Chamber Partners with Red Cross to Launch Ready in the Heartland

The Peoria Area Chamber is very pleased to partner with the American Red Cross Central Illinois Chapter in launch a collection of free, online tools to help businesses, schools and other organizations prepare for emergencies through a program called Ready Rating.

Emergencies like power outages, water main breaks and medical emergencies can disrupt daily operations. Disasters like tornados, floods, earthquakes and fires have the potential to cause workplaces to fold and schools to close. According to the Insurance Information Institute, up to 40% of businesses fail after a natural or man-made disaster.

In an effort to better prepare for such events, Ready Rating members complete a confidential assessment of their current readiness level for emergencies and receive immediate, customized feedback with tips and resources for them to improve their readiness scores.  In select pilot areas, more than 1,300 businesses and organizations and nearly 450 schools are already Ready Rating members. Members have increased their assessment scores – some by as much as 42 percent. 93 percent of members rate the service as good to excellent.

“Our goal is to help foster a safer central Illinois,” said Anne Fox, Chief Executive Officer of the Central Illinois Chapter. “This dynamic tool makes it easier for organizations to get started and to help improve the readiness level for those who already have plans in place.”

Chamber President Roberta Parks said “The Chamber feels this will be a valuable tool for our members to protect their business operations.   Recent power outages in the Chicagoland area and other states have made it very obvious what the impact of an emergency can be on a business.   Being prepared and having a plan greatly increases the likelihood a business will come out the other side and remain a viable operation.  I encourage all of our members to make use of Ready Rating.”

More information about this valuable program can be found at readyrating.org.