Buffalo, NY
Round 4
Buffalo, NY
Proposal for Local Sustainability Matching Fund
Spring 2014
Project Title:
Engaging the Community in Green Infrastructure
Purpose of Project:
Conduct a public education and engagement campaign around storm water
management and green infrastructure projects taking place in the City of Buffalo.
Brief description of project goals, strategy, and key activities (250 words or less):
The Buffalo Sewer Authority (BSA) and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
have joined forces with the goal of increasing public understanding of Combined Sewer Overflows
(CSOs) and gaining residents’ commitment to preventing incidents that contaminate our precious
water resources. Together we propose designing and implementing a comprehensive resident
engagement campaign utilizing social-science based knowledge to mobilize residents to implement
green storm water management projects at their own homes and businesses (such as rain barrels,
rain gardens or permeable pavement).
This effort is framed by green infrastructure recommendations from both the BSA’s Green
Infrastructure Master Plan and the Western New York Regional Sustainability plan.
Key components of this proposal include:
• Market and messaging research to determine how best to engage the community in green
infrastructure (focus groups and/or surveys; input from partners; best practices from social science research)
• Multi-faceted public campaign designed to capture the attention of a broad cross-section of
residents (including social media, broadcast media, and community organizing)
• Public reports on community-wide performance indicators to drive participation and
progress
(e.g. gallons of water diverted from CSOs, number of overflows and progress on “green”
BSA and residential stormwater management projects).
The community engagement plan will leverage existing digital community information tools,
such as GrowWNY.org and the Grow716 text messaging platform, as well as the City of Buffalo’s
website and BSA customer mailings. The Community Foundation will also contribute knowledge
gained by its participation in the Council on Foundations/CF Leads Community Leadership
Network on resident engagement.
Primary Contact Person
Name:
Cara Matteliano
Title:
Vice President, Community Impact
Organization:
Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
Mailing address: 726 Exchange Street, Suite 525
City:
Buffalo
Email:
caram@cfgb.org
Telephone:
716-852-2857
State:
1
NY
Zip:
14210
Ext:
209