National Environmental Education Advancement Project, Fall 2000

This is a text only version of the NEEAP newsletter.  If you would like paper copies, please contact our office at 715-346-4748 or neeap@uwsp.edu.

Community Outreach Project for EE: Heading Toward Stronger EE Programs Locally

by Abby Ruskey and Kerry Eastman, NEEAP

If you think EE capacity building at the state level is inspiring, look at what the future holds based on the efforts of local-level teams in Wisconsin! Five Wisconsin community-based teams formed this spring and convened in summer to increase support for EE in their communities.

The teams are all part of the Community Outreach Project for EE (COPEE), a pilot project that applies capacity building principles and tools locally. COPEE is funded by the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board and the National Wildlife Federation. Staff of the National EE Advancement Project (NEEAP) launched the project by working with state-level EE leaders to nominate local EE leaders who in turn, formed teams. The teams are from Eau Claire, Green Bay, Madison, Oshkosh, and Waukesha.

Team members include teachers, administrators, nature center directors and staff, business owners, community development specialists, local artists, college and university staff, county employees, parents, and other community members. Teams in the program must meet regularly and hold at least one seminar for a local leadership group (such as the Chamber of Commerce leadership program) or an invited audience this fall. Teams are encouraged to demonstrate the value of environmental education through local examples, and to educate seminar paticipants about what they can do to support quality EE programs.

To help teams in the formation of their seminars, a Community Outreach Leadership Clinic was held on July 13-15th in Stevens Point. Like NEEAP�s national model, this clinic focused on the teams and their needs, but also emphasized planning, networking and professional development.

Nineteen state and national EE leaders brought experiences and materials to inspire participants. Wisconsin-based resource people included Ken Leinbach of the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee, Cyndi Neeb and other teachers in the Montello School District implementing the Adopt-A-Lake program, and Jack Finger who described the comprehensive, K-8 EE program in the School District of Waukesha. Greg Wise, University of Wisconsin-Extension, presented the "Community-Based EE Model" that he and Elaine Andrews developed. National programs were represented by Cindy Kreifels from the Groundwater Foundation and Sheila Lewicki from the Adopt-A-Watershed program. The teams also heard inspiring examples from Kentucky, a state that is recognized for its success in reforming education locally.

Others from the Wisconsin Center for EE, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (Project WILD and Learning Tree), Project WET-Wisconsin, UW-Arboretum�s Earth Partnership Program, K-12 Energy Education Program, and Wisconsin EE Board also attended and shared their programs and resources.

And what came of the Leadership Clinic? Team plans not only included outlines for EE outreach seminars, but goals for strengthening EE locally. The team from Oshkosh is planning to find support for an EE center and the team from Green Bay will hold a series of plays about the local environment in several area schools culminating in an EE demonstration day at the Bay Beach Sanctuary and a town meeting about how to increase support for EE. In Eau Claire, a series of seminars is planned, Madison is planning to create an EE major at the area�s Jesuit college, and in Waukesha, the team is planning to involve alumni of the district�s 20-year EE program in a process to retain funds and take next steps to further incorporate EE into K-12 schools.

But there was more....professional relationships and friendships were developed, skills were learned and honed, and "community" was built as this committed and talented group of EE leaders set the stage for what is expected to be a growing network of local level EE teams throughout Wisconsin and nationally. As J.Allen Johnson, Director of the Multicultural Center in Green Bay stated, "When I first arrived here I was new to EE and a little bit wary of this group, but I leave here excited and committed to my team and what we can accomplish".

We are looking forward to hearing about the local seminars each team will provide in their communities this fall and to the strengthening of their local EE programs in the years to come.

The Challenge Zone: A Partnering Project

by Robert Olson, EE Consultant

Have you wondered what an increase in outreach, promotion and diversity would do for your EE organization? The Challenge Zone, a new project of NEEAP, funded by the Tides Foundation and the National EE and Training Foundation, is helping to do just that with the central idea that diversity and outreach are crucial to the development and sustainability of effective EE organizations.

A pilot project, the Challenge Zone Project is beginning work with three states; Idaho, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Lori Nixon, Project Consultant, says, "Challenge Zone is about taking risks. Each state is being asked to take a candid look at their internal structures and then identify and eliminate roadblocks to success. In short, this project is about blazing new trails for other states to follow."

The Challenge Zone Project�s goals are straight forward:

* increase an awareness of diversity in each organization

* increase the diversity of the state EE organizations involved

* build the collaborative, communication, outreach and promotional skills of the leaders of state EE organizations

* develop a plan in each state to recruit and retain new partners over the long term

* update and enhance the implementation of state strategic plans

Karen Reagor, Executive Director with the Kentucky Environmental Education Association, says this about the Challenge Zone: "After a review of what we defined as KAEE strengths/weaknesses and our goals as an organization, it became apparent that the leadership offered by Challenge Zone was just what our organization needs to identify a clearer direction for future sustainability, both in terms of membership and financial sustainability."

Initial meetings were held with boards of the three state associations this summer. The results of these meetings provided project consultants with input for creating marketing surveys for target audiences such as educators, businesses, agencies, and community organizations. Consultants will provide ongoing coaching and support for the organizations as they work to implement Challenge Zone objectives. Follow us as we break new ground in our development of diverse and sustainable EE organizations.

Live From NEEAP

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

As the summer comes to a close, so does the five-year consortium of the Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP) funded through the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). We are celebrating the national, regional, state and local EE goals that have been accomplished because of support through this partnership. NEEAP has been fortunate to work with all of our EE 2000 and other state partners and with our national partners in EETAP. We look forward to continuing to strengthen these ties. At press time, we are waiting to hear about the status of our proposal to the USEPA for the next phase of this national consortium.

This issue of The EE Advocate highlights environmental education (EE) efforts at the local level through two feature articles: "Community Outreach Project for EE: Heading Towards Stronger EE Programs Locally" and "On the Horizon: Networking Comprehensive EE Programs at the Local Level".

Another regular feature At the Grassroots discusses partnerships and coalition building, a necessity in EE capacity building. And speaking of partnerships�be sure to read Robert Olson�s article "The Challenge Zone: A Partnering Project". This unique pilot challenges and supports leaders in state EE organizations to increase outreach, promotion and diversity. EE organizations at the state level are also featured in our News From Here and There column and we also feature an article by Shari Wilson about EPA�s Region 7 Leadership Clinic.

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new Administrative Assistant, Sue O�Keefe, Graduate Student, Becky Weber, and Student Intern, Kimberly Klatt. .

Wishing you a wonderful Autumn season,

The NEEAP Staff

Kentucky

Kentucky has been an active participant in two innovative capacity building projects this past year. The Kentucky Association for Environmental Education (KAEE) received a $2,000 grant from NEEAP, through the Challenge Zone Project (see details on page 5). KAEE plans to develop and implement a 3-year plan for collaboration, outreach and promotion. KAEE is also utilizing the services of NEEAP�s Fundraising EE Outreach Team, a project funded by EETAP. KAEE plans to focus on securing their financial stability with the help of this team.

Steps have also been taken by the Kentucky Environmental Education Council (KEEC) to further the state�s master plan, Land, Legacy and Learning: Making Education Pay for Kentucky�s Environment. KEEC brought experts together to align portions of the state plan most essential to environmental literacy to the national standards. They are also planning workshops this fall for non-formal educators to make partnering with formal educators more effective.

New Mexico

The School Science and Mathematics Association will be holding its national conference in Albuquerque this year October 19-21. The New Mexico Science Teachers Association, the Environmental Education Association of New Mexico and the New Mexico Council of Teachers of Mathematics will host this event. This joint conference, titled Celebrating Diversity, is the first collaborative effort among these organizations. For more information or to register for this conference, go to http://www.eea.nm.org/ or http://www.ssma.org/conf00.html.

Virginia

Virginia is taking exciting new strides toward building environmental education (EE) capacity statewide. With the support of their Governer, Secretary of Natural Resources and head of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the state is proposing to establish an Office of EE in their DEQ. The Virginia Resource-Use Education Council will serve as staff to an Environmental Education Advisory Committee this year that will assess needs and priorities for EE in the state. The council will host a two-day planning forum to: 1) provide guidance to the newly established committee, 2) showcase some of the best formal and nonformal EE programs in the state, 3) identify gaps and priorities for strengthening EE in Virginia, 4) develop a vision and a practical planning document to guide future activities, and 5) share information with state partners.

On the Horizon: Networking Comprehensive EE Programs at the Local-Level

At its core, the term "capacity building" means to increase your ability to achieve your goals. In the case of environmental education (EE), the overarching goal is an environmentally literate and responsible public. This goal is shared by a wide range of individuals, organizations, and governments across the United States and internationally. Yet in order to reach this goal, we need to build leadership, pool resources and create an infrastructure that will support quality programs providing life long learning in EE.

After almost a decade of working to increase EE capacity at the state level, we must now focus resources on EE capacity building at the local level. For it is at the local level where "the rubber hits the road" in the teaching and learning of EE. The infrastructure being built across the nation to support quality EE programs will not be complete without a broad network of successful and comprehensive local level EE programs in place. Without question, the extent to which we will achieve environmental literacy and environmental sustainability will be the extent to which local level EE programs are developed and institutionalized.

Programs at the Local Level look like?

Comprehensive EE programs at the local level are as varied as villages, towns, cities, counties, and regions themselves. However, research conducted by Ruskey and Wilke (1994) showed that there are some common components developed by communities with comprehensive EE programs. In the early 1990�s Ruskey and Wilke researched the success factors that led to a nearly complete or full incorporation of EE into K-12 schools and nonformal institutions in five local communities. These models included an inner city neighborhood school system (elementary, middle, and high school in Oakland, CA), two counties (Calvert County, MD and Custer County, SD), one school district (Delaware Valley, PA), and a multi-county region (Southwest MN). Through extensive interviews with EE leaders, Ruskey and Wilke found a combination of the following elements to be in place in each of these five communities.

This list of 14 components of a comprehensive local level EE program is by no means exhaustive, but it demonstrates the types of initiatives that individually and combined will strengthen EE. Through strategic planning processes, groups of local education, civic, business, environmental, and other leaders will be able to best determine which components are possible and needed in their communities.

Why now?

Many programs working to develop local EE capacity are in place. The field of EE is grassroots by nature and there are many veteran and newly developed programs that are contributing to the process of building local capacity for EE (see resource list on page 8 for a few of them). A handful of states have also begun to create outreach networks. However, a systematic approach nationally to link these programs and leverage resources in order to develop Comprehensive Local-Level EE Programs is just beginning. Contact NEEAP and look for further updates in The EE Advocate if you�re interested in this effort!

The national and state EE capacity building networks are ready. For the past 10 years the field of EE has focused in part on the need to become more organized and strategic at the national and state levels. With help from the US Environmental Protection Agency, the EE and Training Partnership supported the development of leaders and organizations at the state level. Comprehensive State-Level EE Programs (including EE grants programs, EE guidelines, EE resource and information networks, preservice and inservice teacher training programs, and more) have been achieved, and an infrastructure now exists or is in development in over half of the states. These state networks and the national organizations connected to them can help to support, as well as learn and benefit from the development of local level capacity building networks.

The education reform movement along with the needs of communities provides an open door to EE. The needs of students, schools and communities are a major concern of business leaders, elected and appointed officials and other decision makers. Quality EE programs have much to offer in addressing these needs. It is up to us to match the national, state and local resources available through EE to these needs at the local level.

The resources and expertise unique to partnerships and coalitions are needed in order to increase support for EE at the state and local level and to achieve EE initiatives. Generally speaking coalitions are short term and involve many organizations and individuals. Partnerships may involve two or more organizations and be short term or long ranging. While both partnerships and coalitions are central to the work of EE leadership, creating and maintaining them entails great skill and effort. Following are a few guidelines that can be applied in both cases. These guidelines were developed based on the experiences of state and local level EE capacity building groups, combined with handbooks and research in this area of organization building.

Choose a unifying goal(s). This is not as simple as it looks. Partners must put their "cards on the table" and choose a common goal or set of goals that will both strengthen EE locally, in the state, regionally and/or nationally, but also address the self-interests of all cooperating organizations.

Be as inclusive as possible. This guideline is especially important in the case of coalitions where one of the reasons for developing the coalition is to establish or reinforce the power-base of support for EE. Take time to list out all possible stakeholders and invite them into the process as early as possible to ensure their buy-in and to benefit from their input. Not all invited will join the coalition, but you can bet that those that do will value the opportunity and be a stronger partner in the long run. (For more on this topic, see the last issue of The EE Advocate for an article by Emilio Williams on Cultural Competency and the article in this issue about the Challenge Zone project.)

Recognize that contributions from groups and individuals will vary. Make the most out of the talents and resources available in your coalition or partnership. As a group review what each organization and individual feel they can contribute to the effort. These contributions will change over time, but if you have this discussion in your first meetings you will engender a culture of support for all members and recognition of the resources you hold as a collective. You will also see where there are gaps to be filled by future partners.

Put aside past differences. There is broad interest in EE and EE coalitions are often made up of people and organizations that have been at odds in the past. Differences must be left at the door and a spirit of cooperation practiced by all for greatest success.

Develop an action plan for collective action. A strategic action plan will be the most important tool used by the coalition/partnership to define the goals and steps, responsibilities, timeline and budget needed to strengthen EE.

Structure decision making carefully. Determine roles early in the process and ensure that these roles are discussed and documented. Decide what the decision making structure will be and who will be in the roles of spokesperson, meeting facilitators/leaders, follow-up, budget management, outreach, etc.

Hold effective meetings. Great meetings minimally involve: a) preparation; b) a skilled facilitator; c) engaged participants; d) a focus on taking action; e) information sharing; and f) follow-up. A meeting or series of meetings without these elements can result in low moral, potential loss of members, and lack of progress on coalition goals.

Recognize accomplishments and celebrate when the time is right. Always give individual and organizational credit when a contribution has been made or a job well done is completed. Celebration in all of its forms is very important and should be woven into meetings and letters/notes for smaller scale recognition and parties and other forms of large scale recognition planned when major victories are achieved.

Resources:

Ruskey, Abigail and Richard Wilke (1994) Promoting Environmental Education: An Action Handbook for Strengthening EE in Your State and Community. University of Wisconsin Foundation Press.

Winer, Michael, and Ray, Karen (1994) Collaboration Handbook:Creating, Sustaining, and Enjoying the Journey. Amherst Wilder Foundation.

Doyle, Michael and David Straus (1976). How to Make Meetings Work. The Berkeley Publishing Group.

The planning for the Region 7 Environmental Education Leadership Clinic actually began about three years ago, with an "EE Summit" held in Nebraska City by EPA Region 7 and the states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. At this meeting, the four states decided to work more closely together on regional EE issues and the Region 7 EE Leadership Clinic concept was born.

The clinic was held July 26-28, 2000, in Nebraska City, Nebraska, at the beautiful Lied Conference Center and modeled on the national NEEAP/NAAEE Leadership Clinics. Funding for the clinic was provided by EPA Region 7, NEEAP, NAAEE, the Missouri Department of Conservation-Office of Environmental Education, and each of the 4 state EE associations. In addition, the employers of the planning committee members provided considerable assistance.

Extensive planning for the clinic was done by a planning committee consisting of two representatives from each state. The planning committee worked hard to determine issues of mutual importance among the states that could be addressed at the clinic. Utilizing variations of the formats experienced at the national, Region 6, and Illinois leadership clinics, the planning committee was able to put together a leadership clinic for Region 7 that reflected the needs of the region as well as the individual state EE associations.

A particular challenge for clinic planners was the desire of the states to provide the leadership clinic experience to 20-member teams from each state. How would these teams be recruited? How would they work together to develop action plans designed to address their goals? Each state worked to recruit its own members through invitation, application, and/or nomination processes. Team members signed a Commitment Form on which they committed to volunteer at least 12 hours of time working on an EE project in the six months following the clinic. Once the teams arrived at the clinic and determined which goals would be priorities, they divided up into subteams to work on the goals. The last team planning session was devoted to subteam reports and receiving input from the other team members on the action plans that were developed.

We kicked off the clinic with a fantastic multimedia overview put together by Celeste Prussia, starring the members of the planning committee. A special weather report by Carolyn Cleveland reassured everyone that the weather would remain sunny and perfect for great accomplishments at the clinic and Emilio Williams then set the tone for the clinic by reminding us what could be accomplished by working together. Team planning sessions were intermingled with concurrent sessions focusing on board dynamics and organization, funding, and marketing. General sessions were presented by Carol Weisman, whose inspiring talk gave us all confidence that we can raise the funds for our programs, and Corky McReynolds, whose Open Space session was one of the most popular parts of the clinic.

We were especially privileged to have several Region 7 EPA resource people at the clinic. Seven EPA staff served as team facilitators and did a tremendous job in assisting the teams with developing their action plans. Also, Karen Flournoy and Patrick Bustos with the EPA Region 7 Office of External Affairs attended the clinic and Gary Bertram, webmaster for Region 7�s "Kid�s Page" and "Teacher�s Lounge" participated in the Share Fair. Region 7 Administrator Dennis Grams joined us and was loudly cheered by the clinic participants for providing so much support for the clinic.

The four state teams made tremendous progress at the leadership clinic in developing action plans, bonding with each other and with the other teams, and learning more about board development, marketing, and funding. The challenge now is to implement the action plans and keep these leaders involved in their EE associations and EE projects within their states. A six-month follow-up will assess the progress and long-term impact of the Region 7 Leadership Clinic on the goals of each participating state.

Conference sessions and symposia will provide a forum for reflecting on the roles our cultural and ecological diversity play in shaping EE. By examining cultural and ecological diversity, synergistic relationships can be built that will improve EE and the world in which we live. Choose from sessions that explore timely and important culture and biodiversity topics in EE. The 2000 Conference will have over 300 concurrent sessions including workshops, symposia, hands-on sessions, presentations, interact discussions, poster research sessions, and keynote speakers. Opportunities for networking exist through special events such as the EE Fiesta, Share Fair, Curriculum and Resources Fair, and Authors� Corner. Plus� don�t miss Field Trips, Job and Resume Notebooks, beaches, and sights and sounds of the border.

Leadership Diversity Through Local EE Capacity Building (Session 224)

Local community-based EE teams throughout Wisconsin convened to provide local seminars that communicate the value of EE and result in action steps. Hear how EE leaders are reaching out to community leaders to increase inderstanding of and support for EE.

Saturday, October 21 10:15-11:00 AM Radisson - Grand Ballroom D

Reaching Diversity Through the "Challenge Zone: A Partnering Project" (Session 376)

The "Challenge Zone" project worked with three state EE organizations to increase their diversity and impact. States involved were those that committed to work both internally and externally to increase diversity, participation and collaborations with new partners and constituencies.

Thursday, October 19 3:30-4:15 PM Convention Center - Room 203

The Affiliates Partnership will team up with the International Commission and have a "Welcome/Making Connections" table near the conference registration site to provide information on the activities over the past year. Also affiliate partners will bring along materials to share with conference attendees. A highlight of the Welcome Table will be a large map of North America and the World. Conference participants will be asked to indicate on the map where they are from, creating a visual representation of geographical diversity.

As an incentive for conference attendees to learn more about NAAEE, the Affiliates Partnership and the International Commission, a scavenger hunt will be held on Wednesday and Thursday. The winner (you must be present to win) will be announced at the general Affiliates meeting on Thursday, October, 19th at 3:30 pm. You could win free conference registration to the 2001 NAAEE Conference in Little Rock, AR.

For more information about the Affiliates Partnership Events contact, Bob McAfee at arkenved@aol.com or Margie Menzies at mmenzies@glaquarium.org. Information about the International Commission activities is available from Sabiha Daudi at daudi.2@osu.edu.

For more information or to register on-line go to http://naaee.org/2000conference.html

Far from exhaustive, the following books can get you started on local level EE capacity building:

Ruskey and Wilke, Promoting Environmental Education: An Action Handbook for Strengthening EE in Your State and Community (1994). While currently out of print, the two chapters dealing with comprehensive local level EE program components and case studies can be ordered from NEEAP for $5.

Peter Senge, Schools that Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents and Everyone who Cares about Education Senge�s Fifth Discipline Fieldbook gave an educational twist to organizational development. This volume applies the "learning organization" approach to schools. ISBN: O-38549-323-1

Linda Lambert, Building Leadership Capacity in Schools The only book of it�s kind that looks to teachers as leaders. Compelling and practical. ISBN: 0-87120-307-3

A list of organizations� and programs� websites that provide quality local level EE services will be available on the NEEAP website at http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/neeap/NEEAPServices/Newsletters/fa00oh.htm

Grants from $5,000 to $250,000 are being awarded by the US Environmental Protection Agency under the National Environmental Education Act. Go to http://www.epa.gov/enviroed/grants or contact your region coordinator to request a solicitation notice containing the necessary information and forms for the EE grants. Applications will be due November 15.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reorganized their website. A new area called "Education Matters" covers a new topic each week which is supplemented by a short piece on education activities related to that topic (mainly EPA�s education activities). This new area also includes a monthly feature on "issues" in the field like linking EE and education reform. Check it out at http://www.epa.gov/

Free Opportunity For Organizational Support - Seize It Now!

The EE Barter Network is a new decentralized resource that allows EE organizations and individuals to directly exchange resources by bartering. To be eligible to use the barter network, you simply need to register your organization online today. To register, go to http://www.edgateway.net/eebarter. Need Help? Have Questions? Contact: Michelle Kirk, EE Barter Network Coordinator at mkirk@wested.org or 415-615-3208 or NEEAP at neeap@uwsp.edu or 715-346-4748.

Adopt-A-Watershed is a K-12 school-community learning experience that uses a local watershed as a living laboratory for hands-on activities. Weaving education with community, this program encourages not only science education and water stewardship, but community involvement as well. For more information about Adopt-A-Watershed check out their website at http://www.adopt-a-watershed.org/ or write to 98B Clinic AVE, Box 1850, Hayfork, CA 96041-1850 or call 530-628-5334, fax 530-628-4212, or email aaw@Adopt-A-Watershed.org.

What�s the Groundwater Guardian Program?

In 1994, The Groundwater Foundation began this program to support, recognize and connect communities taking voluntary steps to protect the groundwater in their area. Communities enter the program by establishing a local Groundwater Guardian Team, who then work to implement groundwater protection activities. For more information or to order a free copy of A Guide to Groundwater Guardian, contact the Groundwater Foundation at 1-800-858-4844 or http://www.groundwater.org.

Discounted Office Supplies for Nonprofits

The Purchasing Services Agency (PSA) allows nonprofits the opportunity to pay less for goods and services such as office supplies, computers, furniture, janitorial services, and more. An organization�s annual membership fee depends on their budget size and, according to PSA, most organizations save more than their fee within the first two months. Find out more at http://www.psagency.org or call (888) 488-0772.