DHS Leadership To Participate in United We Serve

WASHINGTON—Answering President Obama’s call to service, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano will be joined by Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate on Monday volunteering their time and efforts to promote service across the country. The President’s 81-day summer service initiative, United We Serve, challenges all citizens to get involved in their communities and start building a better future for the nation.

“Volunteerism strengthens a community’s capacity to meet challenges,” said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. “President Obama’s call for service—today and everyday—plays a critical role in our efforts to prepare and protect the nation.”

Secretary Napolitano will help jumpstart community readiness in Orlando, Fla., where she will work with local members of the FEMA Citizens Corps to help prepare their neighborhoods and communities for successful emergency response and recovery.

Deputy Secretary Lute will lead a citizenship class at the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights (NMCIR) in New York, where immigrants from around the world come to learn English, learn about America and prepare to become U.S. citizens.

Administrator Fugate will discuss the importance of service at a roundtable in Denver with Americans who have made President Obama’s challenge central to their daily lives, including firefighters as well as volunteers from FEMA’s Fire Corps and CERT programs—two entities that train people to assist and become first responders.

United We Serve will culminate with a National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11, 2009. This milestone will provide an opportunity to recognize the summer’s accomplishments, honor those who died on September 11, 2001, and encourage Americans to make an ongoing commitment to service.