrorist attack cycle, and response to suspicious behaviors and items. This basic awareness is used to enhance bombing prevention measures. Online registration will be completed through the FEMA Center for Domestic Preparedness. Students require a FEMA Student Identification (SID) number to register. Students may register for a FEMA Student ID at https://cdp.dhs.gov/femasid/register. Learn more. Register for the class.🔵🔵 The American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) will hold their next Non-Profit Logistics Forum on Thursday, January 22, 2026, at 4:00 pm ET. The theme will be Logistics Ready. With the right set of knowledge, tools, relationships, and plans, organizations can be ready and equipped to respond when called on. This call will focus on becoming Logistics Ready as we start a new year with new challenges to overcome. Please register here.
🔵🔵The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Region 3 (District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia) invites you to join a two-hour security webinar to enhance your organization’s resilience in case of an active shooter incident. The virtual event will be held on February 18, 2026, from 1 – 3 PM ET. Preparing employees for a potential active shooter event is an integral component of an organization’s incident response planning. Because these incidents are frequently unpredictable and can escalate rapidly, preparing for and knowing what to do in an active shooter situation can be lifesaving. Every second counts. Registration Is free. Register Here. Closes no later than February 17, 2026, at noon. For information and resources visit: www.cisa.gov/active-shooter-preparedness. Learn more.
🔵🔵The Youth Advisory Committee of the Luzerne Foundation is hosting a Poverty Simulation on Sunday, February 22, 2026, from 5 – 7 PM ET, at the Friedman JCC, 613 S J Strauss Lane, Kingston, PA 18704. The goal is to gather at least 80 members from the community, high school aged and older, to participate. When: Sunday, February 22, 2026, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM ET. Where: Friedman JCC, 613 S J Strauss Lane, Kingston, PA 18704. This event is free for all participants, but registration is required. Pizza and Beverages will be provided. Participating Organizations and/or volunteers should notify jessica@luzfdn.org by February 6th, 2026 with their interest to participate.
🔵🔵AWR 209: Working with The Media: A Course for Rural First Responders will be presented on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, from 8 AM to 5 PM ET, at the Northampton County EOC, 100 Gracedale Avenue, Nazareth, PA 18064. Registration deadline is February 10, 2026 at 5 PM ET. AWR 209 is a DHS/FEMA-certified, tuition-free course designed to provide rural first responders with the skills and knowledge to quickly adopt the role of public information officer (PIO) if/when needed and to communicate with the public through the media. Many rural first responder organizations do not have a full or part-time PIO on staff. Therefore, in the event that a first responder is thrust into the role of PIO, whether it be roadside at the scene of an emergency or detailing directions to the public in a crisis situation, it is important to understand how the media works and how to work with the available media outlets. Registration is required here. Students may register for a FEMA Student ID at https://cdp.dhs.gov/femasid.
🔵🔵MGT 335: Event Security Planning for Public Safety Professionals will be presented on February 25 and 26, 2026, at the Lehigh County Joint Operations Center Training Room, 4300 Broadway, Allentown, PA, from 8 AM to 5 PM ET. Lunch will be provided both days. MGT 335 is a DHS/FEMA-certified, tuition-free, 16-hour course designed to educate small and rural community public safety personnel, as well as local officials, regarding security concerns and considerations involved with planning any event. This course enables participants to recognize and plan adequate strategies and security measures to prevent or mitigate security incidents which may occur during scheduled events. This course reinforces the importance and magnitude of security planning required to execute a safe and effective event regardless of the size. Students require a FEMA Student Identification (SID) number to register. Students may register for a FEMA Student ID at https://cdp.dhs.gov/femasid/register. Register.
🔵🔵The National Disaster and Emergency Management University (NDEMU) is accepting registrations for training courses this quarter at NETC in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Of interest to the readers of the PAVOAD Update might be K0289 State Volunteer and Donation Management 3/16-20/2026 Virtual You can view the complete first quarter offerings here. For more information: Follow National Disaster Emergency Management University on LinkedIn. Email questions to NETCAdmissions@fema.dhs.gov. Review NDEMU training announcements and updates. Subscribe to the NDEMU Training Opportunities and Bulletins newsletter.
🔵🔵The National VOAD Community Preparedness Committee will present the webinar, “How to Establish a CERT for your Organization,” on Tuesday, March 17, 2025, from 7 – 8:30 PM ET. Don Sowers, Tennessee CERT coordinator, will describe the process of starting a CERT program in your organizations.
🔵🔵🆕AWR 230: Response to Bombing Incidents and AWR 231: Prevention of Bombing Incidents will be presented in Nazareth, PA on March 19, 2026, from 8 AM to 4 PM ET. These are 2, 4-hour classes run on the same day. Lunch will be provided. The Response to Bombing Incidents, Residential (RBI) course trains emergency personnel of all disciplines to respond to the growing number of bombing incidents across the United States. This course guides participants through bombing response challenges, bombing threat response considerations, including evaluating threats when making evacuation vs. shelter-in-place decisions, and response priorities following the immediate aftermath of a bombing. The Prevention of Bombing Incidents course is designed to provide emergency first responders with the skills to help in the prevention of criminal and terrorist bombing incidents as well as adding awareness to threats and trending ideologies. Participants will develop skills on how to prevent, deter, and mitigate the effects of a bomber through the implementation of countermeasures and defensive concepts. You only need to register once for both events. To Register send the following to cas@norcopa.gov: Name- Email- Cell number (only for last minute notifications)- Department/Organization
🔵🔵New Mexico Tech will present the in-person course, Drone Assessment and Response Tactics.
- 4/22/26–Luzerne County EMA Building 185 Water St. Wilkes Barre Pa. 18702
- 4/23/26–Monroe EMA 100 Gypsum Rd Stroudsburg Pa. 18360
The DART course provides emergency personnel with the knowledge and skills necessary to detect, identify, track, assess, respond, and report Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) activity. Time: 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. There is no cost to the participants for this training. The Task Force will provide the noon meal at no cost to participants. You must be a US citizen over 18 to attend. To register send an email to cas@norcopa.gov with the following information: Name- email- contact telephone number-will not be posted- only for last minute notifications. – Department – The session you would like to attend. Identify by location on registration application
🔵🔵The Salvation Army has recently launched new Emergency Disaster Services training courses that are designed to equip faith and community leaders with tools to build stronger, connected communities, fostering resilience and empowering service. These free courses are self-paced and available in both English and Spanish. Read a press release here and access the training website here!
🔵🔵The Lehigh Emergency Services Training Academy (LESTA) was established to coordinate the delivery of training to all fire and rescue services, EMS and Law Enforcement within Lehigh County, PA. Through partnerships with several public safety training organizations, LESTA seeks to provide high-quality programs for firefighters and rescue personnel and is committed to meeting the training needs of all first responders in Lehigh County. Out of county students: It is LESTA’s policy not to turn away out of county students if in-county (LEHIGH) students are given priority. Read the latest Training Newsletter.
🔵🔵 AWR-423-W: Mass Care Shelter and Relocation Communication (Web based) is available on TRAIN. The estimated time of completion is 1.5 hours. This web-based course provides participants with an understanding of messaging for shelter and evacuation operations and reviews at-risk populations and messaging for the whole community. By the end of the course participants will be able to fulfill the following learning objectives:
- Identify multiple effective communication strategies for individuals and households about where to find information on evacuation and shelters.
- Identify the ways in which age- and culturally-appropriate warning and notification systems, evacuation protocols, and coordinating services for at-risk individuals are developed and disseminated in multiple platforms and multilingual, multicultural formats.
- Compare messaging approaches that can differ between jurisdictions and subpopulations
Access the course via TRAIN.
🔵🔵 The Lakeside Global Institute is a collegiate-style professional development training. The training both nurtures and supports individuals to grow in self-awareness while learning research-based information in many fields of study. Trainings sponsored by The CHG Charitable Trust beginning January 2026 are now open for registration. Learn more about the Intensive Courses and Workshops.
🔵🔵 PEMA is providing the in-person course L-105 Public Information Basics (BPIO) at various sites throughout 2026. Click this link to learn more on Train PA! Prerequisites: IS-29 Public Information Officer Awareness Click here is see the listing of sites and other information.
🔵🔵 You can access the Bucks County Community College’s Training Catalog here.
🔵🔵 You can view the Lehigh County Emergency Services training schedule here.