Mystic Watershed Collaborative
Steering Committee Meeting
January 9, 2003, 11:00 - 12:30

Attending: Kwabena Kyei-Aboagye (facilitator), Molly Anderson, Melissa Bailey, Lisa Brukilacchio, Dale Bryan, John Durant, Paul Kirshen, Janet Kovner, Grace Perez, Lisa Waters

Next Meeting: March 4th at 8:30am (TIE)
Facilitator: Molly Anderson

MyRWA Update:

Funding: Several projects in the watershed are overlapping. These include: EMPACT, EJAM, River Institute, River Use Project, and the Clearinghouse. An idea was developed to create a broad-based funding plan to incorporate all of these projects. Selling these projects as a big picture will be more of an effective approach. Community Advisory Committees are also overlapping and need to be condensed into one committee. A representative from each project needs to generate ideas and develop a funding subcommittee to implement the ideas. See the table of projects and needs below.
River Use Project: Grace assured the funder that no negative consequences will arise due to Grace leaving and that they will be able to fulfill all of the work that was promised. Project planning has continued to begin looking at creating the survey. The best method to survey the residents along the river needs to be determined. Statistical analysis of the survey needs to be examined to ensure that the survey produces the information that is desired. The process had been developed into three parts. 1. Volunteers will visit 12 sites in May. 2. Teams of surveyors will be trained and will visit all 12 sites twice. 3. Residents of Ten Hills and the Projects will be visited and asked questions. Sixty to one hundred houses will be questioned. An individual needs to be hired to train and manage the volunteers and to analyze the data. Collaborative River Institute Interns could possibly assist with the survey. Focus groups will be developed from the survey to implement an outreach campaign.

Executive Director Position: A Planning Background has been developed to help select the next Executive Director for MyRWA. The Hiring Committee will be interviewing eight people that have passed the paper screening. Three to five will be recommended to continue in the hiring process. Next week, the staff and board will be interviewing the candidates and within two weeks an offer will be presented.

EMPACT: The system is currently shutdown. The web site has been translated to Spanish. The information discussing what the data represents needs to be developed. Two students are working with two faculty members to write this text. The funding expires in September 2003 so, the project needs to be incorporated with other projects to obtain support.

River Institute: The 2003 River Institute is slowly progressing. Two internships have been committed so far from the Eagle Eye Institute. The MWC will also commit to two internship opportunities through the RI. An idea was presented that the EJAM funds be used to pay for an intern to work on the household survey in the Blessing of the Bay area. There is one year of funding left through the Massachusetts Campus Compact. This funding ends in August of 2003. No information has been heard on the Massachusetts Environmental Trust grant assistance. Molly, Dale, and John Kenny have been discussing reorganizing the RI into an academic year project. Having the RI to occur during the year will eliminate the students from paying extra money to participate.

EJAM: The first training workshop is coming up on Thursday, January 16th. Twenty-nine people are currently signed up. The MyRWA Board and MWC are encouraged to attend. The event will be at Roxbury Community College from 8 am to 3pm. A letter to water-related organizations should be created inviting them to the EJAM events. Please continue attending community organization meetings between now and the February Forum. When attending a meeting, please write a brief summary and email it to lisa.waters@tufts.edu to include on the online table.

Student Representatives: The MWC has decided to invite Chelsea Bardot and Mauricio Artinano to join the Collaborative Steering Committee.
Student Projects and Classes: Veronica Eddy from UEP has expressed to Molly that she is open to developing a Mystic connection. Currently there are a total of six Omidyar projects, including the freshman projects that are happening. Other Mystic projects include, EMPACT, CEE class projects, Nutrient Management project, and Capstone projects from the Freshman Prospective class being offered.

MWI Updates: The state is need of a commitment from MyRWA to do the lab analysis before they can award them any funds. The missing element needs to be identified (wet weather or dry testing).