National First Responders Day is October 28.
APWA has created a toolkit to help you celebrate the event and recognize public works professionals as first responders.
Checklist to Get Started
Download the NFRD sample proclamation. Add your town/city/state name in the designated places and submit the request to your governor’s or mayor’s office. Note: Many offices require 30 days to process a request.- Download the Public Works First Responder symbol. Note: The file named 1×1 Public Works First Responder Symbol is a square shape which will work well for social media posts.
- Gather photos or video clips of your team serving as first responders in your community. Example photos would include: crews removing trees and limbs from roadways following a storm, public works professionals putting up barriers in preparation for a public event, or snowplow drivers clearing the roads during winter weather conditions. Use these photos or video clips in social media posts leading up to and on October 28.
- Create a schedule for social media posts in support of NFRD. This year NFRD is on a Monday so you might consider the following schedule:
- October 21: Post a one-week-out message that shares how your agency will be celebrating NFRD. If you plan on posting regularly leading up to NFRD, share that message.
- October 24: Post a Throwback Thursday message that reminds people of a time when your agency served as first responders in your community. Include the hashtag #TBT or #ThrowbackThursday.
- October 28: Post two to three times throughout the day. Consider kicking the day off by sharing APWA’s video featuring Dominick Longobardi, which will be added to this webpage in the next few weeks. Or record your public works director reading this script for sharing on your website and social media. See below for sample posts.
- Download and print the “Why recognize public works professionals as First Responders?” flyer. Take copies to your city council meeting in October. Ask your council members to support National First Responders Day by issuing a resolution recognizing that public works professionals are first responders.
Sample Social Media Posts
Pre-NFRD
Next Monday is National First Responders Day. To celebrate, this week we’ll be sharing stories from our team about times they’ve served as first responders. Listen as [name of person] talks about responding to [details of event] during the [season] of [year]. #FirstResponders [YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE THIS POST DEPENDING ON WHETHER YOU ARE SHARING PHOTOS FROM A RECENT EVENT OR A VIDEO CLIP]
Day-of
Did you know that public works professionals are first responders?
[Post APWA President Dominick Longobardi’s video message or a video featuring someone from your team.]
#FirstResponders
Today, we celebrate National First Responders Day! We’re proud to serve the people of [town/city name] as first responders alongside firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians, 911 operators, paramedics, and other emergency personnel. #FirstResponders
For National First Responders Day, we’d like to show you how [town/city name] public works department provides vital support to emergency response partners, helping protect and restore essential services following an emergency situation. Check out photos of our team in action in [year]. #FirstResponders
Additional Resources
Visit our Public Works as First Responders page for more information and resources about why public works professionals deserve this recognition, and what you can do to help raise awareness.
