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September will mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11.

Jami Haberl, executive director of the Safeguard Iowa Partnership, wonders how many people have forgotten what can happen on our own soil.

“We are a society that likes to forgive and forget and move on and think that that’s not going to happen again,” Haberl said. “Especially in Iowa, because we aren’t considered high threat.”

It’s her organization’s job to ensure that both government and business don’t forget, work together and are always prepared – not just for terrorism, but for the terror Mother Nature can bring.

Safeguard Iowa was started in January 2007 by the Iowa Business Council (IBC) in collaboration with safety agencies. The nonprofit has a mission of strengthening the capacity of Iowa to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters through public and private collaboration.

This past year, the agency weaned off support from the IBC, and now funds its entire $127,000 budget from public and private contributions. Safeguard Iowa primarily has focused on getting buy-in from the business community and holding training to help prevent and prepare for disasters. In light of the evolving threat of IED attacks in the United States, the organization will hold bomb incident management training on Tuesday in Cedar Rapids in an effort to get the public and private sectors on the same page for plans should a bombing take place.

The organization hasn’t yet worked too much on the recovery aspect of their mission, but is in the process of compiling a business resource registry that would catalog assets and resources from private industry that could be utilized by emergency management and first responders during a disaster. Haberl said Safeguard Iowa is also hoping to develop some programs to help businesses recover.

“One of the things across the United States that we haven’t done as well is trying to look at how we can assist businesses in recovering,” she said. “There are a lot of programs available for individuals and homeowners, but the businesses are often left out.”

Safeguard Iowa has been so successful that surrounding states like South Dakota and Minnesota have been using it as a model for starting similar organizations. Haberl was in South Dakota last week to help with the launch of Secure South Dakota.