IEM Empowers the Emergency Preparedness Intelligence of Young Women by Sponsoring HERricane

At IEM, we believe in the importance of a talented and diverse workforce, representing the best America has to offer.  That is why we’re proud to support programs that support the next generation of emergency managers and leaders in disaster recovery.  Recently, IEM sponsored a unique program to introduce emergency preparedness to young women. HERricane is designed to encourage young women, ages 13-17, to explore careers in emergency management and allied fields.

Campers learned about the Incident Command System (ICS) and how to manage disasters as they scale up and down through Florida State University’s “Ops Center” simulation. (Photo via IEM employees)
On the second day of camp, ladies went through CPR training. (Photo via Walton County Emergency Management Facebook)

As of 2014, women occupied only 34% of emergency management staff jobs, and only 8% of those employed held director-level positions within the field.  HERricane empowers women as leaders in their community while also highlighting emergency management as a potential career track. The Arlington Department of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management created HERricane Arlington in 2017. Arlington partnered with the state of Florida to support HERricane’s landfall in Leon County June 2018 and its landfall in Walton County June 2019.

A disaster cooking competition took place using Meals Ready-to-Eat (MREs). (Photo via Walton County Emergency Management Facebook)
Fire extinguisher training gets checked off the list. (Photo via Walton County Emergency Management Facebook)
Campers also had the opportunity to learn about the use of drones in disaster as well as test out their flying skills! (Photo via IEM employees)

As the largest woman-owned homeland security and emergency management firm in the world, IEM is proud to support HERricane, having sponsored HERricane Arlington and both landfall sites for HERricane Florida. IEM exists today because a woman believed she could, so she did. IEM CEO, Madhu Beriwal, founded IEM in 1985; her innovation in this field has been recognized through her induction into the International Women in Homeland Security and Emergency Hall of Fame as well as having been named an Enterprising Women of the Year by Enterprising Women Magazine. IEM looks forward to continuing its partnership with HERricane and supporting the program’s expansion for years to come.