Attendees: Jason Schwartzman (Facilitator), Emily Mitchell, Joan Salome-Rodriguez, Erica Eliason, Lisa Bowstead, Katie Bishop
CAG Resolution: At the next CAG General Meeting, it is expected that a resolution will come up for a vote, entitled, “The Gowanus Protection Framework.” The resolution includes a list of commitments that the CAG will make, many of which will fall upon the Outreach Committee to carry out. The Committee went through the list of commitments, and the consensus is that it’s do-able. The following are the commitments (in italics) and key points from the discussion:
Play a productive role in the broader community to address issues, concerns, questions or complaints about the remediation impacts, including:
Commitment A – Host annual Town Hall meetings where agencies provide high level overview and progress of all remediation activities, so that all neighbors are able to learn about the ongoing work
- Generally viewed as doable but recognized as a logistical challenge.
Commitment B: Manage an active website and social media presence that amplify agency updates
- The committee agreed that the CAG website might provide links to more technical, longer, and more comprehensive type information published by others.
- The committee discussed the fact that social media needs to use “hooks” and be more engageable to reach community members who aren’t currently involved or informed about efforts to clean up the contamination in the Gowanus Canal and the surrounding land.
- This commitment was recognized to be do-able but a heavy lift, with questions about website and social media management.
Commitment C: Manage a live list of active remediation projects, that compiles the above information provided by agencies
- This commitment drew the most discussion, and the consensus within the Committee is that it is the heaviest lift.
- The committee walked through the Gowanus Oversight Task Force website, which may provide a model for the design of how active remediation projects may be presented and tracked.
Commitment D: Develop and implement an outreach plan to reach community members throughout the neighborhood that may not be represented on the CAG.
- The Committee confirmed this to be a top priority.
- The Committee brainstormed ways to increase its outreach–street outreach to sign up people interested in information about the superfund and upland cleanup process, and piggybacking on existing communications being sent out by other groups to their audience (there are a number of regular email blasts put out by local groups that may be friendly to CAG messaging, including elected officials, local press, and other nonprofits).