Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE)'S Bi-State Program Save The
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Easygrants ID: 39264 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation NFWF Project ID: 1401.13.039264 LI Sound Futures Fund 2013 - Education and Mini-Grants - Submit Final Programmatic Report (New Metrics) Grantee Organization: Connecticut Fund for the Environment Project Title: CFE/Save the Sound Coastal Cleanup Program (CT) Project Period 11/01/2013 - 12/31/2014 Project Location Coastal areas and inland waterways within the boundaries of the Long Island Sound Watershed, CT. Description (from Proposal) Project Conduct fifty coastal cleanup activities along fifty miles of coastline, recruit forty cleanup captains, and Summary (from engaging and educating 2,000+ volunteers about the impact of floatable debris on Long Island Sound. Proposal) Summary of Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE)’s bi-state program Save the Sound came well Accomplishments within range of meeting its goals for its Coastal Cleanup project in Connecticut in 2014. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funds during this grant cycle (11/01/2013 – 12/31/2014) supported the coordination of 48 beach cleanup events. Of those, we held 37 on or around International Coastal Cleanup Day (September 20) and National Estuaries Day (September 27.) This figure is slightly less than reported in our interim report because three cleanups had to be cancelled because of bad weather. At 48 cleanup events, however, we came well within our benchmark of 50 events. 2014 marked Save the Sound’s 12th consecutive year serving as the Connecticut Coordinator for the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, which mobilizes volunteers around the world to remove trash from beaches and waterways. In all, Save the Sound’s Coastal Cleanup program has brought together thousands of volunteers to remove nearly 140,000 pounds of debris from Connecticut’s coastline. Trash data is provided to the Ocean Conservancy to assist them in their planning and communications. Lessons Learned We learned to encourage Cleanup Captains to actively plan ahead with their volunteers for rain dates. Rainy weather was a factor in cancelling 3 cleanups and resulted in reduced volunteer turnout at additional cleanups. On the positive side, although we don’t benchmark the amount of trash collected for grant purposes, we observed a trend in less trash available to collect at many of our beach cleanup events. We learned that beach cleanups have become more popular in Connecticut and are being held at other times of the year, in addition to the ICC cleanups that we sponsor in September. A growing number of towns have asked us to conduct spring beach cleanups, but our resources do not allow that at this time. Some of those towns, however, have indicated that they may conduct spring cleanups of their own, suggesting that our effort is widely valued in the coastal towns where we have maintained a presence. We also learned about a possible collaboration opportunity for next year with Clean Water Resources Council based in Massachusetts, which is conducting some river cleanups in Connecticut. Activities and Outcomes Funding Strategy: Capacity, Outreach, Incentives Activity / Outcome: LISFF - Outreach/ Education/ Technical Assistance - # of schools participating Description: Enter the number of elementary, middle, and high schools participating in the project Required: Recommended # of schools participating - Current: 10.00 # of schools participating - Grant Completion: 7.00 Notes: The slightly smaller number of schools we worked with was more than offset by the larger number of community organizations we engaged. A different staff coordinator took on the program in 2014 and his outreach focus may have differed slightly from that of his predecessor. Funding Strategy: Capacity, Outreach, Incentives Activity / Outcome: LISFF - Outreach/ Education/ Technical Assistance - # people targeted Description: Enter the number of people targeted by outreach, training, or technical assistance activities Required: Recommended # people targeted - Current: 1000000.00 # people targeted - Grant Completion: 1000000.00 Notes: No change in the number of people impacted by the program. Funding Strategy: Capacity, Outreach, Incentives Activity / Outcome: LISFF - Outreach/ Education/ Technical Assistance - # websites, social media tools Description: Enter the number of websites and other social media tools used to disseminate information about the project Required: Recommended # websites, social media tools - Current: 7.00 # websites, social media tools - Grant Completion: 7.00 Notes: No change in the number of media and social media outlets associated with the program. Funding Strategy: Capacity, Outreach, Incentives Activity / Outcome: LISFF - Outreach/ Education/ Technical Assistance - # workshops, webinars, meetings Description: Enter the number of workshops, webinars, and meetings held to address project activity Required: Recommended # workshops, webinars, meetings - Current: 1.00 # workshops, webinars, meetings - Grant Completion: 2.00 Notes: We added one additional workshop for Cleanup Captains to meet busy schedules. Funding Strategy: Capacity, Outreach, Incentives Activity / Outcome: LISFF - Volunteer participation - # volunteers participating Description: Enter the number of volunteers participating in projects Required: Recommended # volunteers participating - Current: 2000.00 # volunteers participating - Grant Completion: 1375.00 Notes: Weather cancelled three cleanups and several that went ahead in poor weather conditions attracted fewer volunteers than expected, resulting in a reduction in the overall number of volunteers. Funding Strategy: Habitat Restoration Activity / Outcome: LISFF - Beach habitat quality improvements - Miles restored Description: Enter the number of miles restored Required: Recommended Miles restored - Current: 50.00 Miles restored - Grant Completion: 50.00 Notes: The number of miles cleaned remained constant despite the cancellation of several cleanup events because we added three new kayak cleanups, adding mileage at island beaches to our overall number for miles cleaned. The following pages contain the uploaded documents, in the order shown below, as provided by the grantee: Photos - Jpeg Photos - Jpeg Final Report Narrative - Standard The following uploads do not have the same headers and footers as the previous sections of this document in order to preserve the integrity of the actual files uploaded. Final Programmatic Report Narrative Instructions: Save this document on your computer and complete the narrative in the format provided. The final narrative should not exceed ten (10) pages; do not delete the text provided below. Once complete, upload this document into the on-line final programmatic report task as instructed. 1. Summary of Accomplishments In four to five sentences, provide a brief summary of the project’s key accomplishments and outcomes that were observed or measured. Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE)’s bi-state program Save the Sound came well within range of meeting its goals for its Coastal Cleanup project in Connecticut in 2014. National Fish and Wildlife Foundation funds during this grant cycle (11/01/2013 – 12/31/2014) supported the coordination of 48 beach cleanup events. Of those 48, we held 37 on or around International Coastal Cleanup Day (September 20) and National Estuaries Day (September 27.) This figure is slightly less than reported in our interim report because three cleanups had to be cancelled because of bad weather. At 48 cleanup events, however, we came well within our benchmark of 50 events and our volunteers, despite their reduced numbers, met our benchmark of 50 miles cleaned. 2014 marked Save the Sound’s 12th consecutive year serving as the Connecticut Coordinator for the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, which mobilizes volunteers around the world to remove trash from beaches and waterways. In all, Save the Sound’s Coastal Cleanup program has brought together thousands of volunteers to remove nearly 140,000 pounds of debris from Connecticut’s coastline. Trash data is provided to the Ocean Conservancy to assist them in their planning and communications. 2. Project Activities & Outcomes Activities Describe and quantify (using the approved metrics referenced in your grant agreement) the primary activities conducted during this grant. Briefly explain discrepancies between the activities conducted during the grant and the activities agreed upon in your grant agreement. Our primary goals were: Schedule and coordinate a minimum of 50 cleanup events, including at least 35 on or around International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day and National Estuaries Day 2014. We successfully coordinated a total of 48 cleanup events across Connecticut, 37 of which were held on or around ICC Day (September 20) or National Estuaries Day (September 27), with the remainder held in October, meeting or coming well within range of our target goals. Recruit a minimum of 40 Cleanup Captains to lead a minimum of 2,000 volunteers: We recruited 47 Cleanup Captains who led a total of 1,375 volunteers. The weather was rainy on many of our scheduled cleanup dates. Poor weather cancelled some cleanups and for those that went forward on poor weather days, our volunteer turnout was lower than anticipated. Engage three to five corporate partners: We met our benchmark, working with four corporate partners that led cleanups in the area of their businesses, encouraged their employees to attend and helped build community around the issue of clean beaches. Those businesses were: