Communities throughout New Hampshire struggle to provide sustainable funding for stormwater management and other climate resilience programs. Municipal budgets are tight and it’s challenging to convince decision-makers to allocate funds for environmental programs.
EPA and the Consensus Building Institute have developed a successful, interactive training series to help communities build the necessary support for funding stormwater management and other resilience efforts. Previously tested in communities throughout New England, PREP and Great Bay NERR are bringing the series for free to New Hampshire municipalities. The program is designed to engage pairs (or small groups) of coworkers/municipal colleagues.
The workshop was extremely helpful and helped us obtain $5.5M in ARPA funds (split between sanitary sewers and stormwater initiatives)!!! The workshop was super helpful to inform executives on stormwater issues, and more specifically, our outstanding obligations under our stormwater consent agreement. It was surprising to find that few folks understood stormwater issues or our legal obligations!
Who Should Participate?
Municipal staff, elected officials, community leaders
Participants will:
- Learn strategies, challenges, and successes from other communities including who to talk with in your community, what questions to ask, how to frame tricky conversations, and more
- Initial talks with stakeholders
- Conduct an assessment to inform appropriate steps for your community
When?
October 18 and 20*
November 8 and 10
January 10 and 12
February 7 and 9*
*in person sessions; all other virtual
Questions? Contact Abigail.Lyon@unh.edu or Lynn.E.Vaccaro@wildlife.nh.gov