new community involvement plan (cip) tool: guidelines to plan and write your cip

2014 Webinar on CIP Tool for CICs

New Community Involvement Plan (CIP) Tool: Guidelines to Plan and

Write your CIP

L’Tonya Spencer&

Yolanda Anita Sanchez


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New Community Involvement Plan (CIP) Tool: Guidelines to Plan and Write your CIP

Outline:• CIP in Practice: Koppers Superfund Site• Planning for Participation: Trends and

Opportunities in Superfund CIPs• New CIP Tool: Guidelines to Plan and Write

Your CIP• Facilitated Discussion


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CIP in Practice: Koppers Superfund Site

L’Tonya Spencer2011 CIP-of-the-Year Author


CIP IN PRACTICE: KOPPERS SUPERFUND SITE

OUTLINE: Background InformationCommunity InformationCurrent StatusCIP of the Year Perspectives

(Uniqueness/Challenges/Revision)Facilitated Discussion (Questions)

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KOPPERS SUPERFUND SITEBACKGROUND INFORMATION

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KOPPERS SUPERFUND SITECOMMUNITY INFORMATION

Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) awarded in Spring 2010 to Protect Gainesville’s Citizens, Inc.

Community is comprised of commercial industrial; rental housing; and close to University of Florida campus and downtown Gainesville, Florida

Several community groups claim to represent area

Actively involved local government6


KOPPERS SUPERFUND SITECURRENT STATUS

Consent Decree lodged in February 2013Consent Decree meeting held February 2013Indoor air sampling completedPreparing for residential access for off-site

soil cleanupPreparing Remedial Design (RD) for

Remedial Action (RA)Revision of Community Involvement Plan

(CIP) 7


KOPPERS SUPERFUND SITECIP OF THE YEAR PERSPECTIVES

What was unique about the CIP?PicturesTablesTechnical JargonSummary of OutreachComment PeriodRevision Request

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KOPPERS SUPERFUND SITECIP OF THE YEAR PERSPECTIVES (CONT.)

What were the challenges for the CIP?Four community groupsClose involvement of local

government officialsMeeting locationsEnvironmental Justice

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KOPPERS SUPERFUND SITECIP OF THE YEAR PERSPECTIVES (CONT.)

What’s the revision for the CIP?Additional methods of communicationNew schedule for CIP RevisionRegion 4 Superfund Art ProjectAdditional Site Information

(Technical/Background)New local officials

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Questions&

Facilitated Discussion


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Planning for Participation: Trends & Opportunities in Superfund’s CIPs

Justin Hellier’s summer research projectNational Network for Environmental Management Studies Fellow


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PLANNING FOR PARTICIPATION: TRENDS & OPPORTUNITIES IN SUPERFUND’S CIPS

Research project was designed to:• Examine how CIPs are developed and

used • Identify innovative practices that

strengthen the effectiveness of the CIP• Offer recommendations to the CIP

Workgroup for strengthening the CIP guidelines and developing other resources


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Research methods included:• Online survey of Superfund

Community Involvement Coordinators (CICs) {n=41}• Document review of 20 randomly-

selected CIPs (2 from each Region)• Interviews with 10 randomly selected

CICs and 4 targeted CICs (based on their innovative use of CIPs)


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Formal conclusions include:• Format, quality, and use of CIPs vary

widely between (and within) Regions• Never been a review/evaluation on the

ways CIPs are created or used• No general consensus on the

“purpose” CIPs serve


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Recommendations include:1. Consider the participation of other site

team staff and contractors2. Utilize CI Mangers to improve the quality3. Consider community review of the CIP4. Move from a set of isolated “templates”

to a more purposeful, strategic, and collaborative planning process.


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CLARIFYING QUESTIONS?


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A COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT PLAN IS…

Student Exercise


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New CIP Tool: Guidelines to Plan and Write your CIP

Yolanda Anita SanchezChair, CIP Workgroup


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“I think you should be more explicit here in step two.”


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NEW CIP TOOL: GUIDELINES TO PLAN AND WRITE YOUR CIP

The Community Involvement Plan:• Provides a site-specific

strategy for involving the public


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• Is the “roadmap” of the involvement program


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• Is the “roadmap” of the involvement program

• Enables the community affected by a Superfund understand the ways in which it can participate


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The Community Involvement Plan (cont):

• Is the culmination of a planning process summarized in a document

• Should be a “living” document and is most effective when it is updated as site conditions change

• Involves all Site Team members – RPM, OSC, CIC, contractor, state or local agents, and others – in the development and implementation


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Major Components of a CIP:• Site description – brief history, overview of

the type and extent of contamination, environmental exposures and concerns

• Community profile – description of affected community

• Community needs, concerns, questions, and expectations – summary of interviews and other communication with residents

• Action plan – description of EPA’s planned outreach activities (i.e., schedule) and how activities address site-related needs/concerns


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The Action Plan:• Describes the Superfund process and

identifies key opportunities for public input, including significant milestones for community involvement activities

• Outlines a comprehensive plan to address identified community needs related to cleanup

• Identifies appropriate communication methods and activities


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CIP and the Community:• The CIP should offer a clear invitation to

the community to participate • The CIP is for the community and should

be informed by the community• The final CIP should be available to the

community. At a minimum, it should be placed in an Information Repository and on the site webpage


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The CIP and the Site Team: • The Site Team’s input is critical to

developing an accurate and complete site description and community profile

Remedial Project Manager’s (RPM) should: • Participate in community interviews• Play a critical role in creating the Action Plan• Forecast potential milestones in the process

for a comprehensive CIP revision


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• The CIP is a living document that may call for continuous updating.

• The CIP can be updated when minor details of the site change, such as contact information and other reference material.

• Updates may frequently occur.

Updating the CIP :


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Revising the CIP: A comprehensive revision involves much more than updating

contacts or reference materials A revision should occur when:• Specific benchmarks in the

Superfund process are met (i.e., after ROD)

• Community level of interest changes

• A demographic, economic, or political change in the community has occurred

• A change in EPA’s approach to involving the community is needed

Image: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


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Tips of the Trade: • Build/Maintain relationships with the Site

Team as well as state and local partners, EPA

contractors, the risk assessor and other staff involved with the site

• Make a draft CIP available to the community for feedback

• Do not cut and paste from technical documents


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Tips of the Trade (continued): • Update the CIP often• Plan ahead, with the Site Team, to conduct

a comprehensive revision• Effectively use your contract support

o The CIC should be writing the “meat” of the CIPo Contract support can help with logistics: obtain

demographic information, prepare contact lists, develop graphics, and format the document


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New CIP Tool is available…• As part of the Superfund Community

Involvement Toolkit: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/community/toolkit.htm

• Due to the hard work of: David Cooper, CIC, Region 9 Leana Rosetti, CIC Region 9 Peggy Linn, CIC Region 8 John Epps, RPM Region 3

http://www.epa.gov/superfund/community/toolkit.htm

http://www.epa.gov/superfund/community/toolkit.htm


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Community interviews are the backbone of the CIP

Help build relationships and garner trust

Can yield incredibly useful information about the Superfund site contamination

“Sister” Tools: Community Interviews


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CICs are “in charge” of the interviews process Contractors may help in scheduling

interviews and taking notes Community interviews are not a “social

science” Does not need to be scientifically defended Does not need to reflect a statistically significant sample Not all template questions need be asked Media questions, in particular, can set unreasonable

expectations about outreach plan



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RPMs should attend the interviews Helps the RPM learn about the

community One-on-One discussions build community

trust Helps the community “humanize” the

person behind the federal bureaucrat Conclude interviews with a “site update”



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Number of interviews is determined by need Start by stratifying your target audience

First tier: • Residents/businesses “on the fence line”• Nearby and interested people, including activists• Elected officials and their staffs (federal, state, local)• Local regulatory agencies (public works, city managers,

county boards of health, etc.) Second tier:

• The press• Nearby schools, hospitals, churches, and community org’s



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Interview questions should be tailored To the concerns of unique subpopulations To where you are in the Superfund cleanup process

Consider the broad objectives you wish to address in the interviews

Community concerns or perceptions of “risk” Information to help site characterization and risk

assessment Identifying the community leaders or trusted organizations How people want to receive information Perceptions of EPA, the state, or PRPs



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Description of the affected communityDemographic informationComputer literacyGovernment structureUnique environmentsPopular hangouts, places to “meet”

“Sister” Tools: Community Profile

• Sets up the opportunity to better meet the needs of a community within the CIP


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GENERAL QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?


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THE MOST INNOVATIVE THING I EVER PROPOSED FOR A CIP IS…

-OR-

THE MOST INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUE I WOULD LIKE TO TRY FOR A CIP

IS…

Student Exercise


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“If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.”

-- Yogi Berra


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CONTACT INFORMATION

Yolanda Sanchez, Superfund Community Involvement and Program Initiatives Branch

[email protected] 703-603-9246

L’Tonya Spencer, Community Involvement Coordinator, Region 4, Superfund

[email protected] 800-231-3075

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

new community involvement plan (cip) tool: guidelines to plan and write your cip

Documents

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