Watershed Protection Plan - Lower Rio Grande Valley Development ...

EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
industry, development and tourism in the Valley.
If needed, create a speaker’s bureau for the
Partnership and train speakers on the message
so they can deliver it to their peers.
• Create partnerships with local Chambers of
Commerce to create web links to the ACW
Partnership for their constituents and set up
pages to specifi cally address how the Arroyo
Colorado impacts business, industry and tourism
in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and what they
can do to address the problem.
• Encourage the Chambers of Commerce to
work with their business leadership programs,
designed for outstanding young business
executives viewed as future leaders of the Rio
Grande Valley. Working with them offers the
opportunity to increase buy-in from business
community members who can deliver the
ACWP message to future infl uentials. It is noted
that younger people, specifi cally in the 20-30
age group, appear very concerned about the
environment and may offer a more sympathetic
audience for the message than older business
people.
• If possible, employ the services of a public
relations contractor to ensure the Partnership
receives its share of earned (or unpaid) media
through news coverage. Every school service
project, new partnership, event, or bit of progress
is news. Every accomplishment should be
reported, and the brand reinforced as the ACW
Partnership makes news.
VI. Micro-campaign Target Audience F: Gardeners/
Homeowners
Telephone survey respondents indicated a high
motivation to do something in their homes. One action
many said they could take is to exercise more caution
when fertilizing lawns and using pesticides. The
ACW Partnership will educate the community about
the impact of fertilizers and pesticides on the Arroyo
Colorado and the environment at large. The campaign
may include decorative signs for people to place on
their lawns identifying them as environmentally friendly.
Objectives:
• Create partnerships with large retail sellers of
garden supplies or other fertilizer or pesticide
vendors to educate them about the use of
fertilizers in more environmentally responsible
ways.
• Promote neighborhood association recognition
for environmentally friendly landscaping.
• Work with the other local organizations such
as the LRGV DC, the LRGV TPDES Storm
Water Task Force and TCE agents to promote
environmentally friendly landscapes.
Strategy 6 - Institutionalize a Practice of
Ongoing Campaign Evaluation
Social marketing campaigns such as the one
presented in this document are built around the
expressed preferences and needs of the target
audiences. A cornerstone of the social marketing
model is to evaluate campaign results periodically and
consistently to insure that 1) it is accomplishing the
expressed goals, and 2) that the results brought about
by any strategy or tactic are relatively cost-effective.
Consistent evaluation is also an important tool for
showing success to funders and potential grantors
of funds to continue the important work of the ACW
Partnership. However, the ultimate evaluation comes
with observable behavior change and improvement in
water quality.
Objectives:
Stakeholders assessing aeration structures
• Create an evaluation instrument for presenters
to circulate at each presentation to assess the
effectiveness of their tools and their presentation
style. Ask audience members to gauge their
increase in awareness after the presentation.
Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan 100 January 2007