COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY: EnviroIssues staff recently assisted the Multnomah County library in ongoing efforts to upgrade materials to a new Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag system, which will give patrons the ability to check out their own materials and allow staff to spend more time on the floor. EnviroIssues employees from the Portland office spent a morning at the county’s Sellwood-Moreland Library, adding RFID tags to children’s books and scanning them into the catalog system (and reading some, too!). Time spent volunteering helped the library system accomplish the task of upgrading more than two million books and other materials at its Central Library and 18 branch locations by the end of the year.
COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY: Last Saturday, seven inspired EnviroIssues staff helped Passages Northwest at the mid-point of their busy summer season by cleaning and organizing the gear room and food prep areas, helping with essential yard work and serving as assistant grocery shoppers to provision 100+ students heading out on one of Passages Northwest’s summer courses! In addition, our team got a small taste of what each participant on a Passages Northwest course experiences. We began our day with an opening circle led by the fantastic Passages Northwest staff and closed by creating a human sculpture describing the day. We enjoyed supporting Passages Northwest’s work to inspire courage and leadership in middle and high school girls in our community!
COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY: Last weekend, seven EnviroIssues staff members participated in Water 1st International’s annual fundraiser Carry 5 Walk for Water. Each of our seven staff members filled a 5 gallon container with water from Lake Washington and carried it 5 kilometers, the average distance traveled by people in poor countries who lack access to safe, convenient water supplies. Our team experienced firsthand the true burden of gathering water, finishing the event wet and tired. Despite the hard work, participants had fun and helped the walk raise over $26,000 for Water 1st projects in India, Bangladesh, Honduras, and Ethiopia!
COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY: A dozen dedicated EnviroIssues employees and several of their partners and family members got out their work gloves, rolled up their sleeves and spent an afternoon digging in the dirt at Seattle Works Day! One of Seattle’s largest volunteer events, Seattle Works Day assembles 1,200 volunteers in neighborhoods all over Seattle. This year, Seattle Works volunteers collectively contributed over 4,000 volunteer hours! Team EnviroIssues spent the afternoon pulling weeds, spreading mulch and maintaining the food bank garden plot at Angel Morgan P-Patch in Columbia City. The Angel Morgan P-Patch is one of Seattle’s largest P-Patches; it sprung out of a long term neighborhood effort to renovate a previously unusable area. It has become a community gathering place, providing a space for people to connect with each other and learn more about gardening.
EnviroIssues employees teamed up with the Pike Market Child Care & Preschool on May 23, 2010 to help clean up the preschool’s facilities. Along with PMCCP’s director, everyone had a great time dusting, sorting, moving, and getting their hands dirty to support the preschool. PMCCP’s overall goal is to make high quality preschool available to all children, providing families with support and encouragement. Families pay on a sliding fee scale based on family size and income and more than 75 percent of the families receive financial assistance. As a great social service right across the street from EnviroIssues, we look forward to continued work with the preschool!
Mandy Putney and Ryan Orth, from EnviroIssues’ Portland office, recently presented at the Oregon Association of Clean Water Agencies Stormwater Summit in Eugene, OR. More than a hundred stormwater professionals from around the state attended the daylong event to learn about the latest and greatest in regional stormwater management issues. Ryan and Mandy discussed common communication challenges and offered expertise on building public support for stormwater programs. Utilities increasingly need to rely on an engaged public to address a range of stormwater quality and quantity issues – from changing behaviors that address surface water quality problems to understanding the infrastructure gap and ongoing improvement projects. View their presentation and contact Mandy or Ryan for more information.
Last weekend, at the American Council of Engineering Companies Washington spring conference, Principal and Founder Pat Serie was named to the ACEC Board of Directors. Pat’s more than 30 years experience in public engagement, facilitation, and technical integration will bring a new element of professional diversity to the organization’s board. Her past work for a number of well-known regional engineering firms and EnviroIssues’ reputation for supporting engineering firms on high-profile projects, make her a well-rounded addition for ACEC Washington. Pat has served on a number of leadership boards in the region and is a past chair of the ACEC-WSDOT executive liaison committee. EnviroIssues has been active in ACEC Washington for more than 10 years and is currently supporting the work of the ACEC Washington Small Firms Council.
On May 20, EnviroIssues Associate Sarah Brandt kicked off Leadership Tomorrow's environmental challenge day with a rousing warm-up she created called “Is it Green?”. Leadership Tomorrow engages 80 Seattle-area leaders from the public, private, and non-profit sectors in a year-long curriculum organized around the Seattle Foundation’s healthy community framework. This year’s event was held at REI in the South Lake Union neighborhood and focused on the innovative green building efforts and developmental tensions present in this dynamic area of the city. Keynote speaker Denis Hayes, the national coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970 and current president of the Bullitt Foundation, inspired the group with a discussion of his personal leadership journey. Other elements of the day included a walking tour of the neighborhood, an energy efficiency case study lead by the Sightline Institute, and roundtable discussions with a variety of the region’s environmental leaders.
EnviroIssues’ Linda Mullen is bringing her experience to the classroom, serving as an adjunct faculty member in the Strategic Communications program at Seattle University. The class, Public Affairs, focuses on issue management and advocacy for students in their junior or senior year. “There are so many things I like about this opportunity,” says Linda. “My students are bright and engaged. They keep me focused and fresh. The course content pulls from all aspects of my professional experience – strategic planning, messaging, media and community relations, and old fashioned problem-solving.” This is the first class Linda has taught at Seattle U, though she has been involved with the Strategic Communications department for about a year, as a guest lecturer in other classes and panel member in a session on new media at the school’s journalism conference last fall.
Citizens for a Healthy Bay of Tacoma teamed up with other local organizations to present Green Scene at the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center on April 20, 2010. The event featured exhibits of businesses and organizations that provide environmentally responsible goods and services, and conservation programs, many of whom are participating in CHB’s Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tacoma (BEST) Program. EnviroIssues’ Kristina Walker moderated an interactive panel session “A Conversation on the Case for Business Sustainability” with Kathleen Sayce, ShoreBank Pacific, Kevin Wilhelm, Sustainable Business Consulting, and Stuart Young, BCRA.
COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY: EnviroIssues joined People for Puget Sound, King County, NOAA, ECOSS, and over 200 other volunteers at North Wind’s Weir restoration site in Tukwila this past Saturday to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. The North Wind’s Weir estuary habitat restoration project was designed to create 2.5 acres of high quality habitat for juvenile salmon on the Duwamish River. Volunteers that participated in the Duwamish Alive! event planted trees, shrubs, and wetland plants, and spread 75 cubic yards of mulch that will improve habitat for not only the juvenile salmon, but also other aquatic creatures, birds, and wildlife in the area. Thanks to all who helped out at this great event!
EnviroIssues’ Angie Thomson was recently elected to the board of directors for Citizens for a Healthy Bay in Tacoma. Founded in 1990, CHB works to clean up and protect Tacoma’s Commencement Bay and surrounding waters and habitat. CHB has also become a recognized voice in the community and represents, involves, and educates the public and local businesses. Angie’s more than 10 years of experience in water-related issues and public involvement will be a great asset to this important community organization. Congratulations, Angie!
Futurewise is celebrating 20 years and EnviroIssues is proud to support their work in the Puget Sound. Our staff joined more than 250 community members to celebrate with Futurewise at the 20 Year Reunion event on March 20, 2010 that included honorary awards for Governor Booth Gardner, Senator Maria Cantwell, and Speaker of the House Joe King for their leadership on the Growth Management Act. Futurewise was started in response to passage of the GMA passage in 1990 and promotes healthy communities and cities while protecting farmland, forests, and shorelines. We look forward to continuing our support of Futurewise as we both celebrate 20 years in 2010!
Principal Diane Adams presented at the March NEBC Energy Forum on engaging communities in energy facility siting. Her presentation drew upon relevant and recent experience in assisting major utilities and federal agencies site high-voltage transmission lines across the West. Diane facilitated a group discussion about lessons learned and tools to effectively engage the public during the federal environmental planning process and beyond. Thank you to NEBC for sponsoring this great event!
Where do you start when you need to get your bridge or wastewater project completed as quickly and effectively as possible? We know that public involvement can make or break a project but how do you choose the right tools to be cost-effective and manage the public’s expectations? Drawing on her IAP2 expertise and training, Penny presented at the 2010 APWA Conference on public involvement today, and goals and objectives for a public participation plan. She also brought specific examples for a discussion on the factors to consider when selecting the right tool (or combination of tools) to meet the public involvement objectives. The interactive session showed attendees how to add to their public involvement plan without adding to their bottom line.
The Web site for a proposed energy project is arguably the most visible component of your public outreach strategy. In most cases, it will spend far more time in front of the public than your entire team combined. In a webinar for the EUCI, EnviroIssues’ technical team, Ray Outlaw and Chris Morse, shared their insight in designing and maintaining Web sites for energy projects, and making sure your Web site is an integrated part of your public involvement process. Ray and Chris addressed key issues for designing and launching a project Web site and other online media, opportunities to gather and document comments and responses, the tools used to evaluate Web site success, and suggestions for responding to those results. For questions about the webinar or online tools, please contact Ray.
Associate Kristine Edens presented as part of a distinguished panel of presenters at the monthly meeting of the South Sound PRSA on March 11, 2010. The group discussed the value of communicating with diverse audiences, including languages other than English, the hearing and visually impaired, and culturally diverse groups in a valuable session designed to help communicators reach more people. Kristine was joined by Lauri Jordana, Conexión Marketing, Kevin Nathan, Washington State Department of Services for the Blind, and Idalie Muñoz Muñoz, MuñozMedia. Details about the presentation are posted on the PRSA Web site.
The Puget Sound Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) awarded EnviroIssues with a Certificate of Excellence for our work on the City of Kenmore’s SR 522 Improvement Project last night at their annual Totem Awards. City of Kenmore staff and construction management firm HDR, attended the event to accept the award with EnviroIssues’ Amy Turner. The award recognized our construction outreach methods and strategic communications support during major highway construction on SR 522, which improved safety for drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and transit. Visit the Kenmore project Web site for more information. Congratulations to the SR 522 Project Team!
EUCI’s 4th annual Public Participation in Transmission Siting Conference brought together energy professionals from around the country. EnviroIssues’ Associate Ray Outlaw joined panelists from Wisconsin and Florida to discuss the use of online tools as an increasingly useful part of the public involvement process. Topics and questions focused on improving design through analytics, maximizing user experience, incorporating social media (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube), and mapping. Case studies from across the United States highlighted shared opportunities for effective public involvement on transmission projects, both large and small. Learn more about EnviroIssues’ energy projects.
EnviroIssues co-ed basketball squad continues its path to glory in the Puget Sound Basketball League. The team is comprised of employees, as well as former employees and friends of the company. Already off to a winning start to their season, The Issues will take their ball game around the Seattle area in search of another league title. For information on where to root for The Issues basketball team, contact us or follow us on Twitter.
The City of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability recently recognized EnviroIssues’ Portland Office for improving its recycling practices and reducing the amount of waste it produces by implementing all of the City of Portland’s five recycling steps. Our Portland office is now Recycle at Work Certified. For more information about the program, visit Portland’s Recycle at Work Web site. Good work, Portland!
New employees Brian Feldman and Blair Scott joined us this December from the University of Washington. Brian graduated with a BS in Environmental Science and Resource Management, and a BA in Environmental Studies, and Blair completed the Community, Environment and Planning program with a BS in Environmental Science and Resource Management, making them both excellent additions to our team. Both bring energy and fun (as shown in their photo!) to the Seattle office and will be assets to our work in the Puget Sound region as well as the east side of the state. Welcome, Blair and Brian!
HOT lanes, tolling and multi-modal transportation projects have long been part of EnviroIssues resume, so it came as no surprise to Principal Amy Grotefendt and Senior Associate Linda Mullen that the rest of the country is having similar discussions about these topics. Both attended the three-day Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington DC last week to keep up on current transportation trends and learn valuable lessons from other transportation experts. Highlights included topics relevant to the USDOT’s new goals of safety, congestion pricing, traffic trends, safety, livable communities, repair, economic competitiveness, environmental stewardship, environmental justice issues and public involvement.
Diane Adams, principal, chairs the ACEC Small Firms Council and EnviroIssues will be facilitating the 2010 ACEC Discussion Series and hosting sessions along with ACEC Washington. The series presents an opportunity for ACEC firms to share information and insights on a number of topics in an informal and open environment. The topics reflect the prioritized interests of the Small Firms Council and range from social media to cost structuring and contract negotiation. Non-ACEC members are welcome to participate in the discussions. Visit the ACEC Web site for more information.