C-CERT Campus Community Emergency Response Team

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q.	Where do you get your funding for the C-CERT Train-the-Trainer program?
A.	Effective October 1, 2005, MSU was awarded a two-year, competitive training grant for $1,539,461 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Grants & Training (currently organized as Training Exercise Integration-Training Operations Division or TEI-TO) to develop and deliver the C-CERT program. It is designated in the federal grant management system as Award #2005-T5-K012. The project was awarded a no-cost extension until Sept. 30, 2008, and may be extended or renewed if there is ongoing demand for the program and funding is available.
Q.	What is the cost to attend the C-CERT Train-the-Trainer program?
A.	This program is offered at no cost in terms of tuition or registration fees. Continental breakfasts, coffee service, lunches and afternoon break refreshments are provided at no cost through the grant. However, the grant does not cover reimbursement for travel, lodging or per diem. In some states, the state administrative agency (SAA) for homeland security grants or the state’s Citizen Corps/CERT program may be able to provide reimbursement of eligible travel costs for this DHS-approved course. Please check the policy in your state.
Q.	Will I be a “certified” CERT trainer if I complete this C-CERT program?
A.	Trainees who successfully complete all three days of the C-CERT Train-the-Trainer program will receive a Certificate of Completion, and should have the necessary skills and tools to conduct CERT training. The program does not, however, convey any professional certification, licensing, or credentialing as a CERT instructor. At this time, DHS-Citizen Corps does not yet have such a system of standards or criteria developed for formal CERT instructor certification. However, DHS has awarded a contract to a vendor to develop a national standard CERT Train-the-Trainer curriculum along with other deliverables.
Q.	Will I be qualified to teach CERT to other groups outside the college campus environment if I complete this program?
A.	According to the national CERT director, someone who completes this Campus CERT TTT successfully should be qualified and able to train, or assist with training, CERT to almost any other group. However, some states have adopted more restrictive standards. Please consult the Citizen Corps/CERT director for your state.
Q.	I don’t have any experience as a police officer, firefighter, or EMT. Even after I complete this C-CERT TTT, I won’t have the confidence or competence to train people in many of the skill areas included in the standard CERT curriculum. Is it really worthwhile for me to attend?
A.	This is a common concern. However, the guidance of the national CERT program, and our approach, is to encourage CERT trainers to use local subject matter experts—professionals from the various public safety disciplines, from the American Red Cross, or other agencies—to assist them in teaching any units that the primary trainer is not confident about teaching. The CERT trainer needs to provide those “adjunct faculty” with the course content and objectives, and monitor to ensure that they keep to the CERT curriculum. It is not expected or even advisable that an individual CERT trainer should personally teach every unit in the curriculum.
Q.	I know that I’ll be issued a C-CERT backpack with PPE equipment in the class, but when I go back to my institution to start a Campus CERT team, it will be too costly to purchase the backpacks and equipment for my team. Can this grant help?
A.	Yes. Under the grant, MSU has a purchase order with a major national vendor, Pro-Pac, for the C-CERT backpacks and select PPE equipment. Using this P.O., MSU will order and ship a small allocation of 24 C-CERT backpacks to each school that participates in the C-CERT TTT program (Sorry, only one allocation per school, regardless of how many personnel attend!). This allocation should help offset some of the start-up costs for equipping a new Campus CERT team. If a school wants and needs more backpacks, they may obtain additional units from Pro-Pac at low volume pricing. You may also order different equipment items to customize the packs for your needs, although this may affect the cost somewhat.
Q.	Will you provide me with CERT Participant Manuals to train my Campus CERT team through this grant?
A.	No. Everyone who attends our C-CERT TTT program will be issued one copy of the standard CERT Instructor Guide and a copy of our new Campus Annex to the Instructor Guide. The complete CERT Participant Manual, along with PowerPoint slides and video-clip visual aids, are available for downloading from the CERT Web site. The cost of printing or duplicating the Participant Manuals should be a relatively modest cost which most schools can absorb as a matching investment. If not, the Campus Annex and C-CERT Web site offer ideas for seeking other funds to help with Campus CERT training and equipment. These include seeking other federal or state grants, alumni donations, foundation grants, or conducting special fund-raising activities and projects on campus.
Q.	Can we send students to this C-CERT Train-the-Trainer program?
A.	The focus of this grant is to train C-CERT trainers—campus personnel, or local public safety officials who serve college campuses in their jurisdiction—who will go back and train Campus CERT teams, or teach CERT as a college course for credit or for continuing adult education. It is not designed to teach basic CERT to prospective Campus CERT team members. Basic CERT courses are widely available from other sources around the country.
Q.	Why doesn’t this grant help pay for personnel or overtime costs associated with implementing and administering Campus CERT teams?
A.	The purpose of this grant is to provide C-CERT trainers with the skills and resources needed to go back to their institutions and recruit, train, and lead Campus CERT teams. Presumably, most C-CERT trainers and supervisors will be current campus personnel or local public safety personnel. To make this program truly sustainable so that it would not disappear once the grant funding runs out (as it will!), each participating institution must make a matching investment in administrative time, or rely on help from volunteers. It is simply not within the scope, purpose or ability of this grant to provide reimbursement for full or part-time personnel to administer Campus CERT teams, or for contracting with CERT instructors.
Q.	What other resources will be made available through this grant to assist my institution with implementing Campus CERT?
A.	A variety of other resources will be made available through the C-CERT Web site at www.c-cert.msu.edu, and through the DHS-FEMA, Citizen Corps, and CERT Web sites. These resources will include: PDF version of the Campus Annex to the CERT Instructor Guide a test bank of objective (i.e., multiple-choice, true-false) CERT test items that trainers may draw from to design tests for their CERT classes sample syllabi for teaching CERT as an academic course for credit or as a noncredit adult education course for CEUs links to useful Web sites and official documents links to articles, papers, reports, training opportunities, best practices and lessons learned about Campus CERT supplementary or specialized C-CERT modules such as using Campus CERT teams for crowd management or traffic control, fire alarms, building evacuations, etc. templates for drills, tabletop exercises and other activities relating to Campus CERT scenarios or issues

This project is supported by Cooperative Agreement Number 2005-GT-T5-K012 administered by the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Grants & Training. Points of view or opinions in this document
do not necessarily represent the official policies or positions of the United States Government.