Statewide status: ActivatedStatus: Activated Hurricane Isaias. Florida VOAD is coordinating the response. Updated Oct 28, 2026, 3:26 PMSee the current response

County coalitions and long-term recovery groups

Florida VOAD is the statewide table. The county table is a COAD, and the group that stays after the response leaves is a long-term recovery group. This page explains both, lists the ones we know about, and shows how to start one.

COAD: Community Organizations Active in Disaster

The county-level coalition: nonprofits, congregations, businesses, and the county emergency management office, meeting year-round so that when something happens they already know each other. Some counties call it a COAD, some a disaster alliance or a VOAD; the job is the same.

  • Meets monthly or quarterly in blue sky
  • Sits in or beside the county EOC during a response
  • Usually an associate member of Florida VOAD

LTRG: Long-Term Recovery Group

Formed after a disaster, usually by the COAD, to help households that still have unmet needs once FEMA, insurance, and the first wave of volunteers are gone. It runs a case management process and an unmet-needs table where funders and rebuild organizations commit to specific households.

  • Lives one to five years after an event
  • Case managers, construction, and funders at one table
  • Often becomes the next COAD, or folds back into it

By county

Coalitions and long-term recovery groups Florida VOAD knows about. If yours is missing, tell us; if your county has none, the two sections below are for you.

CountyCoalitionKindMeetsFormed
AlachuaAlachua County COAD/LTRGCOADAsk—Contact
AlachuaTri-County Disaster Assistance GroupLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
BayRebuild Bay CountyLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
CharlotteCharlotte County COADCOADAsk—Contact
CollierCollier Disaster AllianceCOADAsk—Contact
DeSotoHope DeSoto Long Term Recovery Group, Inc.Long-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
GladesHendry Glades LTR CoalitionLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
HardeeRecover HardeeLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
HendryHendry Glades LTR CoalitionLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
HighlandsHeads, Hearts, and Hands of HeartlandLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
LakeLake Support and Emergency Recovery,Long-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
LeeGreater Pine Island AllianceLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
LeeLee County LTRG- Catholic CharitiesLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
Miami-DadeBRACECOADAsk—Contact
MonroeMonroe County COADCOADAsk—Contact
OrangeRISE Orange County LTRGLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
PascoFresh Start for PascoLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
St. JohnsSt. John's County VOADCounty VOADAsk—Contact
TaylorTaylor County Strong LTRGLong-term recovery groupAsk—Contact
VolusiaVolusia Interfaiths/Agencies Networking in Disaster (VIND)County VOADAsk—Contact
Alachua CountyBaker CountyBay CountyBradford CountyBrevard CountyBroward CountyCalhoun CountyCharlotte CountyCitrus CountyClay CountyCollier CountyColumbia CountyDeSoto CountyDixie CountyDuval CountyEscambia CountyFlagler CountyFranklin CountyGadsden CountyGilchrist CountyGlades CountyGulf CountyHamilton CountyHardee CountyHendry CountyHernando CountyHighlands CountyHillsborough CountyHolmes CountyIndian River CountyJackson CountyJefferson CountyLafayette CountyLake CountyLee CountyLeon CountyLevy CountyLiberty CountyMadison CountyManatee CountyMarion CountyMartin CountyMiami-Dade CountyMonroe CountyNassau CountyOkaloosa CountyOkeechobee CountyOrange CountyOsceola CountyPalm Beach CountyPasco CountyPinellas CountyPolk CountyPutnam CountySanta Rosa CountySarasota CountySeminole CountySt. Johns CountySt. Lucie CountySumter CountySuwannee CountyTaylor CountyUnion CountyVolusia CountyWakulla CountyWalton CountyWashington County

18 of 67 counties have a coalition on record. The rest are the opportunity.

Start a COAD in your county

It takes one convener, the county emergency manager's blessing, and a room.

  1. Call your county emergency management officeAsk whether a coalition already exists and whether they will co-host. Most will; it makes their job easier.
  2. Invite the organizations that already show upFood bank, United Way, Red Cross chapter, the congregations that opened after the last storm, Habitat, legal aid, animal services. Fifteen people is plenty.
  3. Agree on three things at the first meetingA meeting rhythm, a shared contact list, and who talks to whom at 2 a.m. That is the whole first-year agenda.
  4. Join Florida VOAD as an associate memberYou get the statewide calls, situation reports, and a public listing with your county on the map.
Join as an associateAsk for a mentor

Who to talk to

Florida VOAD can introduce a new coalition to an existing one in a similar county. Ask us.

Models to borrow

Collier Disaster Alliance, Rebuild Bay County, and Recover Hardee each started as a response and became a standing coalition. Ask us to introduce you.

Form a long-term recovery group after an event

The window is the first 60 to 90 days after landfall, while attention and money are still there. The short version:

  1. Convene within 30 daysThe COAD, or the county EM office if there is no COAD, calls the first meeting. Florida VOAD and the State VAL attend.
  2. Choose a fiscal agent and a structureMost LTRGs run under an existing nonprofit's 501(c)(3) for the first year rather than incorporating.
  3. Stand up disaster case managementTrained case managers, intake, consent, and a consistent needs assessment. Members with case management capability are listed in the directory.
  4. Run the unmet-needs tableCase managers present households; funders and rebuild organizations commit on the spot. That table is the LTRG.
  5. Plan the exitDecide early what done looks like, and whether the group becomes the county's standing coalition.
Resource libraryUpcoming workshops and calls

Active long-term recovery groups