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Albany recognizes CERT graduates; nonprofit and fire department to expand Mandarin-language disaster training with Cal OES support
Summary
The City acknowledged its spring 2025 CERT class and heard that Albany CERT Inc. received a Cal OES grant to develop Mandarin-language CERT training, with plans to integrate Mandarin and English students for joint skill sessions and extend training to other non-English languages.
At its June 16 meeting the Albany City Council honored graduates of the spring 2025 Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) class and heard details about an expansion of multilingual disaster training led by Albany CERT Inc. and the Fire Department.
Fire Chief Jim Boito introduced the spring CERT graduates and said the program — an eight-week course — trains community members to be a neighborhood resource during disasters and other incidents. Boito said the program has trained more than 80 people since the COVID-19 pandemic and over 500 people since the program began. He credited staff including Engineer Mike Scribe, Firefighter/Paramedic Jacob Fujikawa and lead instructor Susie Naiman for managing the program.
Susie Naiman, the main instructor, told the council she was honored to see students’ “dedication and commitment,” and described the program’s emphasis on practical neighborhood preparedness.
Blake Yaman, an Albany CERT Inc. instructor and president of the nonprofit, told the council the group was awarded a grant from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to create CERT training in a non-English language. Yaman said Albany identified Mandarin as one of the top languages spoken locally by residents with limited English proficiency, found a fluent Mandarin-speaking CERT graduate who completed instructor training and will run a Mandarin-language CERT this summer. Yaman said the plan is to integrate the Mandarin and English classes for the final, hands-on skills session at the fire department so both language cohorts can train together.
Yaman also said the Mandarin instructor speaks Vietnamese and the program may offer training in Vietnamese as well. The group recently worked with the Fire Department to run preparedness sessions at the GateView condominium building, he added.
During public comment Jean Wu urged the council and staff to pursue designation of the Albany Community Center as a community resilience hub under a program run by AvA Community Energy; she said AvA is creating a technical list of up to 50 community-based resilient centers in Alameda and San Joaquin counties and that funding may become available next year. Lucinda Young of the Albany Climate Action Coalition told council members that the California Public Utilities Commission has introduced a $280 million program to help low-income households install solar panels and battery storage and that AvA has a program to replace gas ranges with induction ranges for CARE/FERA customers. Young asked the city to do outreach so eligible households can access those programs.
The council presented certificates and administered the disaster service worker oath to the graduates; staff asked council members to join a photo with the spring 2025 CERT class. No formal council action was taken on the grant or resilience-hub suggestions at the meeting but staff and the nonprofit described specific next steps for implementation of multilingual CERT training.
