Overarching Best Practices

Overarching best practices apply generally across all steps of the Organon. Categories include: engaging stakeholders and partners; promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and environmental justice (DEIJ); and developing sustainable solutions and social cohesion.

Engaging Stakeholders & Partners

• Before engaging with the community, conduct thorough research. Explore the area and perform a situational assessment, including an initial stakeholder mapping exercise to identify potential partners and assess the community's needs. Plan interactions strategically to cover multiple topics efficiently, ensuring stakeholder time is respected.
• Decide on public participation levels based on the situational assessment, considering project complexity and local interests. Understanding community dynamics helps tailor engagement to enhance project planning and outcomes and better meet community needs.
• Perform a detailed stakeholder analysis to identify groups' unique needs and how planning decisions may affect them. Avoid stereotyping and respect diverse interests, whether monetary, professional, or cultural, to ensure inclusive planning and decision-making.
• Clearly communicate the project's decision-making process and integrate stakeholder input throughout, highlighting the importance of participation and how their insights contribute. Update stakeholders regularly and use community leaders for effective outreach.
• Corroborate and share information on community issues with stakeholders, clarifying the project purpose. Co-develop a project plan to ensure expected outcomes align with community priorities.
• Adjust planning strategies with stakeholder feedback, maintaining alignment with evolving goals. Set up processes for continuous feedback, transparency, and adaptability throughout the project.
• Comply with relevant laws in public engagement and notification. Adapt strategies to ensure the planning process meets local, state, and federal requirements.

Promoting DEIJ

• Identify barriers and implement support for underrepresented group participation via translation services, childcare, and convenient meeting scheduling to support involvement.
• Develop outreach strategies for marginalized populations, incorporating translation of materials, non-English media dissemination, and accessible feedback mechanisms for each project phase. Collaborate with community leaders to ensure culturally relevant communication.
• Leverage community connections and spaces to engage typically-uninvolved stakeholders and maintain continuing outreach to initially-uninvolved individuals for eventual engagement.
• Ensure planning  processes are inclusive of disproportionately impacted groups, engaging diverse demographics like youth, elderly, differently-abled, LGBTQIA+, and low-income residents to address their specific needs.
• Collaborate with community leaders to identify overburdened stakeholders using tools like EJScreen and surveys. Engage in dialogue with these groups to ensure planning goals align with their needs, contributing to equitable decision-making and project benefits.
• Clearly communicate potential variations and limits in outcomes of natural resource planning to the community. Manage expectations by discussing what outcomes (e.g., change versus stability) will constitute success.

Developing Sustainable Solutions & Social Cohesion

• Recognize that consensus may not be possible with diverse stakeholders. Strive for mutual understanding and respect, allowing stakeholders to express views. Create an environment where stakeholders feel heard, and the decision-making process is clear; possibly involve a neutral facilitator.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to tackle planning challenges like political barriers and resource limitations. Engage early in discussions on controversial topics, aiming for mutual understanding and compromise and shared ownership of sustainable solutions.
• Create a strategy for sustaining project interventions beyond the project team's involvement. Ensure smooth handoff of information and integrate plans with local initiatives for ongoing effectiveness.
• Strengthen local adaptation and decision-making through inclusive planning. Leverage community talents, foster local leadership, and involve stakeholders in project processes. This empowers the community, encourages ownership, and ensures sustained engagement.