September 7, 2018
MEDIA RELEASE
CONTACT: Lindsey Baker / director@patapsco.org /410.696.1328
Executive Director, Patapsco Heritage Greenway
October 10 Emergency Preparedness Workshop
The Ellicott City Partnership, Visit Howard County, and Patapsco Heritage Greenway will host an Emergency Preparedness Workshop on October 10, 2018 @10:30AM. This event is free and open to the public and will be held at St. Paul’s Church, 3755 Saint Paul Street, Ellicott City, MD 21043. Registration is required: https://goo.gl/3UTUru
This workshop is an opportunity for participants to improve their readiness for future flooding and hazardous events. Speakers will cover individual, family, and business preparedness as well as understanding your buildings vulnerability to flood hazards and what you can do to potentially reduce the risk of flood damage. Jen Sparenberg, Environmental Specialist with the Maryland Environmental Service and Maria Bernadzikowski, an Emergency Management Specialist II at the Howard County, MD Office of Emergency Management (OEM) will lead the workshop.
“Patapsco Heritage Greenway is pleased to be able to partner with ECP and Visit Howard County for a timely workshop that we believe will respond to an urgent need in our community: Emergency Preparedness. We know many of the participants will be all too familiar with this topic and we hope we can contribute to everyone’s efforts on preparing ourselves for the future” says Lindsey Baker, Executive Director of Patapsco Heritage Greenway.
The event will start at 10:30AM with presentations from the speakers, Jen Sparenberg and Maria Bernadzikowski. Participants will break for lunch, provided by Little Market Cafe. Following lunch, participants will be guided by the speakers in starting to create their own Emergency Plans by using the tools from Ready HoCo.
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Additional Background:
- For more information about Visit Howard County visit https://www.visithowardcounty.com/
- For more information about the Patapsco Heritage Greenway visit patapsco.org
- For more information about the Ellicott City Partnership visit http://visitoldellicottcity.com/ec-partnership/
- For more information about Ready HoCO visit https://www.howardcountymd.gov/Departments/Fire-and-Rescue/Office-Of-Emergency-Management/ReadyHoCo
- For speaker bios, click here.
Speaker Bios:
Jennifer Sparenberg, CFM is an Environmental Specialist with the Maryland Environmental Service. Prior to joining MES, Ms. Sparenberg was the Hazard Mitigation Officer for the Maryland Historical Trust. She is developed and implemented MHT’s Cultural Resources Hazard Mitigation Program, which is aimed at protecting historic places, archaeological sites, and cultural landscapes from the effects of natural hazards and the effects of climate change. Through the program, Ms. Sparenberg raised awareness of the vulnerability of cultural resources to flooding and other hazards and encouraged local governments to include cultural resources in their local hazard mitigation plans and projects.
Prior to her work with the State of Maryland, Ms. Sparenberg worked in the private sector as an Environmental Planner. Her work focused on hazard mitigation planning and post-disaster recovery planning. Ms. Sparenberg holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and a Master of Arts in Historic Preservation from Goucher College.
Maria Bernadzikowski is an Emergency Management Specialist II at the Howard County, MD Office of Emergency Management (OEM). In November 2016, Maria was hired by the Center for Health and Homeland Security to assist Howard County OEM with the Ellicott City Flood recovery. She became the Recovery Coordinator shortly thereafter, and in 2017 launched OEM’s Outreach Program: Ready HoCo. She became a County employee in April 2018 and now manages OEM’s outreach, COOP, and COG programs. Ms. Bernadzikowski is a graduate of St. John’s University (BA) and Tulane’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, where she earned a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Disaster Management. Ms. Bernadzikowski has worked on establishing community outreach programs, preparedness and recovery plans, exercise and training, and volunteer programs throughout Queens, NY, Fairfax, Virginia, New Orleans, Louisiana, Léogâne, and Port au Prince, Haiti. She specializes in outreach to individuals with access and functional needs.