Sustainable America National Town Meeting
Local ideas, shared Nationally are Keys to Success
Release Date: April 26, 1999
Release Number: R10-99-19
Seattle, Wash. -- The first ever National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America will be held in Detroit, Michigan May 2-5, 1999. Designed to catalyze a national movement towards sustainable development, the Detroit meeting, and more than 100 affiliated meetings in over 30 states will focus on the quality of life issues Americans care about.
According to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Regional Director David L. de Courcy, the town meeting, and affiliated events scheduled in his own region, offer unique partnership opportunities.
"The National Town Meeting and our own partnership initiative, 'Project Impact: Building Disaster Resistant Communities,' highlights grassroots solutions that help America grow in a sustainable way, and makes them available to other communities," said de Courcy. "The way to tackle crippling natural disasters, economic growth, urban sprawl and sustainable community issues is to involve the stakeholders. And let's face it. We're ALL stakeholders in finding innovative solutions to environmental challenges."
Affiliated events scheduled throughout the Pacific Northwest include the Ship Creek Streambank Restoration project in Fort Richardson, Alaska May 1 - June 1; Oregon Community for a Healthy Future in Salem, Oregon May 3 - 5; Head Start Children's Garden construction this spring in Boise, Idaho; and the Discover Bainbridge Island initiative to create a "sense of place," in Bainbridge Island, Washington May 2, 1999.
To register for the National Town Meeting call 1-888-333-6878, or to register by Internet go to http://www.getf.org/ntmsustainableamerica. For more information on affiliated events visit http://www.sustainableamerica.org.
ATTENTION RADIO STATIONS: Today's FEMA Radio Network feed features FEMA Regional Director David L. de Courcy discussing:
- Why a National Town Meeting.
- Sustainable America and Project Impact.
- Grass roots solutions to sustainable development.
- Sharing successes
- Where to go for more information.
To access/record quotes, dial 1-800-323-5248. Canadian stations can call 1-202-646-4365. For additional information about NTM and FEMA programs visit our website at: http://www.fema.gov.
FEMA RADIO NETWORK
NATIONAL TOWN MEETING TALKING POINTS
David L. de Courcy
04-23-99
America can prosper economically without sacrificing the environment or our quality of life. The National Town Meeting, and affiliated events throughout the Pacific NW will highlight the work of communities, businesses and individuals who offer new solutions to help America grow in a sustainable way.
The National Town Hall Meeting for a Sustainable America meets in Detroit next week (2-5 May) is a landmark event that could well catalyze a national movement towards sustainable development.
The National Town Meeting has three simple but important objectives, all of which are a perfect fit for the FEMA-lead Project Impact: Building Disaster-Resistant communities which has been so well received nation-wide:
- Highlight the best practices and technologies being developed by local communities and businesses nation-wide.
- Establish a system to make these practices accessible to the maximum number of Americans.
- Engage public and private decision-makers at all levels to encourage more of these initiatives and remove barriers to their replication.
The NTM launches a "sustainability best practices" movement and provides training tools to replicate these practices, and to track and measure the impacts of new approaches.
It's a good concept: Actively searching out grassroots "good ideas" -- those "creative solutions" that are proving themselves at the local level every day -- and sharing them on a national level. We've actually proven the concept with our own "Project Impact: Building Disaster Resistant Communities" initiative. Project Impact is all about forging partnerships, using roundtables to prioritize natural hazards, pool resources, take action --and SHARE SUCCESSES. It really works.
FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information on the National Town Meeting in Detroit, and affiliated events coming up here in the Pacific NW, visit the NTM website: www.sustainableamerica.org or call 1-888-333-6878.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 06-Jan-2004 09:54:22