Attendees: Jason Schwartzman (Facilitator), Emily Mitchell, Joan Salome-Rodriguez, Erica Eliason, Lisa Bowstead, Alexandra Dadourian
1. Review Outreach’s Information Dissemination
The committee reviewed the existing two-page Superfund fact sheet (last content-approved November 2017). The content remains largely accurate, but the Committee agreed that some updates are required.
Actions: Natalie Loney/EPA will be asked to provide dates for the timeline, and once we have that, Emily will incorporate the updates. (Further Update as of 5/15 – Natalie agreed to provide the updated info, and it turned out that Andrea Parker has the original InDesign document and agreed to update the document once we hear back from Natalie).
2. Outreach Committee Priorities for 2026
The committee reviewed an existing list of Outreach Committee priorities toward understanding each and figuring out if the list remains our commitment – anything to add or drop?
Public Meetings and Town Halls: The CAG is expected to hold four in-person monthly meetings per year open to the public. Separately, a town hall — a larger, advertised event with EPA/DEC/DOH/DEP officials, as relevant, presenting to the broader community — is a distinct goal. The Thomas Greene Park outdoor event is scheduled for October 3rd and is an opportunity for outreach on the planned remediation of the park.
Creating Materials for Outreach: The Committee identified opportunities for outreach that include meetings with tenant associations in new canal-adjacent buildings, businesses within a block of the canal, community centers, schools, and warm-weather events like Carroll Park’s Flea Market, and events hosted by the Gowanus Dredgers.
The group identified a significant gap in outreach-ready materials and brainstormed the following:
- Thomas Greene Park two-pager (already exists; ready to print and distribute)
- Soil vapor intrusion explainer (EPA has been providing materials)
- CSO tank explainer — what they are, where they are, current construction status
- Citizens MGP / active remediation work explainer
- A printed CAG meeting calendar
- A glossary of acronyms (noted as a longstanding gap)
- A physical visual aid — e.g., a sample of dredged canal “black mayonnaise”
External Communications Plan: The Outreach Committee is to develop a formal Communications & External Relations Plan covering such things as press inquiries, information dissemination, speaker requests, and printed/online materials. The Plan is subject to full CAG approval. A prior draft exists but was never finalized. This item was tabled as a major agenda item for the next meeting.
Community Representation: Discussion clarified the division of labor between Outreach and Facilitation. Facilitation is working through a process to define what diversity means for CAG membership. Once that framework is established, the resulting target communities would become Outreach’s to-do list for execution.
Website: The CAG website remains a bottleneck for publishing updated materials; no resolution on this in the near term.
Summary: While not formally acknowledged during the meeting, summarizing the ideas, what’s on the table (so far) for the balance of 2026 as Outreach commitments are the following:
- Four face-to-face CAG General Meetings (Facilitation may be responsible for this)
- 1 Town Hall on an issue TBD
- 1 community event (Thomas Greene Park)
- An approved Communications & External Relations Plan
- New website completed or progressed
- A set of six or so 1- to 2-page info sheets and visual aids to complement outreach activities
Actions: Outreach members with earlier drafts/materials related to a Communications & External Relations Plan, will circulate what they have in advance of the next meeting. The next meeting will dive deeper into this, as well as prioritizing actions for 2026.