Emergency managers focus on preparation for potential emergencies, disasters, and catastrophic events and coordinating the responses to those events. Emergency managers are the experts in the field of emergency management, and as experts, they are often called upon to provide information and advice to policy makers, such as city managers, city councils, police chiefs and their staffs, fire chiefs and their staffs, and private-sector stakeholders.

You are an emergency manager in a medium-sized city, and you have been asked by your city manager to provide the city council with some important information that will better facilitate its decision making on seeking and accepting state and federal grants, many of which have matching funds. However, many members of the city council are very concerned about the possible loss of local control that they believe may result if the city accepts outside funding.

Assignment Guidelines

Address the following in 2-3 pages:

• Who holds the most authority and responsibility in emergency management? Why?
• What is the primary purpose of the state and federal levels in regard to emergency management responses? Explain.
• What is the role of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in regard to emergency management responses? Explain.
• What is the role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in regard to emergency management responses? Explain.
• Provide and describe 2–3 examples of federal, state, local, and private integration efforts, and explain why they were successful in their emergency responses.
• Be sure to reference all of your sources using APA style.