The Why
Rethinking the Emergency Management Network: Finding Capacity Beyond Traditional Partners
As part of the New England Preparedness Summit: Navigating the Storms Together, hosted by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), this breakout session will be facilitated by members of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) Municipal Collaboration Department.
The Summit brings together practitioners from across emergency management, public safety, public health, communications, volunteer organizations, business and industry, and other disciplines to strengthen partnerships, share knowledge, and enhance preparedness across New England. Building on that theme, this session will look beyond the organizations traditionally identified as emergency management partners and consider the community organizations, networks, relationships, facilities, volunteers, and knowledge that may already exist but are not yet incorporated into emergency preparedness and response.
Perspectives from the Field
Meet the practitioners and community leaders bringing diverse perspectives to the conversation.
American Legion
Chris Manning, Department Vice Commander
Chris was nominated and placed into the role of Department Vice Commander in June of 2025. His current responsibilities are Chairman of both Americanism and Blood Donor programs. He is very active within his community and serves as his Post Commander for more than 4 years now. His Post has become an umbrella for all the Scouting programs in the northeast, they support their program involving many entities. MEMA, FEMA, National Guard and First Responders as they instruct our Scouts on many subjects, First Aid, Hiking and Reading Maps, i.e. Chris will be installed as the Department Commander in the 2028-2029 Year.
Chris currently serves as a member of the American Legion National Security Team, National Marketing and National Resolutions Team member.
The Department of Massachusetts supports a tremendous amount of programs, Student Troop Youth Law Cadet, this is an opportunity for our young men and women to spend a week at the State Police Training Center Here they learn how to respond to medical emergencies, also a chance to see all that our State Police are doing daily to protect us all. Boys & Girls State is at a college for the week where they are introduced into politics, how to be effective leaders in their communities, State and Nation. American Legion baseball is held locally a great time to watch our young men who are on the best teams and an opportunity to go all the way to the World Series to compete nationally. We are supportive of our Veterans within many communities as well as their children. We are the largest Veterans group in the world with over 2.5 Million members. Last year the Legion nationally gave over $84 Billion in total funds to the many Legion programs in our community.
To find out more about the American Legion you can visit the website here: https://masslegion.org/
To contact Chris you can reach him at (978-476-1847) or [email protected]
Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW)
Rachael Boyce, Director of Climate Justice and Resilience-Better Future Project
Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW) is a program of the Better Future Project, based in Somerville, Massachusetts. CREW was created to support the grassroots climate and community resilience movement led by a national network of local leaders committed to preparing their community for extreme weather events and other disruptions. We support this movement through education, outreach, collaboration, and resilience hubs.
Rachel, a queer feminist and Maryland transplant, relocated to Massachusetts to work as a pastry chef. Working in the hospitality industry for 12 years gave her the opportunity to work alongside and learn from the vibrant immigrant community that now call the Northeast home. It was specifically working with undocumented communities navigating exclusionary immigration policies that she was inspired to pursue graduate work focused on grassroots organizing and proactive policy solutions that prioritize community resilience.
Her research and activism has focused on the intersectional impact of the housing and climate crises on Massachusetts communities. In 2023, she joined the Better Future Project to support their CREW resilience hub program and to co-lead the Make Polluters Pay campaign. A systems-focused thinker, believes in the power of collaboration to address the intersectional impact of mounting crises including but not limited to housing insecurity, climate change, and energy burden.
To find out more about CREW you can visit the website here: https://www.betterfutureproject.org/
To contact Rachel you can reach her at [email protected]
City of Somerville Office of Immigrant Affairs
María Teresa Nagel, MALD, Director
The Somerville Office of Immigrant Affairs (SOIA) is a Division of Somerville’s Department of Health and Human Services. Its mission is to co-create and elevate the power, visibility, participation, and self-determination of immigrants and refugees in our community through community engagement, programming, policy, and celebration.
SOIA was founded in the spring of 2013 to serve as a bridge between the migrant community in Somerville and its city government and ensure language and culture would not be barriers to accessing city services and information, nor participating in civic life.
SOIA has 3 core work areas: Engagement, empowerment, and celebration - Fostering participation and civic engagement; connecting residents to local resources; developing responsive programming; and celebrating Somerville’s rich and diverse cultures. Policy and legal services - Facilitating access to legal services and information; leading city-wide efforts to address immigration policy; and fostering belonging. Coordination and consultation - Expanding service capacity City-wide through consulting, advising, identifying gaps and barriers, and collaboration.
SOIA staff also translate all engagement materials for the city in its top most-spoken languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Nepali, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese). This includes our emergency alerts.
María Teresa Nagel was born in San José, Costa Rica, and raised between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. She is a dynamic and results-driven executive with 15+ years of expertise in immigrant affairs, migration policy, financial inclusion, and organizational leadership.
Her career has taken her across multiple countries and sectors from research and policy to grassroots work with immigrants and refugees, always guided by one principle: that the people most affected by an issue must help shape the solutions. She previously worked as the Deputy Director of the Henry J. Leir Institute for Migration and Human Security, a consultant for the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor at the World Bank, and an Operations Specialist for the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion International.
María Teresa is a Woburn School Committee Member and the first Latina and queer person to have ever been elected into Woburn public office. She also serves as the Director of Immigrant Affairs for the City of Somerville, where she leads efforts to make local government more accessible, equitable, and inclusive for all residents. Under her leadership, the office has grown significantly in both size and impact—tripling its budget within two years and expanding services through collaboration, transparency, and community co-design.
A graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she focused on Migration Policy in the Americas and Development Economics, María Teresa brings both lived experience and professional expertise to her work. She is deeply committed to building communities where every person—regardless of background, language, or birthplace—feels seen, valued, and supported. Her life and work are grounded in service, justice, and the belief that inclusion strengthens us all.
To find out more about SOIAyou can visit the website here: https://www.somervillema.gov/soia
To contact María you can reach her at [email protected] or by calling (617-366-7188)
Mystic Valley YMCA
Crissy Jache, Chief Operating Officer
The Mystic Valley YMCA (serving Everett, Malden, Medford and neighboring cities) serves diverse individuals of all ages with a focus on youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. Our mission is to strengthen our communities with relevant, continually evolving programs and services that enrich the lives of all people in spirit, mind, and body. Our Y has a 143-year history as a welcoming organization that adapts to meet the changing needs of youth, families, and seniors in the communities we serve.
Crissy Jache serves as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the Mystic Valley YMCA in Malden, MA, bringing 26 years of dedicated YMCA leadership experience. Throughout her career, she has specialized in building strong communities through collaborative relationships with city and town officials to address critical community needs.
Crissy’s expertise in facilitating community responses was prominently demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, where she worked alongside the leadership team to position the YMCA as a critical municipal partner. The Y immediately expanded its free food market, opened as an emergency childcare center for essential workers, and served as a vital hub for vaccine distribution and emergency resources. A skilled organizer dedicated to health equity and safety, Crissy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Services from Springfield College and is a Certified Praesidium Guardian.
To find out more about the Mystic Valley YMCA you can visit the website here: www.mv-ymca.org
To contact Crissy you can reach her [email protected] or by calling (781)-851-4444
Thank You!
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to MEMA and the Northeast Emergency Management Training and Education Center (NEMTEC) for bringing together emergency management and preparedness professionals from across New England through the New England Preparedness Summit: Navigating the Storms Together.
We are especially grateful to our panelists for sharing their time, expertise, and perspectives. Bringing together voices from municipal immigration services, the YMCA, Climate CREW, The Haven Project, and the American Legion provided an opportunity to explore the many forms of community knowledge, relationships, resources, and capacity that can contribute to emergency preparedness and response.
Most importantly, thank you to all of the emergency management professionals and other practitioners attending this session. We hope the conversation encourages you to look beyond traditional emergency management partners, identify the capabilities that already exist in your communities, and consider how those connections can strengthen preparedness before they are needed.
If you have questions or would like to continue the conversation following the session, please reach out to Beth Robert, Emergency Preparedness Manager at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, at [email protected].