(Harris County, TX) The Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management’s (HCOHSEM) Olivia the Preparedness Opossum has been recognized as a 2022 Holiday Hero by Homeland Security Today Magazine.
The award will be presented tonight at a ceremony in Arlington, VA.
The Olivia campaign was launched in 2020 as a way of finding new avenues to connect with Harris County residents on the importance of emergency preparedness. Olivia was created to help engage younger residents in the hopes that they would help educate and influence their families.
“I am very proud of our team and the work they have done to make Olivia a success” said HCOHSEM Coordinator Mark Sloan. “This campaign is an important step in engaging the whole community.”
The cartoon opossum is regularly featured on HCOHSEM’s social media accounts, ReadyHarris, reminding children to stay safe and informed in their communities. HCOHSEM also created a Kids Preparedness Activity Book, featuring Olivia the Preparedness Opossum, intended to educate kids about different types of disasters and how to create an emergency kit. The book helps families create a communication plan, encouraging children to memorize their name, address, guardians’ names, phone numbers, and more.
The Kids Preparedness Activity Book is available to the public for free, and is also accessible in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Arabic. The initiative to make this activity book available in multiple languages allowed it to reach a large and diverse demographic in Harris County. As of today, over 5,000 activity books have been distributed to children all throughout Harris County, and the Olivia Preparedness Campaign is regularly featured on HCOHSEM’s social media.
Homeland Security Today Magazine is published by the Government Technology & Services Coalition, a non-profit, non-partisan association of innovative, agile small and mid-size companies that create, develop, and implement solutions for the Federal homeland and national security sector. More information on the Holiday Hero Award winners is available at
https://www.hstoday.us/featured/a-safer-nation-through-collaboration-and-innovation-2022-homeland-security-today-awards/.