Affiliated Team Volunteers (ATVs)

An Affiliated Team Volunteer ("ATV") is a volunteer who associates with and is assigned to a Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) but does not possess full "Active" NET volunteer status. They are not deployed or indemnified by the City of Portland, though they have a profile in the NET volunteer database. ATVs appear on NET rosters only as prospective resources for an earthquake response. They are not required to log volunteer hours (though encouraged to do so) or meet the Minimum Service Contribution.

Volunteers join their local NET as ATVs from being either:

1. An active NET who wishes to step back their involvement but not leave the team entirely; or,
2. A neighbor who resides in a NET's Service Area and wants to help the team, but has not completed Basic NET training.

PBEM originated the ATV status as a solution to two problems:

1. It offers exiting NET volunteers an alternative to separating from the NET program completely. If a NET volunteer is unable to meet/uninterested in meeting their Minimum Service Contribution but would like to remain a part of their local team, they can do so as an ATV. ATV status is an alternative to making a NET volunteer "Inactive" and completely discharging them from the program.
2. It encourages non-NET neighbors to volunteer with their local NET team by giving them a status in the program. A neighbor may be interested in disaster response activities with their community and want to plan ahead, but do not have the time and/or inclination to complete Basic NET training. Becoming an ATV gives them a team role to fill by declaring a VSF (e.g. radio operator) and makes them more ready to participate with a NET team than a spontaneous volunteer (SUV) would be.

Expectations of ATVs

ATVs are envisioned as neighborhood-local volunteer resources to supplement a NET team in the aftermath of an earthquake. They appear on NET team rosters only for earthquake response frameworks, and fall under the response structure of their NET. The Team Leader of the NET in their neighborhood, therefore, is also their Team Leader.

ATV Intake

NET Team Leaders always approve ATVs associated with their Team.

ATV Program History

"ATV" was first coined and suggested to Jeremy Van Keuren (PBEM) by NET volunteer David Given. David worked with Boy Scout volunteers and requested a volunteer status that kept a non-NET disaster response volunteer "in the loop" of NET activities and encouraged forming a planning relationship with local teams.