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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSustainability_Ambassadors_ProposalSustainability Ambassador Program City of Oshkosh Proposed by: Anna Kopf, Tanner Turk, Dominick Hendricks 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Background/Context/Problem Identification 4 Recommended Action 5 Stakeholder Identification 6 Alicia Alsberg 6 Kabel Helmbrecht 7 Brad Spanbauer 9 Lindsay Clark 9 Andy Kaminski 10 Benchmarking 12 Flagstaff, Arizona 12 King County, Washington 13 Atlanta, Georgia 15 Ann Arbor, Michigan 15 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 17 Costs 18 Barriers 20 Significance of Sustainability 21 Social 21 Environmental 24 Economic 26 Conclusion 28 Works Cited 29 2 Executive Summary This proposal will be in accordance with implementing a sustainability ambassador program within the city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The sustainability ambassador program will include local citizens coming together to gain or further their knowledge on sustainability and the local environment, which is a need in the Oshkosh community. This will assist the ambassadors in understanding what changes need to be done in Oshkosh and in their homes to become more sustainable. This program has the intentions of increasing the capacity of community engagement, educating local citizens on the importance of sustainability, and to empower community members to take action within Oshkosh. Background/Context/Problem Identification The Oshkosh community currently does not have a program offered to citizens that encourages and educates on sustainable practices. Knowledge of 3 sustainability is important, especially in times of a climate crisis, where people will need to make lifestyle and societal changes to help mitigate environmental degradation. Besides the climate crisis, sustainable practices within one's home, businesses, and communities are essential for creating social justice for all and an overall balance that benefits everyone within a system. The Sustainability Ambassador program hopes to increase community engagement and action, leading to a more sustainable community. Oshkosh has established many goals and initiatives in the city’s sustainability plan. Compared to many other communities throughout Wisconsin, Oshkosh has been behind the eightball when it comes to sustainability. By gaining greater participation from community members in sustainability initiatives, the city can make progress towards meeting the goals set out in the sustainability plan. Without community member participation in implementing sustainability into their everyday lives, it will be difficult for the city to accomplish sustainability initiatives. Recommended Action We are proposing that we establish initial sustainability leaders from the community. These leaders would be members from Oshkosh or the Oshkosh area that have sustainability and/or environmental knowledge. Since the leaders are from the area, they will have background knowledge in the local environment, as 4 well as an understanding of the community needs of Oshkosh. These established leaders would then lead the grant funded Sustainability Ambassador program. Potential grants and other funding for the program are discussed in the costs section of the proposal. The sustainability ambassador program will be six weeks long and available to people of all ages. Participants in the program will be motivated volunteers from throughout the community who want to improve and create sustainable action within Oshkosh. The first and second week the leaders will be educating the ambassadors on the fundamentals of sustainability. In the following weeks the leaders will be assisting the ambassadors in engagements with the city of Oshkosh, looking at local waterways, local businesses that have incorporated sustainability, etc. The final couple weeks will teach ambassadors on how to effectively communicate and engage with other community members in Oshkosh. To recruit ambassadors, there will be advertisements in the Oshkosh newspaper, recreation department handbook, Nextdoor online forum, and promotion at the farmers market and other local events. Stakeholder Identification Alicia Alsberg Oshkosh Community Member 5 Margy Davis, Chair of the Oshkosh Sustainability Board had discussed the possibility of the sustainability ambassador program for the Oshkosh community. During this discussion Margy suggested a few people to reach out to within the community that had background knowledge on sustainability and education. One of her suggestions was Alicia Alsberg. Primary stakeholder, Alicia Alsberg is a community member of Oshkosh, has a background in accounting, and is a mother of children within the Oshkosh area school district. Alicia explained that she participates in the Green and Healthy Schools program at Carl Traeger Elementary School in Oshkosh. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the Green and Healthy Schools program “is administered by the Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources and Public Instruction and supported by partners across the state.” This program focuses on reducing environmental impacts, improving health and wellness, and environmental literacy within educational settings. Since Alicia is involved in this program, along with her husband having a career in renewable energy, she is well educated on the concept of sustainability. One of Alicia’s main interests in the sustainability ambassador program is that it would provide environmental education to the citizens of Oshkosh. This interest is prioritized because she is a mother of children within the Oshkosh school district. This motivates her to advocate for the best education that her 6 children can receive from educators and from the community. Alicia also has her own passion for the environment and sustainability, researching peer reviewed articles in her free time. When someone is involved and goes out of their way to learn more about a topic, they are willing to promote and support ideas that encompass those same motives. Through the Green and Health school program, Alicia has seen resiliency within young children when interacting with sustainability issues, which allows for her to see how a program that promotes sustainability can result in positive outcomes. Kabel Helmbrecht Director - Oshkosh Recreation Department Kabel is the Director of the Oshkosh Recreation Department and would be considered a key stakeholder. As the Director of the Recreation Department, Kabel works on collaborations of agreements and partnerships to enhance quality of life in Oshkosh. To allow programs to be offered to the community of Oshkosh, there has to be a need in the community and a partnership that is cost effective for both parties involved, especially having a reasonable dollar amount for citizens to join the program. Kabel exaggerated this cost-effective portion because more than half of the Oshkosh population is at or below the poverty line. 7 Kabel believes that a sustainability ambassador program would be beneficial to the Oshkosh community because it would provide information that the citizens of Oshkosh are not aware of. As a director he understands and looks out for what types of programs are most needed for the community, so he can make good judgment on what community members are focusing on and wanting. Kabel suggested that people who have experience in environmental regulation such as workers at the parks department, public work, or the water department would be possible leaders for this type of program. Kabel works alongside these entities to coordinate varying programs that he passes for the recreation department, so he is able to make a good judgment on what type of people would be able to accomplish this type of program. Both Kabel and Alicia are familiar with Oshkosh’s demographic and the need to implement this sustainability ambassador program, which make them reliable stakeholders in this project. Brad Spanbauer Oshkosh Sustainability Advisory Board 8 Brad Spanbauer, Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) and community member discussed the need for a sustainability ambassador program in Oshkosh. Brad believes that this type of program will allow a space for people’s knowledge and expertise to be shared with others in the community. He also believes that an ambassador program needs to have a significant place within the city’s organizational structure. Through Brad’s presence on the SAB, he understands what programs are in need of being processed through city officials. These statements from Brad give significance to why the sustainability ambassador program needs to be considered through the city. Lindsay Clark Director of Club Operations - Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh Lindsay Clark is a stakeholder that has been a member of the Oshkosh community for about twenty years. She is the Director of Operations for the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh where she positively impacts the lives of Oshkosh’s youth. When discussing the proposal of a Sustainability Ambassador Program she believed that the program could benefit the community and its members, especially the younger generation. She does not actively take steps to implement sustainable actions into her everyday life, but is open to learning about ways in which she 9 could. Her interest in this program stems from her work with community youth and how it could have a positive impact on their lives. Lindsay commented that there are many young community members that attend the Boys & Girls Club who are motivated and want to take initiative to better themselves, their peers, and their community. This program offers the opportunity for the next generation of Oshkosh community members to learn about what sustainability is and the benefits that can result from a more sustainable community. She believes the youth could learn valuable leadership and interpersonal communication skills by participating in a program that encourages engaging with fellow community members. This program would also empower the next generation's involvement in community actions that help achieve the sustainability goals of Oshkosh. Andy Kaminski Project Manager - Fresh Coast Guardians (F.C.G.) The Fresh Coast Guardians is a program located in Milwaukee Wisconsin that offers community members the opportunity to further their green infrastructure and build sustainability capacity within their city. Andy Kaminski is a project manager for the Fresh Coast Guardians and provides expertise on sustainability driven programs making him and the F.C.G. expert stakeholders. With similar 10 goals in mind, the Fresh Coast Guardians' expertise can be used in persuading local stakeholders such as businesses, community members, and the city of Oshkosh. Andy and the Fresh Coast Guardians can offer a unique perspective because their program is similar to what the Sustainability Ambassador program can one day become. Milwaukee and Oshkosh face similar climate change impacts. Milwaukee and Oshkosh are both similar in geography being located on lake sides. Andy commented on what has worked for a program like the Fresh Coast Guardians in creating outreach and getting community members to participate and engage. He pointed out that they offer unique opportunities to advance green infrastructure, while also helping young adults land careers in the water industry. That information is vital because it not only proves that their program can achieve great sustainability goals but also offers more to those members that do engage and participate. Andy mentioned that one of the biggest challenges the ambassador program will face is funding. The Fresh Coast Guardians are a program through the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District so they receive funding from that along with grants and money they make from accomplishing green infrastructure projects. 11 Benchmarking To assist in creating the best sustainability ambassador program for the Oshkosh community, there were like-minded programs within the state of Wisconsin and outside of the state that offered substantial curriculums. These benchmarking examples help provide a model for which to create a successful sustainability ambassador program in Oshkosh. The benchmarking programs all have different ways in which their programs are set up. This provides insight, ideas, and examples about how to best structure the Sustainability Ambassador program for Oshkosh. Flagstaff, Arizona Climate Ambassador and Sustainability Leader Programs Flagstaff, Arizona established a sustainability leader program that inspired the idea to propose the creation of a sustainability ambassador program in Oshkosh. The Climate Ambassador program began as a way to train community members on constructive ways to discuss climate change in the city and raise awareness to the Flagstaff Carbon Neutrality Plan that had recently been adopted. The goal was to help facilitate positive community engagement and conversations about climate change and climate action. The program has resulted in great success 12 training 125 climate ambassadors and the establishment of a Sustainability Leader program. The Sustainability Leader program is the next step to their Climate Ambassador program where participants gain more in-depth training on climate change, action, and communication. They will also learn about sustainability and how to increase community sustainability as a whole. With this program being more involved and in-depth, the training is conducted over an eight week period. The participants are required to volunteer for a minimum of thirty hours on projects and advocacy that revolve around climate change and action. Since 2019, climate ambassadors have had 475 community members attend workshops on how to increase their household efficiency and live more sustainably. King County, Washington Sustainability Education Program In King County, Washington there is a sustainability education program that offers tours throughout the local wastewater treatment center. At the wastewater treatment center, citizens are educated on how to keep the local water systems clean, how it affects local ecosystems and the community’s health. Susan Talliricio, the Education and Engagement Supervisor in King County, explains that this program has an equity and social justice focus. They focus their outreach to 13 community members of low socioeconomic status and aim to have a diverse group of people involved. To engage the social equity focus, there is a promotion of accessibility through free bus transportation and free programming. Susan discussed how they have formal contracts with partners who have similar missions with social equity and environmental mindsets. These partners provide education programming to community members at the wastewater treatment center, along with other topics of sustainability. The funding for the sustainability education program comes directly out of citizens' water bills and general operating funds. There are also small grants that help fund the program. One suggestion that Susan had that works well in their program is that there should be fewer concepts covered within a program, because then the ambassadors will get an in-depth understanding of a specific topic.The focus of social justice and outreach to low socioeconomic community members is a framework in King County’s program that is relevant to Oshkosh, considering that Oshkosh’s poverty rate is 17%. The King County population is about 2.2 million people, compared to Oshkosh that has about 66,000 people. These numbers are not comparable, but the education program in King County has similar goals and ideas that can be used in the Oshkosh sustainability ambassador program. Atlanta, Georgia 14 Sustainability Ambassador Program Another city that has a sustainability ambassador program is Atlanta, Georgia. Their program was created in 2018 to assist in bridging the wealth gap in Atlanta. The original goal was to help young adults become educated on sustainability so that they would be able to get sustainable careers in their future. The program ended up having a lot more participants than young adults, the age ranges from high school graduates to forty year olds. This is an eight week program where Natasha Dyer, the ambassador program director and coordinator, showcases initiatives that the city of Atlanta is pursuing. When the ambassadors sign up for the program, they choose a capstone topic to focus on throughout the eight weeks. Due to the program mostly consisting of walking around Atlanta showcasing how buildings are sustainable, there is not much need for funding. Although Natasha mentioned there being a fifty dollar budget for classes to provide food and drinks for ambassadors. Ann Arbor, Michigan A2Zero Ambassador Program Ann Arbor, Michigan established a sustainability ambassador program as a part of the city’s A 2Zero Plan to become a more sustainable city and reach carbon neutrality by 2030. The A 2Zero Ambassador Program provides a good model for 15 which to base Oshkosh’s sustainability ambassador program. Ann Arbor ’s ambassador program was started in June of 2020 and is led by Ann Arbor ’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations. The overall goal of the program is to empower and encourage community members to implement sustainable actions into their everyday lives to help achieve the goals set out in the A 2Zero Plan. Attaining this goal involves educating and training motivated community members about actions that advance local sustainability, build community resilience, and other steps leading to carbon neutrality. The A 2Zero Ambassador Program enrolls around fifteen motivated community members and is taught over a twelve week period. Throughout these twelve weeks the participants cover a range of important sustainability topics. Some of the topics the participants learn about include: equity and environmental justice, community sustainability, climate change/action, energy and water efficiency, sustainable transportation, local food, and building a circular economy. At the end of the twelve week training program the participants will have gained the knowledge to discuss and inform other community members about sustainability and actions to take to implement sustainability into their everyday lives. This new set of tools and resources aids in an ambassador's ability to engage and network with community members and organizations to empower people to create positive change that increases sustainability. The ambassadors can achieve 16 this through their commitment to volunteer at least twenty hours to community engagement and activism. Milwaukee, Wisconsin Fresh Coast Guardians Another benchmarking program that serves as a good model to a sustainability ambassador program is the Fresh Coast Guardians. The Fresh Coast Guardians provide a framework of how to fit and fill the niche in the community that the ambassadors are aimed at working within. The Fresh Coast Guardians recognized a problem within their community and then focused on improving those aspects to address those problems. This is a very important and helpful perspective in shaping and guiding the sustainability ambassador program on how it can fit into Oshkosh’s need for sustainable development and capacity building. The biggest benefit that comes from the Fresh Coast Guardians' perspective is the ability to have already created a framework and accomplished sustainable goals within their community. They provide great insight on how a sustainability ambassador program can be framed and implemented. 17 Costs The Sustainability Ambassador program will not be that cost intensive of a program. The initial costs of starting the program will require the most funding to get it off the ground. The benchmarking models discussed earlier in the proposal gained funding from a variety of different sources such as grants or utility bills. The costs of this program will be covered by applying for grants from organizations that provide funding for programs that serve to improve the community and its members. Putting on fundraisers to raise donations for the program will also be a way for the community to help assist with the program's financial needs. Community Investment Grant, Oshkosh Area United Way The Oshkosh Area United Way offers a Community Investment Grant to high-quality programs each year. The United Way invests in programs that are designed to improve the health and education of community members. The mission of the Oshkosh Area United Way is to “improve lives by using people and resources to create innovative solutions to local needs.” The Community Investment Grant has been awarded to and helped fund numerous programs that seek to improve the Oshkosh community for everyone. In 2022, this grant helped to fund 42 programs and organizations that aligned with the goals and focus of the 18 United Way. The goals and objectives of the Sustainability Ambassador program align with the mission of the Oshkosh Area United Way and could be awarded the Community Investment Grant. Community Impact Grant, Oshkosh Area Community Foundation The Oshkosh Area Community Foundation awards a Community Impact Grant that is geared towards nonprofit organizations to improve sustainability. Applicants for this grant are able to choose one of the three following areas to prioritize fundraising, technology, and marketing. The grant deadline is December 1, 2022. In 2019 the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation awarded 11 Community Impact Grants that totalled $163,048. This grant is a great opportunity for the Sustainability Ambassador program to get a head start on operations and continue to build its support and resilience in the community. 19 Barriers The establishment of a Sustainability Ambassador program will have several barriers. The main barrier to the success of this program will be the actual participation of community members. In order for the program to be successful people will need to volunteer their time and effort to bring about positive change within the community. This can be difficult to attain due to people having other priorities and responsibilities in their lives that could deter them from sacrificing their time to participate in the program. This also relates to another barrier of the retention and persistence of volunteers in the program. People tend to be motivated to participate in initiatives or programs at first but oftentimes may lose motivation over time or other things in life may come about. Along with difficulty gaining participants for the program, there may be people who are opposed or don’t believe in what the program hopes to achieve. There are people who do not care about improving sustainability within the community. They may create difficulties or oppose sustainable initiatives that the program or city are trying to accomplish. Gaining the perspectives of these people is important to help understand why they may have opposition to sustainable initiatives. This will help generate and develop compromises that benefit both parties to help reduce future difficulties. 20 Significance of Sustainability For the sustainability ambassador program, there is a general focus in community education, community engagement, and sustainability in general. All of these factors are significant in this program because if there is no commitment to furthering education and sustainability then the program will not succeed. Community engagement also offers a range of benefits across the community and its local government. Increasing overall community sustainability will help increase resilience among the community to be able to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change. Social As mentioned above, the sustainability program would provide Oshkosh citizens with continuing education. Whether its citizens who have received a high school diploma, a college degree, or are currently in school this program will assist in educating the community on how to care for the environment through making lifestyle changes and recognizing the interconnections between the social, environmental, and economic pillars. The program could also help set community values. This exercise would include the ambassadors brainstorming what it is specifically in Oshkosh that they all have a consensus of protecting or prioritizing within their work as ambassadors. This helps build a connection between the ambassadors by having similar goals and connection of what is important to them 21 within the community. There is an opportunity for intergenerational learning with a sustainability ambassador program. When citizens that range in age participate in the program, there are going to be variations in generational thinking especially regarding the concept of sustainability, so the ambassadors will be able to learn from each other. Community engagement is an important aspect to a sustainability ambassadors program because it creates a better understanding and stronger relationships for sustainability growth. Community engagement also offers the ability to enhance social trust among the community and its members while also building trust and confidence with local government. A study conducted by Franklin and Marsden found that many cities sustainability goals were not being met due to the inability of scaling collaboration efforts at different levels. Establishing sustainability ambassadors would generate a communication link connecting community organizations and local governance helping to hurdle barriers hindering them from achieving sustainability goals. Community engagement can also help bridge the gap between diverse community members and allow them to strive for common sustainability goals. The Sustainability Ambassador Program can offer the opportunity for members of the community to participate and engage in a program dedicated to building a better future for tomorrow. 22 A study by Portney and Berry analyzed various communities by categorizing them into three graduating levels from least to most sustainable. Their study found that the most sustainable communities had the highest level of community member participation. Achieving sustainable initiatives throughout the community involves the participation of stakeholders from an array of different backgrounds throughout the community. The role of sustainability ambassadors will aid in increasing community member participation to help meet Oshkosh’s sustainability goals and initiatives. Achieving community sustainability involves meeting the needs of all community members. A crucial component of this is building and strengthening social equity amongst the community. By increasing community engagement the true needs of all community demographics can be identified and objectives to meet these needs can be set. In a study conducted by Laio et al. the authors found that there was greater social equity amongst communities with community ambassadors or citizen task forces. The engagement and outreach by these ambassadors help community members communicate their concerns or needs that can then be relayed by sustainability ambassadors to local governance. Another important aspect of community sustainability is social well-being. Sustainable communities were found to have increased levels of social well-being among community members. Cloutier et al. conducted surveys of community 23 members from sustainable and unsustainable cities and found that people who lived in sustainable communities had greater levels of overall happiness. Fig. 1. Cloutier, et al. "Are sustainable cities “happy” cities? Associations between sustainable development and human well-being in urban areas of the United States." 2014 Increased levels of happiness lead to reduced mental health issues, increased productivity, and greater engagement with fellow community members. More people are going to care about increasing community sustainability and health when their own happiness is heightened. Environmental Through exploring Oshkosh’s natural surroundings,the ambassadors will be able to gain a sense of place. Sense of place means that an individual has a sense of community, understanding of what the local ecosystem provides and how to interact with it. Sustainability ambassadors will also be able to learn and recognize local impacts of the environmental crisis that is currently taking place. This creates resilience and awareness within the community, which Oshkosh strives for. 24 The ambassadors will be able to use community participation and engagement to promote sustainable policies and practices that can help elevate Oshkosh’s sustainable capacity. Through the ambassador program they can promote better education and build movement for sustainability within the community. The ambassadors will have the opportunity to lead the way in sustainable initiatives through the city. Community sustainability can be improved by meeting sustainable initiatives that help improve environmental health and reduce negative impacts. A way to reduce community members' environmental impact is by increasing energy and resource efficiency and conservation. Sustainability ambassadors provide workshops and information on how people can increase household efficiency and reduce the amount of resources consumed in their everyday lives. A study by Middlemiss found that when people participated in community sustainability projects, they reported some aspect of lifestyle or behavioral change related to sustainability. Another aspect of consumption that negatively impacts the environment is the amount of waste created. Proper recycling and disposal techniques can be taught by ambassadors to help reduce the amount going into landfills. Through workshops on household composting, people can learn how to dispose of organic waste that further reduces the amount going to landfills. Sustainability ambassadors can increase community participation that improves 25 environmental health by educating and creating awareness around energy and resource efficiency and waste reduction. Economic By learning about local businesses that are sustainable in themselves, the ambassadors will be able to identify what an eco-economy could look like. This could also lead to ambassadors being inspired to find and pursue sustainable careers near Oshkosh, helping in creating a more diverse and environmentally understanding workforce. A strong local market helps to support and build sustainable communities. Building economic sustainability within communities requires a shift away from global market goods towards purchasing locally made and produced ones. The bottom up approach to sustainability begins with the shift towards building up local markets and services to increase local jobs and keep money within the local economy (Ruzbek 2014). When people choose to purchase goods and services from local businesses the money flow is kept within the community instead of benefiting far away companies. Helping support local markets benefits the people who actually care about Oshkosh and local success instead of filling the pockets of far off companies. Local businesses also help to generate jobs for community members. Local businesses have reduced impacts on the environment and are more easily held accountable for ethical and sustainable business practices. 26 The ambassadors will play a key role in bridging the gap between political and civic ambitions within the community. By getting people involved the ambassadors and community members can come together and influence policymaking that positively impacts the community. By creating engagement within the community, the ambassadors can help build Oshkosh’s sustainability capacity and offer the community members more efficient, resilient, and sustainable ways of living. Conclusion Through the useful ideas that the benchmarking programs provide and the information that the stakeholders provided in support of the Sustainability Ambassador Program, the Oshkosh community could create a very useful and impactful program for the citizens of Oshkosh. This program will provide 27 continuing education, increase community engagement, and overall more sustainable mindsets within the city of Oshkosh. By facilitating greater community participation and engagement, the program will help the city achieve the goals set out in Oshkosh’s Sustainability Plan and create a more cohesive community of motivated and engaged citizens. Works Cited “About Us.”Oshkosh Area United Way, 11 Mar. 2022, https://www.oshkoshunitedway.org/about/. “About Us.”What Are Fresh Coast Guardians? FreshCoastGuardians.com, https://www.freshcoastguardians.com/about-us. 28 Cloutier, Scott, Lincoln Larson, and Jenna Jambeck. "Are sustainable cities “happy” cities? 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