Lindsey GreenbergJournal #1
I am on my fifth week of my 12 week internship at Sustainable St. Louis and I am loving it. I always knew that I liked to work for small, entrepreneurial organizations and this job is simply confirming that. As the first “employee” of Sustainable St. Louis I am getting to wear many hats. There currently is no executive director or staff because the organization is so new. I am working closely with the Board of Directors this summer to help get the organization off the ground.
Although my main deliverables at the end of the summer will be a marketing and communications plan and a sustainable city plan, my day-to-day work involves much more than that. My first few weeks have been spent preparing the website for launch, researching grant opportunities, writing a grant, developing an RFP to bring on a fundraising consultant, planning for a full board all day strategy session, and creating a working groups document.
Another aspect of my job is outreach to regional business, non-profits, and communities that are necessary partners in furthering our sustainability agenda. As such, I was able to attend the Midwest Energy and Climate Policy Conference where I got to hear about energy policy goals for the Midwest and how the relevant groups are coming together to push for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Energy is a hot topic in Missouri, a state that derives 80% of its electricity from coal, and as such has one of the lowest electricity costs in the country. The attitude toward renewable energy is entirely different than the east coast attitudes and a heavy focus is placed on the potential for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).
The organization I am working for has taken on the role of convener for businesses, non-profits, and communities in the St. Louis region. As such, the organization does not plan to provide “services” per se, but will rather act as a facilitator and host of educational events. The two biggest issues for the current organization are fundraising and achieving buy-in from the necessary partners. Hopefully by my end of summer, Sustainable St. Louis will be well on its way to making progress in both of those areas.
Journal #2
I am on my sixth week of my 12 week internship at Sustainable St. Louis and the pace has not slowed down. In fact, it seems like energy of the organization has picked up. The Board of Directors recently hosted an all day Strategic Planning Session to help welcome new board members and reassess the mission and goals of the organization. The Board gave up a full Saturday of their weekend to meet and, as a team, prioritize the goals of the organization and set a timeline for activities. The meeting was a resounding success and the hours of planning that went in to organizing for this session completely paid off. Everyone left the meeting re-energized and ready to go out there and fundraise to take the organization to the next level.
At some point between my last journal entry and this one, Sustainable St. Louis finally launched its Web site to rave reviews. I played a huge role in helping to get the Web site off the ground by ensuring that there was content on the site, designing certain pages on the site, writing a press release to announce the site, and creating additional buzz through various networking channels. The Web site is going to be one of the main channels for Sustainable St. Louis to reach out to its target audiences and it is exceptionally important for the Web site to be constantly updated and maintained to ensure that we are the main source for sustainability news in the region.
In addition to the Web site, we launched our e-newsletter. I created and distributed the first of our soon-to-be monthly electronic newsletters that highlight the key happenings and events related to sustainability in the region. The initial newsletter had a distribution of over 500 people. The newsletter launch combined with the press release announcing the launch of the Web site brought some much needed attention to our organization. While many people in the community had heard the name of our organization, few actually knew what we were about and the Web site gave us the chance to showcase both the need for our organization and what we plan to do.
Journal #3
In addition to the Web site, we launched our e-newsletter. I created and distributed the first of our soon-to-be monthly electronic newsletters that highlight the key happenings and events related to sustainability in the region. The initial newsletter had a distribution of over 500 people. The newsletter launch combined with the press release announcing the launch of the Web site brought some much needed attention to our organization. While many people in the community had heard the name of our organization, few actually knew what we were about and the Web site gave us the chance to showcase both the need for our organization and what we plan to do.
Another major project that I took on recently involved authoring an article for a new nonprofit magazine that was recently launched in St. Louis. C3 Magazine wanted to spotlight Sustainable St. Louis in its August publication and I was tasked with writing the article and ensuring that it met the expectations of the Board.
Also in July, Sustainable St. Louis launched the first of many listserves that it plans to manage to get people in the community communicating with one another on issues related to sustainability. Our first listserve was the Green Government St. Louis Google Group. We invited leaders from cities and municipalities in the region to be part of the group so they could share with one another best practices related to sustainability and, hopefully, form partnerships to tackle issues together. Thus far, the listserve has been a resounding success and has received mention in a number of regional publications.
My summer internship allowed me to attend events that brought together key leaders and unbelievable speakers. These events included: 1) A Visioning Session Hosted by East-West Gateway Council of Governments that aimed to bring together key leaders in the region to get their opinions on a vision for St. Louis, 2) RCGA’s Energy Council Meeting that hosted Missouri Department of Natural Resources Director Mark Templeton, 3) Pew Project Forum on the Environment Featuring Former US Senator John Warner, 4) US Senator Claire McCaskill’s Economic and Environmental Forum and Grant Writing Workshop.
Journal #4
It is mid-August and I am on the last day of my summer internship. The Board threw me a going away party last night and, in addition to giving me a gift certificate to a local organic restaurant, the Board presented me with a plaque thanking me for my help this summer.
This summer internship was more than I could have ever hoped for. I got to try my hand at so many new tasks and grow my skill set beyond what I could have imagined. This was my first experience working at a nonprofit, working for a start up, and working for an organization dedicated to environmental sustainability. The fact that I was able to combine my three main interests in to one summer internship is incredible. I feel good knowing that in my 12 weeks in St. Louis this summer working for Sustainable St. Louis that I not only made a positive impact on an organization, but that I also made an impact on a community.
