Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place

Wednesday-Thursday, May 10-11, 2006 from 8:30 to 5:00

Edison College ~ Punta Gorda, Florida

Registration Fee: $40 includes refreshment breaks and lunch.

Registration fee is waived for those who complete the attached project form!

Thanks to those who were able to participate. Stay tuned for the next professional development workshop.

Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program is pleased to offer this two day course in an effort to help its partners in their efforts to protect the natural environment and fulfill the Program’s management plan. Special thanks to EPA for offering this course and to Edison College for the use of their facility.

Course Goal: To provide the necessary tools for building partnerships around environmental issues. Specifically, the tools will address communication, learning about community perceptions and attitudes about environmental issues, consensus-building and strategic partnership analysis.

Description of training: This course will introduce tools to help you identify community perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about the work you do, and to help you develop participatory approaches to addressing the environmental issues facing the greater Charlotte Harbor watershed as defined by the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program. The training introduces an approach and methods for understanding how to build partnerships based on a “sense of community,” culture and environmental values. You will learn how to use different tools and techniques for understanding the same, including: social mapping, visual methods, cross-cultural communication, interviewing, surveys, and focus groups. The training format is highly participatory. It will combine short presentations with interactive small group collaboration and one-on-one interaction. (There are no prerequisites to attend this course.) The facilitator, Theresa Trainor, is an applied anthropologist with the U.S. EPA and is co-author of the Guide that is the basis for this training.

What participants have said about the course:

• "One thing the training did for me was to emphasize the need for collaboration if we are going to get anything done." – Non-profit Volunteer
• "I work with communities each day. This training gave me excellent tools to use in my community interactions to solicit better input and make people feel more at ease." – Natural Resource Manager
• "The Guide has supplied me with practical tools I can use to reach out to and involve local communities in environmental protection." – Environmental Policy Analyst
• "I will use what I have learned in my work to identify differing and distinct community interests and to develop community support for management programs." – Coastal Manager

The registration fee of $40 is waived for those who complete a project form of projects that help fulfill the Program’s management plan. Projects may be planned, funded or implemented. Registration will be accepted after March 15 but space is limited with registrations accepted as they are received. If more than 30 people register, priority will be given to those who are helping to implement CHNEP’s management plan. If you wish to attend but are unable to pay the registration fee and are not helping to implement the CHNEP Management Plan, please contact Maran Hilgendorf. Refunds will not be issued.

Registration Process:

To register: Please complete and submit the on-line registration form found at www.CHNEP.org. This will reserve a space for you until payment or a completed project form is received. (To help in the development of the workshop program we had asked participants to register by March 15. Registrations will be accepted after this date.)

To pay: Please keep a copy of the completed on-line registration form and mail, along with the completed project form (attached and on the website) or a check, made payable to SWFRPC, to:

Maran Hilgendorf, Communications Manager

Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program

1926 Victoria Ave ~ Fort Myers FL 33901-3414

Hotel Information: For those who will be traveling by car and wish to spend the night in Charlotte County, a list of hotels can be found on the Charlotte County County Convention & Visitor Bureau.

Directions to Edison College: The course will be held in SA177, which is located between the cafeteria and auditorium.

• If you are traveling north on I-75, use Exit 161 Jones Loop, turn left to Taylor Rd (at traffic light), right to Airport Rd, right to campus.

• If you are traveling south on I-75, use Exit 164 Rt 17, turn left at first light, follow signs for Edison to Florida Street.

Meals and Breaks: Each day will begin at 8:00 with a breakfast of assorted breads, egg sandwich and yogurt with coffee, tea, juice and water. (The workshop will begin at 8:30.) We’ll have a mid-morning snack of fresh fruit, yogurt, coffee and tea. For lunch, you’ll have your choice from about 8 selections, including the special of the day, sandwich w/ fries or side salad or salad bar, one drink and dessert of the day. (We’ll ask you to select your lunch choice during the mid-morning break.) Our afternoon snack will include veggie platter, w/ cheese, iced tea, coffee, water pitchers of coke, diet coke and sprite with cups.

Please share this message with others you think may be interested in participating, especially if they are or might help implement CHNEP’s management plan.

Thank you!