IEMA Announces Joliet Junior College Attains ‘Ready to Respond Campus' Designation

SPRINGFIELD - Joliet Junior College (JJC) in Joliet was recognized Tuesday evening by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) for achieving the Ready to Respond Campus designation after completing the program's rigorous campus safety criteria.

The Ready to Respond Campus program aims to enhance campus safety through a comprehensive, community-based preparedness and response effort, including public safety, campus administration, faculty and students. Six college campuses have received the designation since the program began in 2013. Participation in the program is voluntary and open to all institutions of higher education in Illinois.

"All campuses have emergency response plans. Ready to Respond campuses take preparedness and response to a higher level by meeting the program's rigorous criteria," said IEMA Director James K. Joseph. "I applaud Joliet Junior College officials for tackling these challenging standards and becoming only the sixth campus in Illinois to achieve this designation."

To achieve Ready to Respond Campus status, a college or university must meet criteria that address hazard identification, risk assessment and/or consequence analysis, operational planning, incident management, training and exercise. In addition, the campus must develop and maintain a violence prevention plan and implement a campus outreach and education campaign.