Strategic Outreach Education Program for Local Elected Officials

Description

This report, prepared by the Ecologix Group, Inc. under contract to the Chesapeake Bay Trust, provides recommendations for the design of a strategic outreach and education program for elected officials that will achieve the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement Local Leadership Outcome: Continually increase the knowledge and capacity of local officials on issues related to water resources and in the implementation of economic and policy incentives that will support local conservation actions.

With the help of the Chesapeake Bay Program Local Leadership Workgroup and Local Government Advisory Committee to the Chesapeake Executive Council (LGAC), the EcoLogix Project Team met with local leaders representing state and local governments in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Reflecting this input and guidance, recommendations are made in five key areas:

1. The content that needs to be conveyed to local elected officials in order to increase their knowledge and capacity for water resource protection and restoration;
2. Informational programs and delivery mechanisms;
3. The best way to coordinate and focus these delivery mechanisms to tailor to the needs of local elected officials;
4. How much the program will cost and the recommended funding sources; and
5. How to measure progress in meeting the goals and milestones of this program.

This report builds on the work of prior project phases. In 2015, Environmental Leadership Strategies (ELS), including members of the EcoLogix team, interviewed 18 local leaders in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. In 2016, a survey was shared with local officials, including through four focus groups. We sought to learn what issues are most important to local communities, and how natural resource programs relate to overall community priorities. The Strategic Outreach and Education Program recommended here reflects the key elements that local officials highlighted as most important and useful to them.