Homeland security has become a national priority, with programs at the national, state, and local levels being pursued to increase the safety and security of U.S. communities. This article describes issues of volunteerism and mechanisms for involvement, using the case example of the AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) program. Based on research carried out by Westat on the behalf of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the study suggested that avenues for harnessing volunteers effectively may exist, and that programs such as the AmeriCorps*NCCC are well positioned to leverage existing community efforts. Further, these programs can make significant contributions to homeland security activities in American communities. Most notably, AmeriCorps*NCCC appears to have the ability to help communities jump-start disaster preparedness efforts and begin to make them safer and better prepared for both natural and human-induced disasters. Further research, however, is needed to assess the longer term efficacy of these preparedness efforts.
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Simpson et al. (2004) studied this question.