Facilitation and Collaborative Processes

Ross & Associates is known for its ability to help stakeholders examine complex and often contentious environmental and public health issues and to forge effective and practical agreements. Our success is built on a unique blend of process management and facilitation skills, combined with in-depth knowledge of environmental issues and requirements. Our hallmark is content-informed, outcome-driven facilitation. Our competence with scientific and technical information allows us to design and facilitate effective collaborative processes. We understand the complex array of technical, legal, and regulatory issues faced by stakeholders and we assist to develop a common information base to aid deliberations and focus on the most critical issues. We help groups synthesize and articulate their own thinking, provide perspectives to inform deliberations, and identify convergences that can become the seeds of new agreements. We use electronic technologies such as Web meetings and polling tools for effective collaboration. We also apply our facilitation skills in the more formal context of mediation and conflict resolution in cases where pre-existing conflicts over environmental issues are inhibiting progress.

Selected Projects in This Area

Yakima Basin Facilitation

Ross & Associates is providing facilitation and process support to the US Bureau of Reclamation to help the Bureau understand the interests of the conservation community in Washington state regarding the viability of the Integrated Water Resource Management Plan (IWRMP) being developed to support water supply, water rehydration, fish recovery and habitat restoration in the Yakima River Basin.

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Arizona Children’s Health Assessment

Ross & Associates provided support to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to implement a grant they received to share information as part of a system of potential air quality alerts. Ross & Associates assisted ADEQ to develop a project approach and work plan for the creation of a predictive model and alerting system for health conditions identified as a result of the model.

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Louisville Wet Weather Team

Ross & Associates provided comprehensive process support for a stakeholder “Wet Weather Team” advising the Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) on the development of long-term plan to control combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) for the Louisville community. Working closely with a technical consultant team, we used an innovative, values-based risk management planning process to obtain input from Wet Weather Team stakeholders.

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Washington State Climate Action Team and Climate Advisory Team

Ross & Associates worked with the Washington Department of Ecology and Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED) to convene, facilitate, and provide strategic direction and policy analysis for the state’s Climate Action Team—and its predecessor, the Climate Advisory Team. These teams were charged with establishing a set of recommendations and action plans to meet statewide goals for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, clean energy jobs creation, and reduced dependence on foreign oil.

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Western Climate Initiative

Western Climate Initiative websiteThe Western Climate Initiative (WCI) is a regional collaboration of seven U.S. states and four Canadian provinces working together to establish a regional, economy-wide approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This comprehensive initiative includes a cap-and-trade program along with other complementary policies, to support meeting regional reduction goals for greenhouse gas emissions (15 percent reduction from 2005 levels by 2020). Since 2008, Ross & Associates has supported the WCI Partners, under contract to the Western Governors’ Association (the overall Program Manager for the WCI). As part of this support, Ross & Associates conducted a website redesign for WCI in 2009.

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CDC Data Management Workflow

Ross & Associates is supporting the CDC National Center for Environmental Health Tracking Branch manage their internal data management processes. The Tracking Branch receives data and metadata submissions from 21 state departments of health and from other national partners like the EPA and the Census Bureau. Ross & Associates is developing processes to track the data being sent from States to CDC and to develop processes for data ownership and transformation and business rules to manage the lifecycle of the data.

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