Public Outreach and Environmental Justice

Third Environmental Training for Project Managers on Federal Projects

Corissa Anderson-Horvath (REC), Region Environmental Coordinator May 08, 2019

What is Public Outreach and why do we care?Public outreach is a legal requirement for all projects no matter the document being used to clear a project (FEIS, EA, PCE or CE)23 CFR 771.111(h)

https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/GeoEnvironmental/Docs_NEPA/NEPA_PI_Procedures_FHWA.pdf

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Lets meet Regions 2 Communication Folks

Lou Torres, Public Information Officer Area 1 and 3(503) 986-2880Angela Beers-Seydel, Public Information Officer Area 4 and 5(541) 726-2442Michele Becker, Strategic Information Officer (503) 986-7184Alyssa Rash Community Affairs Coordinator(503) 986-7183

StakeholdersOutreach

PartnersOutreach

Public Outreach

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There are several types of outreach that ODOT does throughout the project

StakeholdersThis is not Public Outreach

Emergency Services

Schools in the area and their

Bus Routes

Railroad (they can also be a partner)

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Project PartnersThis is not Public Outreach

Cities and Counties

Watershed Groups

Other State and Federal

Agencies

What we want to explain with Outreach

What the project is and why we are

doing it

How long it will take to build

and how it will affect them

Detours, road closures, etc.

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Keep adding to the Communication Plan and keep a communication log

Put together a Communication Plan

Invite your Communication teams to the meetings

Types of Public Outreach

• Local News Papers• Website• Flyers• Door knockers• Mailers• Public meetings (Open House)• Online Open Houses (new and great)• Farmers Markets with flyers• Press releases (are not a guarantee it will get used)• Etc.

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Public Outreach

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We want feedback

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• We want to know what the public thinks• They may have information about the area that we didn’t know• The project may have a negative effect we didn't know about• Public outreach is not just telling people what we are doing, it is also to get feedback on the project.• Make sure you have all needed interpreters in the room (Our communications team can help with this)

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Who is in the CommunityAre there Environmental Justice Communities in the API or surrounding areas

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Be Honest and Transparent Ethics or simple honesty is the building blocks upon which our whole society is based, and business is a part of our society, and it's integral to the practice of being able to conduct business, that you have a set of honest standards. Kerry Stokes

Thank you.Questions?

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Always try to solve question about communication and projects at the lowest level first.