Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused extensive human suffering and damage in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Mississippi and Louisiana on August 29, 2005, and alone caused more damage than any other single natural disaster in the history of the United States. Hurricane Katrina destroyed or made uninhabitable an estimated 300,000 homes—more than three times the total number of homes destroyed by the four major hurricanes that hit the continental United States in August and September 2004. Hurricane Rita followed on September 24, 2005, making landfall in Texas and Louisiana and adding to the devastation. Hurricane Katrina alone caused $96 billion property damage. Voluntary organizations have historically played a large role in the nation’s response to disasters. These organizations raised more than $3.4 billion in cash donations in response to the Gulf Coast hurricanes as of February 2006, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. The American Red Cross raised more than $2.1 billion, about two-thirds of all dollars raised. The Salvation Army raised the second-highest amount, $325 million, Catholic Charities raised about $150 million, and the Southern Baptist National Convention raised about $20 million. Voluntary organizations’ roles in responding to disasters can vary. Some, including the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, are equipped to arrive at a disaster scene and provide immediate mass care, including food, shelter, and clothing, and in some circumstances, emergency financial assistance to affected persons. Other voluntary organizations focus on providing longer-term assistance, such as job training, scholarships, or mental health counseling. In addition, churches and other community organizations that do not traditionally play a role in disaster response may begin providing these services. For example, many small churches and other organizations provided sheltering services after the Gulf Coast hurricanes. Since its founding in 1881, the Red Cross has offered humanitarian care to the victims of war and devastating natural disasters. The organization is a private nonprofit entity but, since 1905, has had a congressional charter. Under the congressional charter the purposes of the Red Cross are to provide volunteer humanitarian assistance to the armed forces, serve as a medium of communication between the people of the United States and the armed forces, and provide disaster prevention and relief services. Although it is congressionally chartered, the Red Cross provides these services as a private organization. Following a disaster, the Red Cross serves as a direct service provider to disaster victims. In this capacity, the organization provides services that include feeding, sheltering, financial assistance, and emergency first aid. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Red Cross estimated that it provided more than 3.7 million hurricane victims with financial assistance, 3.4 million overnight stays in almost 1,100 shelters, and more than 27.4 million hot meals and 25.2 million snacks. According to the Red Cross, its efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were larger than for any previous disaster relief effort. For example, the Red Cross provided more than six times the number of shelter nights after Katrina and Rita than it did in the entire 2004 hurricane season, when four major hurricanes—Charley, Francis, Ivan, and Jeanne—struck the continental United States in August and September. The NRF is a guide to how the nation conducts all-hazards disaster response, including support for voluntary organizations providing shelter, food, and other mass care services. The NRF revises the nation’s prior disaster plan, the NRP, which was originally signed by major federal government agencies, the Red Cross and NVOAD in 2004. Major federal government agencies, the Red Cross, NVOAD, and other voluntary organizations are included in the NRF. The NRF is designed on the premise that disaster response is generally handled by local jurisdictions. In the vast majority of disasters, local emergency personnel, such as police, fire, public health, and emergency management personnel, act as first responders and identify needed resources to aid the community. Local jurisdictions can also call on state resources to provide additional assistance. The federal government responds to state or local requests for assistance when an incident occurs that exceeds state or local response capability or when an incident falls within its own response authorities. In such situations it may use the National Response Framework to involve all appropriate response partners. The primary authority under which the federal government provides assistance to states after a disaster is the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act). It authorizes the President to issue a major disaster or emergency declaration when a state’s resources are overwhelmed and the governor makes a request for federal assistance. Under the Stafford Act, the federal government provides assistance for mass care, debris removal, restoration of facilities, and financial aid to families and individuals, among other activities. After disasters that result in extraordinary levels of mass casualties or damage, called catastrophes, the federal government can invoke the Catastrophic Incident Annex of the NRF. The Annex does not assume that local governments—which may no longer be functioning— will ask for assistance, but rather that the federal government will provide resources to the local level before being asked. In addition to outlining the organizational structure used to respond to disasters, the National Response Framework designates 15 emergency support functions. ESF-6 creates a working group of key federal agencies and voluntary organizations to coordinate federal assistance in support of state and local efforts to provide: mass care, including sheltering, feeding, and emergency first aid; emergency assistance, such as coordination with voluntary organizations; reunification of families; pet evacuation and sheltering; support to specialized shelters; and support to medical shelters; housing, both short- and long-term; and human services, such as counseling and processing of benefits. The NRF assigned FEMA to be the primary agency for a new component of ESF-6, called emergency assistance, to ensure that immediate needs that are beyond the scope of traditional mass care are addressed. Emergency assistance adds new expectations for coordination with voluntary organizations by the ESF-6 working group, stating that the group works with non-governmental and faith-based organizations to facilitate an inclusive, coordinated response effort. In addition, the emergency assistance component includes the expectation that a National Shelter System (NSS) will provide data from shelters. The NSS is a Web-based system that provides information on shelter facilities, capacity, and population counts. In addition to its role as a service provider, the Red Cross has specific responsibilities as a support agency under ESF-6. ESF-6 specifies that these activities are separate from its role as a direct service provider. The Red Cross announced in January 2008 that it planned to make significant layoffs to its staff at the Red Cross national headquarters. These layoffs could potentially have implications for the Red Cross’ capacity to meet its NRF responsibilities. However, the Red Cross had not announced details of these layoffs as of mid-February 2008. Figure 1 describes the Red Cross’ roles as a service provider, and in ESF-6. Estimates place the population of individuals with disabilities in the United States at nearly 20 percent of the entire population, and the percentage of people over age 80 with disabilities at 72 percent. Although there are few statistics on the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the disabled, the White House report on the federal response to Katrina estimated that over two-thirds of the 1,300 victims who died were over age 60. Individuals with disabilities are a diverse group, including those with disabilities affecting individuals’ functioning in a number of different ways. For example, some disabilities, such as paraplegia, affect individuals’ mobility, and other disabilities, such as deafness, affect communication. Many of these disabilities can be prepared for and accommodated in general population shelters. For example, with modifications to existing facilities, many mobility impairments can be addressed. These modifications can include ensuring accessible routes for people with wheelchairs, crutches, or walkers from sleeping quarters to dining areas and toilet/bathing areas, ramps, and handrails in toilet facilities. Modifications for communication- related disabilities can include braille signs for the blind. State and local governments operate medical shelters for those individuals with serious medical needs, including some disabled individuals. On October 4, 2006, Congress passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006. That Act elevated FEMA’s status within the Department of Homeland Security, enhanced its organizational autonomy, and redefined its role. It provided that FEMA’s primary mission is to reduce the loss of life and property and protect the United States from all hazards by leading efforts to prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters, acts of terrorism, other man-made disasters, and catastrophic incidents. In partnership with state, local, and tribal governments, emergency response providers, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations as well as other federal agencies, FEMA is tasked with building a national system of emergency management. The Act included a number of provisions that should provide a new focus on assistance to individuals with disabilities in connection with these efforts. It directs the Administrator of FEMA to appoint a Disability Coordinator who is required to report directly to the Administrator to ensure that the needs of individuals with disabilities are being properly addressed in emergency preparedness and disaster relief, and assigns a detailed set of responsibilities to the Coordinator. The Post-Katrina Act provides authority for FEMA to address the needs of individuals with disabilities by adding the Americans with Disabilities Act’s definition of “individual with a disability” to the Stafford Act and requires that the FEMA Administrator develop guidelines concerning the provision of services to individuals with disabilities in connection with emergency facilities and equipment. The Post-Katrina Act adds individuals with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency to the discrimination prohibition provisions of the Stafford Act and directs FEMA to work with state and local governments to identify critical gaps in regional capabilities to respond to populations with special needs.