COVID-19 Case Study : Public-Private Partnerships in Maryland
after disasters ( Center for Health and Homeland Security 2012 ). The 2008 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program ( RCPGP ) enabled state emergency management agencies across the nation to build statewide P3 programs that prepare businesses for all-hazard emergencies and catastrophic events ( Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program 2012 ). This movement was bolstered by the issuance of a strategic framework for a Whole Community Approach broadly disseminated by FEMA in December 2011 . Among other elements , the framework provided tools to empower local action and to leverage and strengthen social infrastructure , networks and assets ( FEMA , 2011 ).
In alignment with MEMA ’ s mission , officials formalized the PSIP Program under the agency ’ s External Outreach Branch to support , coordinate , and collaborate with the private sector across the State . It was intended to ensure that public-private partnerships were established and maintained before a disaster , rather than just during disaster operations . MEMA staff firmly believed that operational actions could not be conducted without pre-established relationships .
At present , a Private Sector Liaison at MEMA leads the program and is the main point of contact for the relationship between the private and public sectors . The Private Sector Liaison coordinates and manages two distinct operating divisions of the program : 1 ) ongoing engagement , and 2 ) emergency response activation . Ongoing engagement responsibilities include outreach and active recruitment , stakeholder engagement , partnership development , information sharing , training and exercise coordination , planning and mitigation , and emergency alert notifications . Emergency response activation includes the operationalization of the responsibilities during engagement to respond to an immediate threat and recover from an emergency or disaster .
To effectively serve Maryland businesses and be aligned with MEMA ’ s 2019 vision “ To Shape a Resilient Maryland Where Communities Thrive ” ( Maryland Emergency Management Agency 2019 ), the current vision of the PSIP program is “ A more resilient Maryland with the private sector playing a more inclusive role in emergency management .” Since 2019 , the PSIP program has focused on providing the necessary tools and services to the Maryland private sector community to ensure their resilience . The Maryland Business Emergency Operations Center ( MBEOC ), the operational component of PSIP , planned and implemented strategic activities that were crucial to its ability to respond to the needs of the private sector during the COVID-19 pandemic . These included : 1 ) prioritizing resource allocations that ensure the PSIP is aligned with strategic agency and statewide missions ; 2 ) revisiting the PSIP product offerings to be aligned with membership needs ; and 3 ) growing the membership and partnerships with the private sector in Maryland .
Leading into 2020 , the PSIP program ’ s focus was to revise product offerings to align with membership needs . These goals included : 1 ) identifying the role of
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