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Analyzing Environmental Innovations
Stakeholder Involvement Evaluation and Research
Due to the importance of public participation and stakeholder involvement to the Agency, Evaluation Support has maintained a series of evaluative activities in this area. Evaluation Support worked with EPA staff from across the Agency to develop an EPA public involvement evaluation plan to help EPA better gauge if it's following the right steps to involve the public in environmental decision making. Consistent with this initiative, Evaluation Support has developed a new information resource on stakeholder involvement and public participation at EPA:
Evaluation Resources Toolbox for Stakeholder and Public Involvement at EPA (updated June 2004) Contains summaries of nearly forty evaluations and reports focused on the public involvement activities of EPA and other agencies. Each summary is searchable by environmental topic, and describes the focus of the evaluation, data collection methods, and key findings and recommendations.
Evaluation Support has conducted evaluations focusing on single stakeholder initiatives and has supported efforts to understand these issues from a broader perspective. Specific evaluation documents include:
- The January 2001 report:
Stakeholder
Involvement & Public Participation at the U.S. EPA: Lessons Learned,
Barriers, and Innovative Approaches, identifies key cross-cutting
lessons learned, pinpoints unique barriers and ways to overcome them,
and highlights innovative approaches to stakeholder involvement and
public participation. (PDF Format 150KB)
- The October 2000 Project XL Stakeholder Involvement Evaluation, covers eight XL projects in various stages of implementation. This report, building on the 1998 report, considered the early dynamics of stakeholder process and stakeholder satisfaction and effectiveness with their involvement. (PDF Format 381KB)
- A September 1998 report
- Evaluation of Project
XL Stakeholder Processes (EPA-100-R-98-009) - which was prepared
by Resolve, Inc. This report reviewed the design and execution of the
stakeholder processes by four initial XL projects. (PDF Format 61KB)
In addition, Evaluation Support
is also co-sponsoring a major National Academy of Sciences study on public
participation in environmental decision making 
.
The study will consider the desired outcomes of public participation in
environmental assessment and policy making and assess the conditions under
which public participation efforts achieve these outcomes. The study will
generate recommendations for government agencies on how to make public
participation activities more effective and how to learn more systematically
from their experience with these activities.
A copy of EPA's Public Involvement Policy is avaliable at http://www.epa.gov/publicinvolvement/policy2003/index.htm
Evaluating the Use of Partnerships to Address Environmental Justice Issues
n June 1999, the federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (IWG) began to develop the concept of an Integrated Federal Interagency Environmental Justice Action Agenda (Agenda) as a way of incorporating environmental justice in all policies, programs, and activities of federal agencies.
Finalized in May 2000, the
IWG's Agenda seeks to build dynamic and proactive partnerships that access
the initiatives and resources of federal agencies to improve the quality
of life of minority and low-income communities that suffer disproportionate
environmental impacts. To help implement the Agenda, the IWG selected
fifteen IWG national demonstration projects in June 2000. A critical component
of these projects for the IWG were parties' commitments to collaborate
with each other to address environmental justice issues of concern and
federal agencies' commitments to coordinate with each other to help support
the projects.
Why was an evaluation of the use of partnerships performed?
In 2001, Evaluation Support conducted an evaluation to determine the value of using partnerships to address environmental justice issues. By better understanding how the IWG's demonstration projects use partnerships, the IWG hopes to continue developing a collaborative model that other communities addressing environmental justice issues can more easily apply in the future.
What process was used to conduct the evaluation?
To conduct the evaluation, Evaluation Support first produced case studies of six demonstration projects. The case studies were developed through a combination of data collection approaches, including interviews and project document review. Following completion of the case studies, a cross-case study analysis was performed to inform the evaluation.
This analysis examined: (1) project processes, activities, and outcomes; (2) key factors influencing project success; (3) value of partnering to address environmental justice issues; and (4) value of federal agency involvement in partnership efforts. Following these analyses, Evaluation Support developed a core set of findings and recommendations.
What was learned about the value of using partnerships to address environmental justice issues?
Findings indicate that the
partnerships are producing a variety of important results, including the
improved opportunity for local residents and community organizations to
have a genuine say in efforts to revitalize their communities, enhancement
of relationships between stakeholders, implementation of environmental
protection and other programs, and improved delivery of community assistance
by public service organizations. In regards to the overall value of partnering,
most interviewees indicated that the issues facing the affected communities
either wouldn't have been addressed, or wouldn't have been addressed to
the same extent, if at all, without use of a collaborative approach. Interviewees
also saw federal involvement in these efforts as critical. In addition
to the many positive points voiced, interviewees also noted the partnerships
are facing some challenges, including difficulties associated with partnership
maintenance and operational support, and the implementation of partnership-specific
initiatives. Overall, however, this evaluation shows that use of these
approaches, as demonstrated within these partnerships, can be an effective
means for addressing environmental justice issues in communities.
Additional Information on the Evaluation Effort
To learn more about this evaluation effort refer to the pages below.
Towards
an Environmental Justice Collaborative Model: Case Studies of Six Partnerships
Used to Address Environmental Justice Issues in Communities
Strategy for Evaluating the Environmental Justice
Collaborative Model (July 2001)
National Conference Calls to Discuss the Evaluation
of the Environmental Justice Collaborative Model