I am proud to announce that KF&R has been accepted to be an ambassador for the National Weather Service's (NWS) Weather Ready Nation Program (WRN). With all of the out of the ordinary severe weather that we have had over the last month, we figured we would become more proactive in our outreach to the communities and citizens we serve, by becoming ambassadors for a great program. Through this, we intend to partner with NWS and others to bring severe weather education and information to the people and communities that it can help. Please see the text below from the WRN website for more information on their program. We look forward to this relationship and what it can bring to our communities.

From the WRN page:

The Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador™ initiative is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) effort to formally recognize NOAA partners who are improving the nation’s readiness, responsiveness, and overall resilience against extreme weather, water, and climate events. As a WRN Ambassador, partners commit to working with NOAA and other Ambassadors to strengthen national resilience against extreme weather. In effect, the WRN Ambassador initiative helps unify the efforts across government, non-profits, academia, and private industry toward making the nation more ready, responsive, and resilient against extreme environmental hazards. Weather-Ready Nation (WRN) is a strategic outcome where society’s response should be equal to the risk from all extreme weather, water, and climate hazards.

The WRN Ambassador initiative is a:

WRN Ambassadors serve a pivotal role in affecting societal change — helping to build a nation that is ready, responsive, and resilient to the impacts of extreme weather and water events.
To be officially recognized as a WRN Ambassador, an organization must commit to:

Promoting Weather-Ready Nation messages and themes to their stakeholders;
Engaging with NOAA personnel on potential collaboration opportunities;
Sharing their success stories of preparedness and resiliency;
Serving as an example by educating employees on workplace preparedness
As a WRN Ambassador, you will serve as a change agent and leader in your community. You will inspire others to be better informed and prepared, helping to minimize or even avoid the impacts of these natural disasters.
To support your efforts, NOAA can:

Provide outreach content about creating a Weather-Ready Nation;
Explore innovative approaches for collaboration with your organization;
Assist with StormReady®/TsunamiReady™ opportunities for communities;
Recognize your organization as a WRN Ambassador; and
Share the WRN Ambassador logo for your use.
Building a Weather-Ready Nation requires more than government alone. It requires the entire Weather Enterprise to provide information for better community, business, and personal decision making, and innovative partnerships across all segments of society. We must involve everyone in an effort to move people – and society – toward heeding warnings, taking action, and influencing their circles of family, friends, and social network to act appropriately.

The WRN Ambassador initiative is the connecting hub of a vast network of federal, state, and local government agencies; emergency managers and city planners; researchers, the media; the insurance industry; nonprofit organizations; the private sector; and many others who are working together to address the impacts of extreme weather on daily life.

Together we will inform and empower communities, businesses, and people to make pre-event decisions that can be life-saving and prevent or limit devastating economic losses. We are a nation of many communities, and it is only through connected communities that we will achieve this goal.