Federal Alliance for Safe Homes' Decade of Disaster Mitigation Initiatives Culminate with Outstanding Achievement Award from the 2008 National Hurricane Conference

ORLANDO, Fla., April 3, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Hurricane Conference honored the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes -- FLASH(R), Inc. with its Outstanding Achievement Award for Mitigation today in recognition of FLASH's innovation in consumer education and mitigation advocacy during the past ten years.

"FLASH's work over the past decade has truly transformed America's approach to minimizing the impact of hurricanes on our homes, our families and our economy," said Max Mayfield, Chairman of the National Hurricane Conference. "We are proud to recognize FLASH for their work in making our nation safer and better prepared." The Outstanding Achievement Award for Mitigation recognizes an outstanding and innovative achievement that can serve as a model to others.

During the past ten years, FLASH's award-winning work provided consumers and homebuilding professionals with education on how to protect families by making homes more disaster-resistant in hurricanes or any natural disaster. FLASH has delivered life-saving information to millions internationally through their partnerships, website, classroom courses, online learning tools, awareness campaigns and more.

"As we celebrate our 10th anniversary of working to strengthen homes and safeguard families, this honor is a fitting tribute to our partners, team and the thousands of homeowners who make our success possible," said FLASH CEO and President Leslie Chapman-Henderson.

One of the many FLASH efforts cited in the award nomination included the pivotal role FLASH played in helping to launch the landmark My Safe Florida Home (MSFH) wind damage prevention program. The widely acclaimed program provides free home wind inspections and $5,000 matching grants for residential wind retrofits including hurricane shutters, stronger garage doors and reinforced entry doors. To date, 177,275 homes have been inspected and more than 5,000 homes have been strengthened. Approximately 15,000 additional strengthening projects are underway.

While the program emphasis is to make homes and families safer from hurricanes by "hardening" the home's outer shell, one of the most popular aspects of the program is property insurance savings. The inspections have helped homeowners qualify for an average annual statewide savings of $224 even before any strengthening projects. Annual insurance savings in Southeast Florida often exceed $2,500.

Inspired by the Florida program, South Carolina leaders launched a similar effort in early 2007 entitled South Carolina Safe Home. Other hurricane-prone states are adopting similar programs as well.

FLASH's award-winning work over the past decade has not only caught the attention of the National Hurricane Conference. During 2007, FLASH's status as a trusted voice and force for mitigation public policy drew the interest of the International Code Council (ICC), who retained FLASH to operate, manage and redesign its Foundation to include mitigation programs as the anchor component. The success of this joint work has taken FLASH and ICCF to a potential alignment or merger during 2008. Once complete, mitigation programs will be available to more than 45,000 ICC members worldwide (code officials, inspectors, plans examiners, fire marshals and more).

Founded in 1998, the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes -- FLASH(R), Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization of government agencies, professional associations, and private industry committed to strengthening homes and safeguarding families from disaster. Based in Tallahassee, FLASH is the nation's fastest-growing disaster safety organization with more than 100 partners from academic, government, leadership, nonprofit, private and public sector organizations, including the Actuarial Foundation, FEMA, Florida Division of Emergency Management, Georgia Pacific, Home Depot Foundation, The Home Depot, International Code Council, Mercedes Homes, NOAA/National Weather Service, National Storm Shelter Association, RenaissanceRe, Simpson Strong-Tie, State Farm Insurance Companies, SkyeTec, Texas Tech Wind Science & Engineering, USAA, and WeatherPredict Consulting, Inc. To learn more about FLASH, visit www.flash.org or call toll free (877) 221-SAFE (7233).