Epist, is O+21-k How to Plan and Budget for Public Involvement involvement brings the pieces together Sº Step 1: Plan and S Budget for Public InVOIVement GOal: - To ensure effective public involvement processes through adequate budgeting and thorough planning. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its new Public Involvement Policy in June 2003. The Policy's overall goal is for excellent public involvement to become an integral part of EPA's culture, thus supporting more effective Agency decisions and actions. The Policy provides guidance to EPA managers and staff on how you can better involve the public in the Agency's decision making. The Policy outlines seven steps to effective involvement. This brochure (one in a series) offers suggestions to help you “get started" planning and budgeting public involvement activities and processes. Why Plan and Budget for Public Involvement? Planning public involvement activities and adequately budgeting resources (time, money, and in-kind efforts) help ensure an effective public involvement process. Early planning helps get these activities and processes moving in an orderly way, both within EPA and with the public. What to Consider in Public Involvement Planning and Budgeting When you begin thinking about the strategic planning process, recognize that planning for involvement up front "Planning for public involvement should occur in the context of larger program planning efforts. This can facilitate earlier involvement and reduce resources needed for implementation. Even more importantly, such planning increases the likelihood that public involvement will become an integral part of agency programs, rather than a less effective add-on to agency efforts." Caron Chess, Rutgers University Center for Environmental Communication Public Comments on the 2000 Draft Public Involvement Policy helps EPA staff members meet deadlines and achieve goals with the expected resources. If you plan and organize public involvement activities well, you can make the entire process clear to the public and clarify their role. Groups and individuals will better understand when and where they can effectively involve themselves with EPA decision making. Remember that budgeting is part of planning. Developing a comprehensive budget will depend on many factors. For example, you should not budget for education and outreach until you know how extensive it needs to be. Costs of involvement activities vary a lot, so budgets will too. It is critical to integrate the public involvement budget into your program's overall strategic planning process during the earliest stages of EPA planning and action. Plan Your Work How to Organize Your Public Involvement Planning and Budgeting - Clearly define the purpose, goals, and objectives of the public involvement. - Identify the target audiences and become familiar with the community or affected public's issues. - Communicate with other Agency staff who may have worked on similar public involvement activities or with similar audiences for ideas, information, resources/budget Plan & Budget | questions and key contacts. m lientify audience - Find out how knowledgeable m the community or affected public m Research needs is about the issues and what additional information will be useful to them. m Clarify goals & key leads Determine the best method and costs for communicating with the m Outline budget community or affected public (e.g., electronically, mailings, meetings, door-to-door contact, advertisements, etc.). m Prioritize time line m Anticipate barriers - Find out if technical assistance is needed, what technical resources are available to you, their costs, and where to get additional resources. - Decide who will manage the public involvement process and activities and who, if necessary, is the key point of contact for the affected public. - Set priorities for what needs to occur first and create a time line of priority actions and activities to track the process, including success indicators to measure your progress. - Create an outline of basic resources needs (costs, staff time, in-kind support) to agree with priority actions and activities on your time line. - Get ready to conduct the most suitable public involvement process for the community or affected public by researching information, taking training, and talking to Colleagues. - Plan follow-up involvement activities and estimate the resources necessary to do them, such as collecting feedback and reviewing and improving them. - Expect barriers such as schedule delays, adverse findings, and communities that may be hesitant to cooperate or fear change. Work Your Plan - Involve the potentially affected public individuals, groups, and community members at the earliest phases and throughout the process. - Set up your ongoing outreach mechanism as a routine way to communicate descriptions of the upcoming involvement activities. - Communicate the background, purpose, and goals of the involvement process and activities with key community and Agency contacts and the dates and descriptions of the upcoming involvement activities. - Ensure facts and budget items are correct from the start to preclude inaccurate information. InVOlve the Community m Establish Communication mechanisms m Publicize Schedule m Follow time line & plan m Track progreSS & revise m 0VerCOme barriers m Follow up - Be prepared to change plans, revise the budget, change the schedule, and adapt to different individuals with different needs, and be prepared for unexpected results. - If applicable, test the process on a pilot group before starting a full-fledged involvement process. - Publicize your activity schedule as widely as possible to reach your stakeholders. - Provide any needed technical assistance using community or in-kind resources where possible. - Track priority actions and activities against your time line, measuring your progress. - Keep the community informed and involved as you work through barriers (e.g., extra costs, delays, adverse findings, weather and seasonal conditions). - Review your plan for follow-up involvement activities and adjust as needed. Additional Resources: Elaine Andrews, Elva Farrel, Joe Heimlich, Richard Ponzio, and Kelly J. Warren, Educating Young People about Water. A Guide to Program Planning and Evaluation, USDA CSREES, 1995, pp. 7-31. (Order from the ERIC Clearinghouse at 1-800-276-0462.) EPA's Office of Environmental Education, Step 2, Planning, 2002, http://dcdev.ttemi.com/oeeintraneto/projectdev/ EPA's Customer Service Program, "Plan the Customer Feedback Project" in Hearing the Voice of the Customer — Guidelines for Customer Feedback and Customer Satisfaction Measurement, 1999, http://www.epa.gov/ Cust gº ſquidplanr. Other EPA Public involvement Brochures Introducing EPA's Public Involvement Policy How to Identify People to Involve How to Provide Technical and Financial Assistance for Public Involvement How to Do Outreach for Public Involvement How to Consult With and Involve the Public How to Review and Use Public Input and Provide Feedback How to Evaluate Public Involvement How to Improve Public Meetings and Hearings How to Improve Working with Tribes HOW to InVO/We Environmental Justice Communities How to Overcome Barriers to Public Involvement Illiili “If we ever regain or rebuild public trust in our decisions, it will - be because we in government open the doors to our processes and allow scrutiny and involvement from the public." Jim Marxen California Department of Toxic Substances Control Dialogue on Public involvement in EPA Decisions More Information about the Policy Copies of the Policy and the Framework for implementing it are available at http://www.epa.gov/publicinvolvement/policy2003/ policy2003.pdf and http://www.epa.gov/publicinvolvement/policy2003/ framework.pdf The Website for the “Internet Dialogue on Public Involvement in EPA Decisions" is http://www.network-democracy.org/epa/epa-pip EPA's Response to Comments on the Draft 2000 Public Involvement Policy is available at http://www.epa.gov/public involvement/policy2003/response.pdf “Involvement brings the pieces together" artwork is the creation of Erica Ann Turner, who contributed the work through an agreement between the Art Institute of Washington and EPA. United States Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Innovation Public Involvement Staff 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 1807T Washington, DC 20460 EPA 233-F-03-005