EcoDistricts Organization Engagement and Governance June 2011, Version 1.1 www.pdxinstitute.org/ecodistricts Copyright Copyright © 2011 Portland Sustainability Institute. All rights reserved. Acknowledgements The EcoDictricts Toolkits were developed by the Portland Sustainability Institute (PoSI) in partnership with practitioners from the EcoDistricts Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) in 2010-2011. Its publication would not have been possible without the dedication of these many volunteers. PoSI staff led the development, writing and research. TAC members reviewed draft toolkits and, in some cases, provided content. In addition, a targeted group of topic area experts provided a peer review. PoSI would like to thank the following individuals and organizations for their contributions and dedication to this process: Organization Working Group Jim Johnson (Chair), Oregon Solutions Paul Leistner, Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement Jill Long, Lang Powell Tim O’Neal, Southeast Uplift Ethan Seltzer, Portland State University EcoDistricts Toolkit Organization Development, June 2011, Version 1.1 2 Contents Introduction .................................................................................... 4 Phase 1 – Engagement.................................................................. 6 Step 1. Engaging Stakeholders .................................................................6 Determine Representatives in Your Community...........................6 Make an Inventory of Community Resources.................................7 Define the Message and Goals..............................................................7 Step 2. Creating an EcoDistrict Steering Committee......................8 Step 3. Developing a Vision and Priorities...........................................9 Create the EcoDistrict Vision ................................................................9 Document Commitments......................................................................10 Phase 2 - Governance...................................................................11 Step 1: Determine Stakeholders’ Roles and Responsibilities ....... 11 Responsibilities and Tasks of the Governance Entity................. 11 Powers Needed to Achieve EcoDistrict Goals ............................. 12 Step 2: Formalize the EcoDistrict Governance Structure............ 13 Why Create an EcoDistrict Governance Entity?.......................... 13 Organizational Options.......................................................................... 15 Conclusion..................................................................................... 24 Appendix A: Neighborhood Scale Engagement and Governance Case Studies.......................................................... 25 Appendix B: EcoDistricts Engagement Roadmap............... 27 Appendix C: Lloyd Crossing Governance Recommendations ...................................................................... 29 Appendix D: Organizational Documents ................................ 31 Notes ..............................................................................................40 EcoDistricts Toolkit Organization Development, June 2011, Version 1.1 3 Introduction Why Become an EcoDistrict? EcoDistricts™ are a comprehensive strategy to accelerate sustainable development at the neighborhood scale by integrating building and infrastructure projects with community and individual action. They are the right scale to accelerate sustainability — small enough to innovate quickly and big enough to have a meaningful impact. An EcoDistrict is a neighborhood committed to sustainability with empowered people, green buildings and smart infrastructure. The EcoDistricts approach recognizes the potential for neighborhood- scale actions to meet sustainability goals by combining the “top-down” investment and policy commitments of a city and utilities with the “bottom-up” participation of neighbors motivated to improve the quality of their communities. EcoDistricts bring real projects that improve sustainability in your neighborhood — such as training and education; social marketing; demand management; resource sharing; performance dashboards; Project in Action: district energy; building retrofits; green infrastructure; wastewater treatment; and smart grid, to name a few. These projects all have Solarize Portland valuable outcomes to improve quality of life, like savings on utility bills, The Southeast creating jobs and building community neighborhood coalition has pioneered a solar Why Should You Care? bulk-purchasing It’s your community. And it can become a vital, sustainable place with program that brings environmental, social and economic returns for you and your neighbors. individual homeowners Sustainability requires careful and consistent coordination between together to purchase local property owners, community members, cities, and public and solar energy systems in private utilities. This suggests new relationships and a new organizing bulk to save money. structure to create the capacity to implement projects. The program was so successful that it has Building local capacity (to understand sustainability and to gain skills to manage projects) through engagement and local governance is also been rolled out in essential to achieving long-term sustainability goals in a community. Northeast Portland, EcoDistricts provide a way to guide and take advantage of individual Southwest Portland, and public investments to strengthen and enhance a neighborhood’s and Beaverton. sustainability. This capacity building includes two major components: www.solarizeportland.org 1. Engagement, through community outreach and partnerships, is critical to promote long-term neighborhood stewardship and community action. 2. A neighborhood governing entity — with the resources and skills to lead the EcoDistrict — is critical to implementing community priorities. This entity may be a new organization, it may grow from an existing neighborhood or business association, or it may be an alliance of organizations. What’s Your Role? EcoDistricts Toolkit Organization Development, June 2011, Version 1.1 4 As an EcoDistrict, your community commits to the following stepsi: 1. District Organization – engagement and local governance 2. District Assessment – setting the right project priorities 3. Project Feasibility – determining technical and economic feasibility of priority projects 4. Project Development – implementing high impact priority projects 5. District Monitoring – tracking performance to understand impact of projects As a community member, resident, property owner or developer, you are empowered through EcoDistricts. EcoDistricts provide an opportunity to shape your neighborhood and for you to become a leader. It means that you and your neighbors are willing to accept some risk in being the first to try a new approach, because you recognize the potential environmental, community and economic benefits of the approach when successful. EcoDistricts Toolkit Organization Development, June 2011, Version 1.1 5 Phase 1 – Engagement The Big Picture The purpose of engagement is to build interest in a neighborhood EcoDistrict and ultimately create buy-in for a shared vision. It is critical to the long-term goal of creating a local governance structure that continually works towards sustainability improvements on behalf of the neighborhood. It is important to remember that sustainability is ultimately about people and that the engagement phase of EcoDistricts is in many ways the most critical to success. EcoDistrict engagement presents an opportunity for building neighborhood capacity, because, as Ethan For Further Seltzer writes in Making EcoDistricts, “it is a scale at which citizens can be empowered, not just to interact with city agencies and public sector Information bureaucracies and legislative processes, but to interact in effective ways Consider the United with each other.”ii Way Cultural The process assumes that there are at least a couple of willing and Complementarity interested stakeholders in the district who want to work together to Model, which was create an integrated sustainability vision and action plan for their designed to facilitate community. new ways of thinking One you have a core group of EcoDistrict believers (or your public about and discussing sector planning partners), it is time to engage with your neighborhood different cultures: and develop an outreach plan. Keep in mind the unique dynamics of http://www.unitedway your community when identifying partners and stakeholders, to make twincities.org/ourimpa sure that your conversations are representative of the community’s ct/culturaldynamics_c wants and needs. omplementarity.cfm All of these community engagement activities require the EcoDistrict organizing leadership to do outreach and engagement to get the community involved in the process. This section will help you reach out to your neighbors and develop an action plan to identify your shared vision. Step 1. Engaging Stakeholders Determine Representatives in Your Communityiii You probably already have a good sense of the people in your community, in terms of demographics, interests, and needs. But given realistic time constraints you might have to focus on representative groups, recognizing that you can’t talk to all the thousands of neighbors in a residential district. Involve your community in determining which characteristics are important in a representative. You might want to know: • Age and other demographic characteristics