Smart Home America. Smarter, Safer, more Resilient Communities for all Americans

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1 Smart Home America Smarter, Safer, more Resilient Communities for all Americans

2 Smart Home America Smarter, Safer, more Resilient Communities for all Americans Smart Home America is a 501.c.3 charitable organization dedicated to strengthening America by making our communities more resilient. Smart Home America Educates as a central, unbiased source of information on building code, building technology and construction and retrofit standards for homeowners, insurers, homebuilders and local community governments. Smart Home America Facilitates better building standards and practices by bringing together organizations and individuals for information exchange. Smart Home America Collaborates with communities, faith-based organizations, insurers, federal, state and local authorities in order to realize better constructed homes. Smart Home America Partners in real-world construction and retrofit projects in order to leverage our relationships and resources to realize safer, smarter, more resilient homes to all Americans. Our Core Values Get involved Nationally Make a Difference Locally!

3 How We Started: The seed of Smart Home America was to alleviate the suffering and human impact that resulted from the collapse of the residential insurance market on the Gulf Coast following Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. As that seed began to grow, Smart Home America became acutely aware of the bigger picture and that the ability to create stronger, more resilient communities exists. There is a need to create awareness in all segments of society on the benefits of building safer and smarter. Smart Home America is now an Alabama-based 501.c.3, non-profit, grassroots organization looking to help individuals, families, communities and businesses. Based on our efforts Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County, Alabama has committed to build all new houses to the IBHS FORTIFIED Gold Standard. What We Do: Educate To increase awareness in the community at large of the benefits of stronger construction and mitigation, funding opportunities, resources in the community and new technologies Facilitate To provide technical assistance, product and program expertise related to IBHS FORTIFIED construction and mitigation. Connecting people to funding opportunities, resources in the community and new technologies. Collaborate To creates an environment for sharing expertise, for planning and for development related to the processes involved in building strong homes, communities, and relationships. Partner To form working relationships designed to foster cooperation and take advantage of the synergy of working in unison. Leverage relationships to present a broader resource front.

4 Smart Home America Education Programs The objective of all of our education programs is to increase awareness in the community at large of the benefits of IBHS FORTIFIED construction, hazard mitigation, funding opportunities, new technologies and other resources. At the state and national level, we educate lawmakers and other stakeholders on the urgent need for more resilient and energy efficient homes. At the local level, we educate local communities and individual homeowners on the leading edge technology and funding sources available for their local hazard profile. Past Education Activities Include: Holding regular community group meetings and presenting to small groups with local sponsorship. Hosting big-picture stakeholder meetings-- bringing together contractors, architects, realtors, insurance agents, politicians and code officials. Conducting a conference offering exhibitors, break-out session presentations and our reporting on mitigation activities. Establishing a website to provide access to information pertinent to building stronger and more resilient communities. Developing IBHS FORTIFIED construction courses for professionals in related occupations. Offering professional and technical assistance to stakeholders. Smart Home America stands committed to education at every level and for every stakeholder in the process of building multihazard resilient and more energy-efficient communities. Get started today with our Builder or Home Owner Education Pack! [Type sidebar title] (This) two-story house on a 110-frontfoot lot on Ono's Old River is owned by a Dothan couple. It was designed by Miami architect Robert Swedroe, and engineered to be fortified by Scott Sundberg of Pass Christian, Miss. Sundberg, a structural engineer, helped design and draft the fortified program, according to Carl Schneider of Schneider Insurance Agency in Mobile. "His house," said Schneider, "was the only one left standing in Pass Christian after Hurricane Katrina." -Mobile Press Register, May 5, Education

5 Educational Resources Working in partnership with the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, Smart Home America provides access to Homeowner How To Videos, printed fliers, television programs and short films along with the Homeowners Insurance Guide to Natural Disasters. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety's suite of FORTIFIED programs offers training for builders, home owners and insurers. Contact Smart Home America today for more information about bringing this important expertise to your community. Working with the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), Smart Home America helps communities prepare tailored information packets for builders and residents.

6 Smart Home America Facilitation & Collaboration Programs The objective of the Smart Home America facilitation activities is to assist civic groups and other stakeholders in their efforts to communicate the stronger community concepts to their particular audiences. Smart Home America collaboration activities create an environment for sharing experiences, planning and development related to the processes of building stronger, more energy-efficient communities. Past Facilitation Activities Include: Providing speakers to groups for their meetings from our national speaker s bureau. Maintaining and making available a store of materials from local, regional and national entities for use by local groups. Offering informal information sharing and consultation opportunities to interested parties. Maintaining a database of organizations and individuals interested in participating in local promotion of stronger communities. Past Collaboration Activities Include: Smart Home with Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County, Alabama brought several private and public sector groups together to accomplish IBHS FORTIFIED homes in Baldwin County, Alabama. Working with faith-based, civic and other community groups to conduct workshops and training on the mental impact of a catastrophe and the need to manage that impact. Establishing a consortium invested in stronger, more energy-efficient communities as a common goal. This consortium will pursue larger grant opportunities for the benefit of the member groups who may not have the means to pursue larger grant opportunities alone. Taking a leadership role in fostering the projects of other stakeholders such as working with officials in Baldwin County, Alabama to create uniform codes and uniform enforcement programs. Brought a group of local leaders building inspectors and code officials to the IBHS testing facility for demonstrations of the benefits of stronger construction methods. Facilitation and Collaboration

7 Facilitation and Collaboration

8 Smart Home America: Partnership Making It Happen. The objective of all of the Smart Home America Partnership Activities is to take advantage of synergistic working relationships among various stakeholders in order to effect real change in local communities. While not involved in physical construction activities, we work with those who are. Smart Home America is committed to bringing all its resources to bear in the cause of actual change in the local community whether through construction to new building standards or retrofit for existing homes. Past Partnership Activities Include: Partnering with members of the insurance industry resulting in funding for specific construction projects. Establishing partners who can be contributors in kind of materials, labor and expertise. Establishing and maintaining strong partner relationships with regional and national organizations that share the mission of bringing Smarter, Safer, More Resilient homes to all Americans. Some of these partner organizations are: Institute of Business and Home Safety (IBHS), the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH), Rebuild Northwest Florida and similar organizations. See our webpage for an up to date list of our active partnerships. [Type sidebar title] Darius Grimes (of Smart Home America) did a report on the home of Anita Cannon, shown above, and her mother, Flora. The house in Spanish Fort, Alabama will get a new roof and other upgrades to earn a FORTIFIED for existing homes designation that will cut the Cannon's insurance costs by half. (Press- Register/John David Mercer) Partnership: Making It Happen The Smart Home America Board of Directors: Dave Treutel, Chairman Alex Cary, Vice-Chair Carl Schneider, Secretary Gina Mckellar, Lynn Perry, Steve Simkins, Mike Saxon

9 Partnership: Making It Happen Leadership Partners Alabama Mississippi Sea Grant Consortium State Farm Insurance Travelers Insurance SafeCo Insurance National Partners Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) State Farm insurance Companies International Code Council (ICC) State Partners Alabama Insurance Commissioner Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Alabama Power Alabama Independent Insurance Association Alabama Insurance Underwriters Association Alabama Department of Insurance Mississippi Department of Insurance Mississippi Gulf Coast Business Council Community Partners Habitat for Humanity, Baldwin County City of Fairhope, Al Distinctive Products InterWrap Gulf Coast Poured Concrete Mark Taylor Web Design PGT Industries Folkers Windows Mitsubishi Euro Shield Roofing Foam Seal America Astro Guard Storm Protection Insul Deck QUADLock Building Systems HARDIE Siding Co Portland Cement Assoc. W.H. York Consulting Simpson Strong Tie Regional Partners Alabama Mississippi Sea Grant Consortium Coastal Alabama Leadership Council WKRG- TV5 Mobile Press Register City of Orange Beach, Al City of Gulf Shores, Al Code Officials of Lower Alabama Resource Partners Disaster Smart Consulting Martin Pitts Engineering Wayne Dalton Academic Partners University of Southern Mississippi Auburn University University of Alabama Chatham House Design

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11 Sponsorship Program Get Involved Today! Sponsorship Benefits of Sponsorship As a 501.c.3 organization, Smart Home America depends upon our sponsors in order to provide all Americans with smarter, safer, more resilient homes. In difficult economic times, our mission is more important than ever. Our sponsors ensure that the important work of strengthening our communities can continue even as homeowners struggle financially. Sponsorship allows organizations to demonstrate their commitment to the resilient community movement. Sponsorship Levels Our commitment to all Americans regardless of their ability to pay extends to our sponsorship program. We offer the individuals and small businesses sponsorship programs that are within reach of any budget. Sponsors small and large participate in our social media and communications network and all are eligible for joint grant application opportunity through our Bronze and Silver sponsorship programs. We are happy to take contributions-in-kind from sponsors who can donate time, expertise or materials to our many projects. Our premier Gold and Platinum programs allow our sponsors to co-brand with Smart Home America in order to convey an organization s deep commitment to IBHS FORTIFIED. Bronze Silver Gold Platinum Registration in our Social Media network. Advanced notice of project and grant opportunities. Sponsor name and logo listed as a partner in our publications. Following verification by our staff, use of the Home Smart America logo on sponsor s webpage and printed materials. Web link to sponsor in our services matching database. Joint-release of press communications related to underwritten activities through print, web, radio and television media.