The Enhancing Neighborhood & Community Preparedness (ENCP) Program gives neighborhoods and communities an opportunity to independently organize and achieve whole-community preparedness. Through 5 simple steps, neighborhoods and communities can self-organize to help foster a more prepared environment at home!

The 5 Steps

1. Define Your Area: Identify a manageable area in your neighborhood or community that you can organize with relative ease.
2. Recruit Leaders: Develop a team of leaders who can help build preparedness and carry out emergency support activities when needed.
3. Scope Your Area: Get to know the lay of the land: what resources your neighborhood and community has, what the landscape is, and disasters or other emergencies common to your area.
4. Engage Your Neighbors: Find out who lives in your area, how they can help in a disaster, and who may need extra help.
5. Create Your Plan: Create a plan that outlines what your neighborhood will do before, during, and after a disaster!

Scope of the Program

Please note that this is a neighborhood and community led effort for self-defined areas. The expectation is for the development and maintenance of these groups to be a grassroots effort. The Prince William County Office of Emergency Management will not be the lead in developing neighborhood and community led groups.

What the Office of Emergency Management will offer is the availability of program materials online that neighborhood and community leaders can download and use to facilitate the process and build your neighborhood and community’s preparedness!

Timeline of the Program

Late September 2026 – Initial launch of the ENCP program with basic information.

Fall/Winter 2026 – Development of additional documentation and resources.

January 2027 – Full launch of the ENCP program with additional resources.