Board Minutes – March 8, 2007

Minutes submitted by Lisa Mastny

 

 

Dick suggested a provision to enable e-mail votes to get into the permanent record. It was resolved that the Secretary would include any new resolutions passed by email during the preceding month in an appendix to the minutes.

 

Julie e-mailed the following update;

 

 

Tom noted that Durango Natural Foods, Nature’s Oasis, and Sunnyside Farms Market will be the three main businesses studied, and will be compared to Albertsons and City Market. He said the study will give each store a worksheet to fill out, and this will provide information that will be used to determine what fraction of the store’s income is spent locally vs. leaves Durango (the percentage, not specific dollar amounts). Survey takers will ask what share of the spending goes to such things as buyers, employees, rent, and then ask employees how they spend their money. Tom noted that Sunnyside, for example, buys its meat from the slaughterhouse, so a lot of that money will stay local.

 

Jim asked whether this would be an aggregate for each store. Tom said the challenge is to define what the local area is and suggested it might extend to the larger region. Jim noted that Albertsons used to purchase more locally than they do now.

 

Dick said this study should be a useful contribution to future sustainability action plans. Jim noted that a few years ago, Ed Morlan was looking at multiplier effects for different value-added products and found that agriculture has a very high multiplier. Katy noted that Growing Partners is looking into a buy local campaign and education initiatives.

 

Tom said he thinks there will be a big difference in findings between employees at local groceries vs. those at chains in how they spend their money. Rebecca added that there may also be a difference in their general attitude, noting that one employee who moved from City Market to DNF appeared to be much happier at DNF. Katy noted that this doesn’t reflect pay, since City Market pays $2 more an hour than DNF and $1 more than Nature’s Oasis.

Rebecca said that in her outreach to local churches, it would be useful to have a small “soundbite” document that explains what sustainability is. She said she imagines a 3x8 piece of paper with definitions on one side and examples, the SASCO logo, and other information on the other side. She asked board members if they knew of any good examples of sustainability that would create a picture in people’s minds. She noted that while people have heard the word, they don’t really know what it means. She said it would also be good to add the word “stewardship” when talking about sustainability.

 

Sue noted that the word “responsible” is also helpful to people. Katy pointed to the definition of sustainability that Growing Partners has used: ecologically responsible, economically viable, and socially just. Tom suggested talking to Jerry at Sunnyside Market, which is a good local example of how much money is saved in transport. Katy said Farm to School was also a good local example.

 

Rebecca also said she was looking for a good soundbite description of the multiplier study. She then read a quote about sustainability from Forrest Carter’s classic The Education of Little Tree.

 

Rebecca also said that she needs someone to help her go talk to people. She suggested sending an e-mail to the membership asking for volunteers. Lisa said she would add a notice to the e-newsletter.

 

Werner said the group should look over the SASCO PowerPoint presentations and revise them, maybe creating a short and long version. He said the short version should be tied to the Ambassadors Committee soundbite sheet and could be a useful outreach tool for the committee.

 

Rebecca noted that SASCO is developing a range of useful resources that can be used in different ways. She added that the church people she’s met with don’t want too much information—they typically just agree to meet and ask basic questions regarding who we are and about the general concept of sustainability. She said it would be good to have different versions of materials for different audiences.

 

Dick noted that the social justice angle is key to reaching out to faith communities and reiterated that social justice and social welfare are very much a part of the SASCO mission. Jim observed that in the agriculture field, the environmental angle of sustainability caught on first. Rebecca said that she has described sustainability very simply and non-abstractly: it’s about people having food to eat, shelter to stay warm with, jobs, and transportation to get there.

 

Dick said SASCO should revisit its mission statement and aim for a pithier message. Rebecca added that we should keep tweaking our website, so it grabs people. She said the first pages people look at should be a hook.

 

Denise noted that there are a wide range of videos related to sustainability, including ones targeted at the religious sector. Rebecca said that one minister had asked whether SASCO might be willing to come teach a class. And another asked about how he/she could put this information into a sermon. She said all three faith groups she has spoken with so far are looking for ways to be involved in the community. “There’s a demand…” She noted that one immediate step would be to send them membership forms. Jim added that Marcus at the FLC Environmental Center is working on project with religious groups, and this may be a source of synergy or support.

 

Denise noted that she is the regional coordinator of the mountain desert community UU Ministry for the Earth. She says they have materials that churches can use for green sanctuaries, simplicity circles, etc. She said she wouldn’t mind helping Rebecca with a workshop, ideas, resources, etc. She said she is also trying to make SASCO connections in Archuleta County, but could pull back on this to provide more help in La Plata County, with Rebecca’s guidance. She noted that ASU in Phoenix recently started a program in sustainability at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Dick said the president of ASU was a participant in first panel of the Rocky Mountain Sustainability Summit two weeks ago and talked about the need to push change in “stone age” universities.

 

Roy observed that there is huge potential to ramp up activities, since a lot of people want to get involved.

 

Katy said that the Healthy Lifestyles Coalition received a recent Healthy Lifestyles grant for $150K from Kaiser Permanente and the State Department of Health. It is focused on such issues as an active community, accessibility, trails, and walking, as well as wellness work with grocery stores and restaurants to deal with local nutrition and health. She said it would also be important to stress the value of “local” in the movement for health, to stem obesity, etc.

 

Katy noted that one theme at the recent local foods conference was preserving and finding land for local food production, such as gardens, distribution networks, etc. There was also talk about: beefing up the Mesa Verde local food guide to cover weekly availability of local foods; finding a broker or distributor that could buy and distribute local foods; insurance; creating an eco-industrial park; creating a permanent farmers market, and education and outreach. Jim noted that the conference was a big success—for the Farm to School Committee, and for SASCO.

 

Katy pointed to a recent article in the Durango Herald that reported that the number of kids participating in “local foods” breakfast week has increased since Monday because of the attention the event is getting. She observed that local food activities are getting a lot of exposure out of small amounts of food.

 

Jim brought up a recent USDA report on food availability titled Seeking Balance in U.S. Farm and Food Policy. He added that the Southwest Marketing Network has a conference coming up on March 26 in Flagstaff, featuring 29 workshops on issues including climate change, farm to school, food policies, and food security. He said there are scholarships available to pay for lodging and meals.

 

Dick said that John Whitney, the local representative for John Salazar, is asking for input into the Farm Bill. He suggested SASCO may be able to get authoritative information to Salazar via Whitney, noting that while we are prohibited against supporting candidates, we can promote certain issues. Jim noted that Farm to School is dependent on federal as well as state funding, and that it needs more state connections. He said food safety issues are “coming down,” making it harder for small producers to meet standards. 

 

Roy said he recently spoke with Dr. Bartels at Fort Lewis and was invited to join his council on environmental affairs. He noted that conversations with Dr. Ortega had spawned the idea of FLC considering a degree program in alternative agriculture.

 

Denise noted that SOS will be focusing on local agricultural issues for three consecutive monthly meetings.She said she gave the group Jim’s name as a contact. She asked whether Farm to School could try to include Archuleta County, or at least provide input into these events, such as recommendations for good films or speakers. Jim noted that he has heard that there is growing demand for a farmer’s market in Pagosa.

 

Katy described the recent activities of Growing Partners, noting that the newly completed community food assessment is up on the SASCO website. She said GP is pulling together a grant proposal, due April 13, for a project that aims to increase local food, improve access, and improve education and outreach They are looking to add to the proposal a matching grant and are looking for letters of support and financial or in-kind commitments. In addition to seeking support from local commissioners, agencies, and officials, they are seeking support from SASCO.

 

Dick noted that the April 13 due date is the day after the next SASCO board meeting, so the group would need to discuss this earlier. He suggested writing a letter of support at the very least, and possibly contributing volunteer hours. Katy said that she could work in roughly $17 an hour for volunteers, $75 an hour for expert consultation.

 

Dick noted that SASCO has $1,000­–$1,500 in the treasury, so the group would be unlikely to be able to give a financial contribution. But he noted that it might be possible to work in a modest $1,000 over three years, noting that there may be virtue in contributing a few dollars, in addition to volunteer time. Sue asked whether SASCO could perhaps be the clearinghouse for the volunteer activities. Dick said we should think of ways that SASCO could be of service, maybe be holding a community meeting once a year to discuss a particular topic, such as affordability at the farmers market.

 

Katy said she is seeking letters of support by March 23 (an internal deadline) and would work with Jim and others to think of ways to match funds. Dick asked Katy to draft something that could be circulated among the board, which would then conduct an e-mail vote on it. Katy noted that GP is also using the SASCO website, so there is synergy there. Sue asked whether there was a copy of the grant available. Jim noted that the proposed project has to do primarily with low-income participants and access.

 

Dick brought up the issue of accounting, and how to do support the project effectively and credibly. Bliss said that we should be sure to accentuate the synergy and alignment between GP and SASCO. Denise said SOS would sign the letter too. Dick noted that as SASCO looks for its own funding in the future, the success of Farm to School and other ag efforts will be instrumental in illustrating our own track record.

 

Werner brought up the issue of how SASCO can be involved in City of Durango efforts to develop and implement the Sustainability Action Plan. He noted that his suggested strategy is to approach the City for a small grant to support an effort to secure a larger grant for the City to act on this. He noted that the Comp Plan has many components that the City will hire out to consultants ($300,000-500,000 estimate). By writing an outline for possible implementation, SASCO could have more input into the process, and could possibly ask for funding to write grant applications.

 

Werner noted that he and Dick met with Claire Bradshaw, who wrote the first sustainability plan for the City of Berkeley. She has a graduate degree in public policy from Bainbridge and is now living in Durango and heads the Discovery Museum. Werner noted that she would assist SASCO as follows: provide us with the Berkeley plan; provide us with her files from her work for the City of Berkeley; and connect us with her professor who is a great resource and knows what’s going on in other communities, including those similar to Durango.

 

Werner said the idea would be to write an initial proposal, meet with Greg Hoch and ask for his input on how to proceed (and also possibly meet with the City Council). The outcome could be that the City would take on the writing of the grant applications or that they would be willing to fund SASCO to do so. Should the latter occur, SASCO would have to identify who would take on the responsibility; it could be a team effort, or we could even hire a grant writer for some of the work (maybe the clean-up).

 

Werner noted that the timeframe for this would be the next couple of months. The goal would be for SASCO to be “in the driving seat, implementing what’s in the comp plan.” He noted that other topics that came up in the discussion with Claire were: the need to coordinate between City, County, and organizations like 4CORE; the pro and cons of working as a non-profit outside the City and County bureaucracies (which would work better? the City could hire a sustainability staff position, though they already have Nancy Andrews, or follow the model of San Miguel County, which is funding an outside group); the establishment of priorities and the easy projects ("low hanging fruit") needed to record early successes, giving positive publicity and building credibility (focusing on specific items in comp plan).

 

Werner explained that at this point, he is seeking board input on whether this is a good idea, as well as any suggestions on how to proceed. He suggested maybe first drafting an initial proposal or outline for a sustainability plan, then asking the City to either fund SASCO to write grant applications, or take on this task itself. He said we should let the City know of the two possibilities.

 

Rebecca noted that if the City takes it on, they would still have to find someone to write the proposal. Werner said that Nancy has a part-time person to do grant writing, but that they may be too busy.

 

Dick brought up the issue of how much the Comp Plan will cost, and how the city will go about implementing it. He noted they are likely reluctant to hire staff full time, so will use consultants. But is he also noted that since the County is also doing its own strategic planning, the City may want to do a similar thing. In this case, they might do what San Miguel has done, which is hire someone for a year to design an action plan, and possibly stay on staff to carry it out. He noted that since SASCO has played a big role already, we could step up and provide thoughts on what we think such an implementation scheme should look like, what would need to be fleshed out. We could then ask the City: would you fund us to write a grant, or can you suggest other ways we could participate?

 

Werner brought up the idea of getting a matching grant from two private foundations and two government agencies. SASCO could then ask the City to match the grant to begin to develop a sustainability plan. Bliss agreed that we should approach both the City and the County. She said that Greg Hoch, Bob Lieb, Wally White and others have already noted that input from SASCO has been something that’s helped them make decisions (e.g. on the greenhouse gas inventory). She said that since they already respect our input, it would be good to contribute to something actually in line with on-the-ground action

 

Werner noted that SASCO involvement would keep money local as well. He suggested that the ZERI folks may also be interested in getting involved.

 

Dick noted that as the City struggles to prioritize the 29 elements of the Comp Plan, City staff is already overwhelmed figuring out what to do, and may be excited by the prospect of SASCO wanting to step up and help. He said if they would contribute matching funds, we could find other sources of funding and community support.

 

Werner suggested that SASCO write an initial short proposal, with an outline for a sustainability plan based on the commitments in the Comp Plan. Using this simple outline, SASCO could seek funds to write grant applications and request matching funds for the grants we’re asking for. He noted that having a local commitment helps to get funding.

 

Dick said that money would need to go toward developing the plan, including how to move forward, and that the City would eventually need someone on staff whose job it is to implement it. But he noted that in the meantime, there needs to be a temporary position to define the job and outline the strategy.

 

Sue asked how the county plays into all of this. Werner noted that such an effort would ideally be funded by both the County and the City. Bliss noted that Erick has said that the County’s strategic plan is on hold temporarily. Dick added that Wally White has discovered that there was a 2001 strategic plan that no one knew about, which had been fairly thorough but was ultimately shelved by commissioners. He said the County won’t go ahead with a new one until they review the old one.

 

Bliss noted that it would be good if the Grassroots Visioning Project met with Mike Scannell, and could coordinate with county planning. She said that there is some resistance among residents to “planning,” but “if you do the groundwork first, you can prevent resistance down the road.”

 

Rebecca said that she thought Werner and Dick’s proposal sounds perfect, and it would benefit the city and county for SASCO to be involved. Dick noted that he personally probably doesn’t have time to be heavily involved in 2007, due to other commitments. Werner asked whether SASCO in fact has the capacity and availability. He suggested that maybe we just take the initial step, talk to Greg, find out possibilities, and identify grant timelines. If there is a positive response from the City, then we can find out who would be available to contribute. But we should at least get the process started.

 

Bliss noted that there may be a possibility of partnering with Claire and others, contributing to various pieces as needed. Dick noted that Region 9 might be source of money, and that 4CORE will also be a player. He said there appears to be consensus among the board that we should do this exploratory work. “There are lots of moving targets, but we should be one of them.” The board agreed that Werner and Dick should take the lead. Dick noted that the city may ultimately be glad that the community is taking the lead.

 

Sue noted that all city council candidates are talking about sustainability. But she raised concern that the vote will be too divided, and that incumbents may have a leg up.

 

Rebecca reminded he board that church congregations are also looking for ways to get involved, so they could play a role in some of this.

 

Werner then turned to the issue of SASCO sponsoring a fall networking workshop with local groups. He noted that the E&O committee had talked about having two workshops a year, on Saturday mornings. He said the first could include SWCRES, the FLC Environmental Center, 4CORE, and any other groups interested in sustainability. This would help us meet our mission as an umbrella organization. In a networking session, various groups could discuss their respective visions/missions, accomplishments, strengths, and weaknesses. He noted that it may be useful to commit to half-year calendar every April, so we can coordinate activities with other groups.

 

Werner also noted that rather than having an April membership meeting, SASCO could make the Scot Case FLC presentation a membership activity—with anyone who wanted to remain after the presentation discussing SASCO issues afterwards. He noted that the fall workshop could be another public meeting. Dick pointed out that the only bylaw requirement is to have an annual membership meeting, and that it might make sense to have one around the election, maybe in December.

 

 

Board members expressed collective gratitude to Lisa for the new SASCO E-News newsletter. Denise noted that SOS is forwarding it to 130 people in its membership. Dick noted that Elisa Bird of Sustainable San Juan also receives the newsletter.

 

Dick said he has asked the SWCRES Board whether it is OK to do a mutual solicitation of members. The idea would be to put a brief description in our respective newsletters inviting subscribers to sign up for the other group’s newsletter or to become a member. In general, Dick noted that SASCO needs to define what its means by being an “Alliance.” He said we should talk to a larger set of local groups about our role as an umbrella group for the region.

 

Roy noted that he had a recent meeting with Dan Larson, public affairs office of BP, during which he asked Dan what BP’s view was on who it chooses to give money to. Dan observed that being a donor is a real challenge locally because there are so many different groups, and that it was hard to determine what the real need is in the community. Dan said that if there were a way for a number of organizations to come together with common pursuits, BP would be more open to supporting this approach. One possibility would be a summit akin to the one Operation Healthy Communities used to organize.

 

Werner said that he also had a recent conversation with Dan, who is interested in being involved in local issues. Dick asked whether BP might be willing to support the next community summit. He observed that a larger summit of non-profits could be taken to the next level, and become a “sustainability” summit. He said that SASCO could take over from OHC, taking leadership and doing the legwork. A goal could be to have a 2008 Sustainability Summit for the region, addressing questions such as how do we localize and address the issues we all face.

 

Bliss noted that she is on the summit committee, but it has been pretty quiet. Werner said the summit could be organized around the three prongs of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social. Rebecca noted that she was skeptical about getting corporate BP support, for fear of PR/spin. Dick agreed that greenwashing is a serious concern, but that the idea deserves pursuing. He suggested devoting the May board meeting to this idea, and noted that we could perhaps seek funding from local businesses instead.

 

Roy said that he was not so much advocating going to BP for money, but had just wanted to point out the donor view that there are too many groups that are not defined and poorly coordinated.

 

Bliss said that the GVP is following a town hall model, and plans to have larger meetings every few years. Dick noted that maybe GVP is the vehicle for bringing this idea forward.

 

Werner brought up the issue of meeting length, asking whether it’s really possible to stick to 1.5 hours. He said that if so, we need to stick to the agenda and have each committee take responsibility for its own time, with a presentation ready in advance. He also suggested limiting the discussion to essential and concise comments—prioritizing information, then questions, then general comments. He brought up the idea of having a card system, with speakers holding up cards showing which of three types of statements they are offering: information, question, or general comment. He added that he will be moving to Durango (SkyRidge), in the interests of more direct sustainability.

 

Dick asked what the meeting time limit should be—should meetings end at 7:30? Rebecca said they should be at least two hours, because members need to cross-pollinate. The board expressed general support for this. Alan suggested allotting part of the meeting for brainstorming, then 60 minutes for business, giving each committee 15 minutes. He mentioned that he has brochures on organizing meetings. Dick observed that committees should be mindful of their time, and suggested 75 min of business, with 15 minutes for free form discussion. Lisa noted that if committees send around information reports beforehand, then at the meetings themselves people can get straight to the discussion and decision items.

 

The board discussed the possibility of having social meetings, and Rebecca volunteered to host a potluck at her house.