Outsmart Disaster Case Study: Greater Irvine Chamber Turns CalOSBA Training into a Disaster Resiliency Resource for Local Small Businesses

The Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce completed the Outsmart Disaster Certified Trainer program, equipping its staff to deliver disaster preparedness training directly to small businesses in its community.

In partnership with the City of Irvine, the Chamber has since delivered its own Outsmart Disaster workshops for local businesses and built a dedicated resource page to keep that work going.

Irvine, CA – From its founding in 1979, The Greater Irvine Chamber has supported business progress in Irvine in collaboration with community and business partners. The Chamber’s mission is to advance the economic vitality of greater Irvine, focusing on helping area businesses start and grow, attracting domestic and global businesses to the region, supporting international commerce, and providing lead generation and professional networking opportunities.

The Chamber also provides business training, professional development, and advocates for the business community with federal, state, and local officials. The chamber recognized that adding support for business resiliency was needed and connected with the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) Outsmart Disaster unit to make that happen.

Becoming a Certified Trainer

Dave Coffaro, President and CEO of the Greater Irvine Chamber, and Education Development Volunteer, Tom Tracy, completed the Outsmart Disaster Certified Trainer training in February of 2026, as part of the program’s second statewide cohort. The goal of each training was to take the information and craft it to the specific needs of those they serve.

“Ahead of our first Outsmart Disaster workshop, the facilitator thoroughly reviewed the training materials and tailored the recommended OSD PowerPoint presentation to fit our target audience’s needs,” said Mr. Tracy. “As a chamber, we strategically determined the ideal timing, duration, and delivery method. Thanks to early promotion and online registration handled by the Chamber office, we all felt fully prepared to deliver an impactful, meaningful event.”

Service Highlight: Bilingual Trainer Materials

Among the materials CalOSBA provides to Certified Trainers are slides, a trainer guide, and marketing assets built in both English and Spanish. For a chamber serving a broad small business community, that bilingual foundation extends the training’s reach beyond a single-language audience, letting local trainers like the Greater Irvine Chamber deliver the same statewide Outsmart Disaster message in the language their local business owners are most comfortable with.

Workshop Reception

The Chamber delivered its first Outsmart Disaster workshop for local small businesses in April of this year, in partnership with the City of Irvine, drawing about 40 businesses. Rather than a one-way presentation, the workshop became a working session where attendees left with the start of their own plan.

“Throughout the presentation, the facilitator actively engaged the audience, encouraging them to share personal experiences, ask questions, and use the 6-step Resiliency Roadmap as a tool to turn the overwhelming task of disaster preparedness into manageable steps,” Mr. Tracy said. “The session was highly collaborative and concluded with strong appreciation and applause from the attendees.”

What the Chamber Learned

Tom Tracy identified three key takeaways from the certification training:

• Know the Material: A deep understanding of the content builds credibility and allows for flexible delivery, letting the facilitator pivot or handle questions confidently.
• Know the Audience: Tailoring delivery to attendees’ specific background, needs, and interests ensures the message is meaningful and useful.
• Know and Share the Goals of the Workshop: Aligning the workshop’s purpose with clear objectives gives it direction; sharing goals upfront sets expectations, keeps the group focused, and allows everyone to measure the training’s success.

Greater Irvine Chamber: Now a Resiliency Resource for Its Members

Since completing the Outsmart Disaster Certified Trainer program, the Greater Irvine Chamber has built out its own dedicated Outsmart Disaster resource page, framing disaster preparedness around common disruptions such as power outages, supply chain delays, cyber incidents, wildfires, and earthquakes, and offering an interactive workshop to help small businesses prepare before and recover after an interruption. Participants who take the Chamber’s workshop walk through all six steps of the Outsmart Disaster Resiliency Roadmap and begin creating or strengthening their own business preparedness plan, covering everything from recognizing potential threats and establishing communication channels to reviewing insurance and finances and building a tested emergency response plan.

The Chamber’s page also hosts downloadable versions of the Business Resiliency Roadmap and fillable planning forms, and includes its own Certified Trainer interest form to recruit additional community-based organizations, agencies, and trainers to deliver Outsmart Disaster resiliency training, extending the same trainer pipeline that originally certified the Chamber.

“One of the things I hoped for when we launched the Outsmart Disaster Certified Trainer Program was that organizations would make it their own,” Shruti Narain, Northern California Resiliency Training Coordinator for CalOSBA, shared. “Every community is different, and the people who know their local businesses best are in the best position to deliver these conversations. The Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce has embraced that vision from the start. Seeing partners expand on the program in ways that fit their community is exactly what we hoped this initiative would inspire.”

After hosting it’s first workshop in April, the Chamber planned a second workshop for August. These offerings are part of a broader Business Preparedness Series that the Chamber, the City of Irvine, the Orange County Fire Authority, and the Irvine Police Department are planning to run together, covering emergency response and fire safety, disaster resilience, and crime prevention for local businesses.

More on CalOSBA’s Outsmart Disaster Certified Trainer program

CalOSBA’s Outsmart Disaster Certified Trainer program is designed for the trusted organizations that already have relationships with small businesses in their communities. The program is built for organizations that work with small businesses and nonprofits and want to deliver preparedness trainings, providing the tools, resources, and support needed to lead sessions, share promotional materials, and help attendees gain clear, practical steps to build a Business Resiliency Plan. The Greater Irvine Chamber’s experience, completing the training and then building its own standing resource page and workshop program for its members, reflects that model working as intended.

Contact

• To learn more about resiliency resources and sign up for the Certified Trainer Program, visit: Outsmart Disaster online, or email: OutsmartDisaster@gobiz.ca.gov
• To learn more about the Greater Irvine Chamber’s Disaster Preparedness trainings visit: Outsmart Disaster: Preparedness for Small Businesses – Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce
• For more about small business support services throughout California, visit CalOSBA: calosba.ca.gov

The CalOSBA Resiliency Team is ready to train you and your team on Outsmart Disaster

September 2026