PROJECT PROGRESS REPORT – Third Quarter 2009-2010

AGENCY NAME:       Community Energy Project                                          DATE: April 9th, 2010

PROJECT NAME:      Lead Poisoning Prevention Program     

PREPARED BY:          Perry Cabot, Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Coordinator and Sherrie Smith, Outreach Coordinator

REVIEWED BY:         Chaun MacQueen, Education and Outreach Program Manager

Sherry Burbach, Executive Director

 Objective: To educate the Portland community about the sources and dangers of lead, and about the tools available for eliminating the hazards of lead exposure in the home, with the goal of ending childhood lead poisoning in Portland, Oregon.

[1]     ACTIVITIES. Describe the major activities carried out during the reporting period.

 This quarter, CEP conducted 22 basic lead poisoning prevention workshops for 178 qualified households, for a total of 46 workshops and 403 qualified households served so far this year.

 CEP loaned out the HEPA vacuums 5 times this quarter, and 22 times this fiscal year. Participants in this program used the HEPA units to remove a total of 5.64 lbs of possibly lead-contaminated debris from their homes this quarter. So far this year, the HEPA vacuums were loaned out a total of 22 times and collected 21.89 lbs of dust and debris. 

 CEP provided 4 Lead-Safe Home Projects workshops in the 3^rd quarter for 45 qualified households with 7 workshops serving 62 households so far this fiscal year.

 A. Basic Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshops

 The primary activities for this quarter of the 2009-2010 fiscal year:

• Coordinated and conducted 22 basic lead poisoning prevention workshops for 178 qualified households
• Scheduled Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshops for next quarter
• Provided 4 Lead-Safe Home Projects workshops this quarter for 45 households with a year-to-date total of 7 workshops for 62 qualified households
• Participated in Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Fix-it Fair at David Douglas and Parkrose Schools
• Scheduled Lead-Safe Home Projects (tier 2) workshops for next quarter
• Coordinated lending of the HEPA vacuum for 5 uses with positive results. Collected a total of 5.64 lbs of possibly lead-contaminated debris from homes
• Continued to train and support new VISTA Corps members in lead program
• Continued training CEP intern to become a basic lead poisoning prevention workshop leader. She conducted 6 workshops this quarter
• Provided contact info for 95 (51%) of CEP lead workshop participants requesting a Water Test Kit to the County LeadLine after each workshop, with a year-to-date total of 145 water test kits requested through CEP workshops.
• Participated in several community events, fairs, networking meetings to promote our Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

Program Development

 SUCCESS!! EPA Accreditation Certificates received 1/5/10!!! J CEP has conducted 11 trainings for over 150 contractors, including CCB enforcement staff, generating funds to support the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and other CEP programs for this year

• Prepared and discussed plan for Lead Poisoning Prevention Program evaluation activities; long-term and regular follow-up with clients who participated in 07-08 follow-up surveys to analyze longevity of information, kit items, referrals, and progress on their Home Lead Action Plans
• Prepared grants to private funding sources to support CEP’s Lead Program, to be submitted early next quarter
• Wrote and submitted 2010-2011 Portland Water Bureau grant proposal ($93,000)

Ongoing Activities 

• Participate in outreach and networking activities with LHRP and other community partners around lead and environmental health issues
• Submit/publish articles and news releases to local publications and internet sources on a routine basis to promote lead awareness and specific workshops
• Provide information and referral for community members to LHRP partner services
• Collect, track, analyze, and report workshop participant /outreach activity data
• Update and maintain a reference binder on recalled toys and household items from Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Conduct follow-up communication with participants who’ve sent in their lead dust test kits and discuss results, answer questions
• Participate in LHRP partner meetings and events
• Conduct CEP Education and Outreach Team Meetings
• Participate in Technical Assistance for Community Services (TACS) Diversity Leaders Network (every other month)
• Conduct program evaluation and analysis, make appropriate changes

• Assisted with program operations and conducted check-in meetings with Program Coordinator and assistant community educator –in-training

• Participated in Multnomah County Envir. Health Dept. Healthy Homes Collaborative meeting; discussed potential for independent coalition forming or keep status quo. 3-24-10

• Monitored progress of Lead Program – on track!

 Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshop Highlights—Basic Workshop

This quarter, CEP conducted 22 Tier 1 basic Lead Poisoning Prevention workshops for 178 qualified households (179 total). The average household size was 4 people in the home.

Third quarter average attendance among all qualified participants was 8 households per workshop, with a public workshop average attendance of 4 participants and a private workshop average attendance of 9.1 participants per workshop. The tables below illustrate the breakdown of the different types of workshops we’ve provided this quarter and year to date.

 CEP partners with hundreds of organizations and community groups each year to host our public workshops. We provide flyers and conduct the marketing for these workshops, and may receive assistance from the host location as well.

Five public workshops were conducted this quarter at the following locations:

CEP also partners with community service organizations and agencies that help us reach underserved groups experiencing barriers to attending regularly scheduled public workshops. These host agencies provide assistance with marketing and outreach, interpretation in many languages, as well as accommodations for people with disabilities. These workshops are usually closed to the public to allow for tailoring the workshop for these groups. 

 Seventeen privately-hosted workshops were conducted this quarter at the following locations:

 In-Kind Support

 CEP partners with several schools, churches, community centers, and other organizations to host workshops that are family-friendly and open to the public. Almost all of our partners provide free space for 2 hours per workshop, and occasionally provide interpretation services, childcare, and assistance with outreach. So far this fiscal year, community partners donated 108 hours of free space rental (lead workshops only) with an additional 40 hours of donated space for the all-day Renovation Repair and Painting (RRP) training for a total of 148 hours of donated space.  Two workshops were conducted in Spanish by CEP staff, and did not require outside assistance for interpretation.

 Lead Dust Sampling Kits

 CEP provided 22 lead dust test kits in the 3rd quarter.  Most of these kits were distributed as components of the Tier 2 Lead-safe Home Projects resources.  Dust test kits are included as a built-in component of the Tier 2 “Lead-Safe Home Projects” workshop resulting in automatic distribution of kits at all such workshops.  Other workshop participants are encouraged to schedule a ten-minute visit to CEP to receive the kit and a one-to-one demonstration of the resource.  CEP believes that these mini-appointments offer an excellent opportunity for each client to discuss specific concerns they might have about their particular perceived or real dust hazards. During both Tier 1 and Tier 2 lead workshops, participants are also informed that they will receive free dust test kits in the mail if they contact the Multnomah County LeadLine and request this resource.

 In the third quarter, two client dust tests were submitted to the lab for analysis. Both sets of results were from a cooperative living community and both came back indicating lead hazards present on both sill and floor.  The clients were contacted and the results discussed.  The client happened to have been a past borrower of CEP’s sealed HEPA vacuum and, partly based on CEP education and consultation, had gone on to purchase their own sealed HEPA vacuums.   Additionally, these clients were already equipped with cleaning kits from having taken the basic workshop so that they could directly address the existing hazards in their home.  Without the testing and cleaning resources provided by CEP, these clients risked prolonged exposure to lead dust hazards in the home. 

 B. Program Evaluation: Follow-up Surveys/Visits

As mentioned in the 2^nd Quarter report, the Education and Outreach Program Manager and VISTA Volunteer Coordinator set up an internship position with PSU Master of Social Work Community-Based Program for a nearly one year placement at CEP. This intern is assisted with designing a longer-term follow up instrument for the lead program and is conducting targeted follow-up home visits of program participants from the 07-08 workshop season who participated in a follow-up phone survey previously.  For this targeted follow-up study, the intern will conduct 8 home visits (20% of the 40 past follow-up participants) and interview these individuals to find out whether and how the information they learned in the basic lead poisoning prevention workshop two years ago is still useful today.  The intern brings a new lead poisoning prevention kit to each home. As of this date, 2 home visits have been conducted. 

The same PSU intern will begin conducting the standard 09-10 follow-up surveys toward the second half of April when we’ve served nearly all the qualified households. She will train other volunteers to assist with the project. We will share the results of both levels of follow-up in our final report next quarter.

Post-Workshop Participant Comments

We gather immediate participant feedback on anonymous demographic survey forms at the end of each workshop and report these data in the tables at the end of this report. Some comments from participant evaluation forms this quarter:

• Thank you for this valuable information – your Spanish is perfect.  Thank you for taking the time.
• This is a great program.
• Great presentation! Very clear and useful info. Thank you!
• Thank you for the workshop on how to live better and without harmful chemicals for the family.
• Enjoyed the workshop. Wasn’t even thinking about lead – until now!
• Thank you for the class and your explanations. I enjoyed the class and learned a lot. 

C. Outreach/Marketing Activities

The Outreach Coordinator prepared an independent report outlining all of CEP’s outreach and volunteer efforts in much detail. Here we just include highlights specific to the Portland Water Bureau contract for lead poisoning prevention workshops. The full CEP Outreach and Volunteer report is available upon request.

 Meetings/Networking Opportunities:

Feb 02, 2010               Masters of Social Work Field Supervisor site visit

Feb 04, 2010               Meeting with Oregon Energy Coordinators Association (RRP trainings)

Feb 16, 2010               Meeting with Salem Communications – radio campaign for Christian radio stations for lead and energy tips for homeowners

Feb 18, 2010               Meeting with EcoTech, Josiah Hill III Clinic about potential partnership opportunities with CEP

Feb 19, 2010               Portland Women’s Foundation site visit

Mar 08, 2010               Representative of Daily Journal – Advertising Options

Mar 11, 2010               Spirit Mountain Community Fund site visit

Mar 11, 2010               Lead Hazard Reduction Program Partners Quarterly Meeting

Mar 11, 2010               Unlimited Choices – CEP as a fill-in instructor for RRP training

Mar 18, 2010               Willamette Valley Development Officers – Networking

Community Events

CEP participated in five different community events this quarter. The type of events varied, as well as the thematic emphasis. At every event, we promote all CEP programs, and network with other organizations.  At events geared towards children or health, our booth was much more focused on Lead Poisoning Prevention.  CEP promoted lead awareness, specifically the Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshops, other LHRP partner resources and programs, and volunteer and internship opportunities with the program at the following outreach events: 

• Jan 09, 2010    Fix-it-Fair – David Douglas High School
• Jan 29, 2010    Better Living Fair – Doubletree Hotel
• Jan 30, 2010    Fix-it-Fair – Park Rose High School
• Feb 04, 2010   School of Social Work Placement Fair – Portland State University
• Mar 26-28, ’10  Better Living Show – Expo Center

At most events we had a great deal of interaction with people including: introductions, information exchanges, and laying foundations with new partners. To help gauge the success of each event, we have developed a tracking system to gather data on how many people visit our table, how many we have conversations with, and how many take information. At a busy outreach event it is nearly impossible to track each person who comes to visit us at our table, so these results may be underreported. The results of this tracking system for the events of this quarter are as follows.

      *Percentages are not mutually exclusive, and are a percentage of how many people visited the table

These data help us gauge how effective we are with outreach events and helps in planning before going to an event the next year. From 2006, the first year we began tracking contact with clients, we’ve increased the percentage of people who take information and with whom we have conversations by 20%.

Publications/Media

CEP has contacted the editors or reporters of 49 community publications to learn which ones had community calendars and were receptive to regularly scheduled events. As a result, we send a list of CEP community calendar events to 17 local publications on a monthly basis: Southeast Examiner, Portland Alliance, The Bee, Asian Reporter, El Hispanic News, the East Portland News, East County News, Portland Family Magazine, Metro Parent Calendar, The Skanner, Mid-County Memo, Portland Observer, Gresham Outlook, The Hollywood Star, and Concordia News. The Oregonian publishes CEP events in their calendar by using CEP’s web calendar. The Outreach Coordinator frequently studies the local media to find new angles for future article writing, and to find CEP publications, and contacts potentially interested reporters about stories relating to CEP services. 

The number of papers to which we send press releases varies by how much time we have for publication. Press releases tend to be immediate and time-sensitive, and we have a list of 13 papers we use who can print a story with only a week or two notice. Most community papers are monthly, and often need a month and a half notice to publish a story. If the press release is not time sensitive, then we expand the size of the list.

This quarter we had one media event through internet news. March 11, 2010:  Examiner.com is a Seattle online newspaper that studies local Portland events. In this specific case the reporter is focusing on the Art on Alberta District. Her interview covered CEP’s history, services, and businesses. We posted the article through our viral marketing channels.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing gives us the chance to reach new audiences locally and nationally, especially the millennial generation. Currently CEP has a MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, which are in the top 30 most visited pages on the internet. Three staff also have LinkedIn accounts. The Viral Marketing Plan outline is consistently revised with experience and education

This quarter we

• Used our new Constant Contact account
  • Researched and added hundreds of contacts into separate mailing lists by category
  • Managed bounce-backs (emails that are no longer valid)
  • Posted In-Home Manager position
  • Contacted about newsletter archiving/sending PDFs
  • Created and sent Winter Newsletter to 769 people
  • Set up newsletter blog for expanded stories (linked from the constant contact mailing under “read more…”) which doubles as a newsletter archive space
  • Embedded a newsletter sign-up option throughout CEP website
  • Created newsletter-style mailing to 750+ people about new Water to the Weather workshops
  • Interacted with the online community through comments and “friending” other account holders
    • Facebook: 83 fans
    • MySpace: 72 friends
    • Twitter: 46 followers
    • YouTube: 5 subscribers, 3 friends 1000+ views of CEP videos

Posting to community websites and list serves such as CNRG and CraigsList.org is a simple and convenient way to post new workshop information that becomes more effective with experience. Some news agencies, such as The Oregonian use our online calendar and publish events frequently on their own. There are always a variety of places where we are mentioned on personal blogs and sustainability sites that utilize our calendar to spread the word to their constituents. CEP staff are active on the Leadnet list community as well.

Volunteer Support

This year CEP became a host site for a Clara Barton VISTA Corps (CBVC) member, who is serving for one year as a Volunteer Coordinator. CBVC members serve with local organizations who focus on preventing individuals and families from entering poverty or offering services to assist with transitioning out of poverty. They provide service through indirect, capacity building activities to ensure the organizations they are serving have the necessary resources to remain successful.

CEP volunteers provide support for all of our programs. This quarter, seven volunteers provided 92 hours of labor for the Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshop program to help us assemble workshop kits, data entry, and leading basic lead poisoning prevention workshops (see table below).  We continue to partner with organizations such as Steps to Success, Hands-On Greater Portland, Easter Seals, Federal Work-Study programs, PIVOT Job Corps, and other organizations to help recruit and place interns and volunteers at CEP. All new individual volunteers receive a one-hour volunteer orientation. Those that commit to volunteering receive one-on-one training with the appropriate program staff member.

Independent Sector is a Federal program that measures the value of volunteer time. Oregon’s dollar value for volunteer time is $17.90 per hour, which would total $26,689 in in-kind donations for the year. At the Federal rate of $20.25 per hour it would total $30,193. In the past few years, CEP has had a combination of a small number of interns who volunteer a large number of hours, and a large number of volunteers who participate in groups that come once or twice a year. This quarter, volunteers donated an average of 6.9 hours per person (range 1-172.5 hours).

*Number of non-duplicated volunteers (as some volunteers work within more than one program)

D. Lead-Safe Home Projects Workshops

CEP conducted 4 Tier 2 “Lead-Safe Home Projects” workshops in the 2^nd quarter serving 45 qualified households and 7 workshops serving 62 households so far this year, which exceeds our contract goal of 50 households. Two workshops were held at Fix-it Fairs (Parkrose and David Douglas), one at CEP and the other was held at the pre-apprenticeship training program called Constructing Hope. Since Constructing Hope staff elected to raffle off 5 kits for their large class, this allowed us to offer one more workshop in the community next quarter with the remaining kits. 

CEP’s Tier 2 Lead-safe Home Projects workshop clearly fills a void in lead poisoning prevention education opportunities in the Portland metropolitan region.  CEP’s basic workshop doesn’t cover the basics of lead-safe remodeling and people taking on small projects involving disturbance of lead-based paint do not typically have the time, desire or funds to take longer trainings like CEP’s new Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) course.  The Lead-safe Home Projects class efficiently summarizes most key points from the longer training in a short timeframe that is accessible to the community.  We will include the complete participant survey data table in the 4^th quarter report, as there is one more workshop scheduled for early next quarter.

E.   High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Vacuum Lending

CEP loaned out HEPA units to 5 households in the 3rd quarter, and 22 total uses so far this year; meeting our contract goal of 20 – 30 uses for the year.  The HEPA vacuum lending program continues to see steady demand from CEP workshop participants and those who hear about the resource from CEP outreach events.  CEP loaned out sealed HEPA vacuums 5 times in the 3^rd quarter and collected a total of 5.64lbs of potentially lead-contaminated dust and debris.  So far this year, the HEPA vacuums were loaned out a total of 22 times and collected 21.89 lbs of dust and debris. 

Based on feedback surveys, Clients were uniformly satisfied with the program.  Feedback comments included:

• “So appreciate your help! Thank You!
• “Got great recommendations and info”
• “You are a much valued resource and I’m grateful for the information you’ve shared with us”
• “Thank you for your valued resource”
• “Perry was informed and supported us in many ways! Thanks for the help!!”

As anticipated, demand for the HEPA units decreased somewhat in the winter months and is starting to pick up again as spring remodel season approaches.  It is also possible that the new EPA requirements that contractors use only sealed HEPA vacuums during clean-up of pre-1978 residential remodeling sites is causing a downstream effect of raising awareness of these types of cleaning tools. 

We continue to seek ways to make the lending program available to households that do not have credit cards or the financial resources to leave a deposit for the borrowed equipment. As mentioned in the 2^nd quarter we changed our lending policy to allow individuals to leave bank authorized checks as a deposit with CEP – improving program access for individuals who do not have credit cards.  

F. Communication with Lead Hazard Reduction Program Grantees 

CEP maintains participation in Multnomah County Health Department (MCHD) Healthy Homes Group partner meetings and LHRP Partners Quarterly Meetings, which may naturally become the avenue for forging collaborations and successfully finding additional support needed to continue to provide and improve lead poisoning prevention services to the area. 

Additionally, CEP provided contact info for 95 (51%) CEP lead workshop participants requesting a Water Test Kit to the County LeadLine after each workshop, with a year-to-date total of 144 water test kits requested through CEP workshops.  CEP also makes routine referrals to the LeadLine for lead dust testing kits which the LeadLine staff then forwards to the PDC program staff. 

HB 2134: Stakeholder Meetings

With Oregon on the cusp of becoming a Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule “Authorized State” and thereby assuming administrative and enforcement control of the new EPA work practice standards for lead-based paint, the heavy lifting work of stakeholders is complete and HB 2134 awaits a signature from the governor.  There were no stakeholder meetings this period. 

Participant Referral Sources

CEP staff continues to make routine referrals to all of the LHRP partners on a daily basis. Below are data sets that show the extent of referrals made to CEP’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program as well as the amount of referrals CEP staff make to community partners.

The table below represents self-reported data from community members on how they found us during registration (sign-up only) and from actual participants at the workshop. We can see that the support of the host agency is vital to the Lead Poisoning Prevention program, especially those host organizations providing private workshops for underserved communities. Lead Hazard Reduction partners such as the Portland Development Commission and Josiah Hill III Clinic are also important and reliable sources for us. These data do not include the info source for participants in workshops translated into a language other than Spanish as they did not fill out a form. 

*Percentages may not add equal 100 due to rounding to the nearest whole percent.

This continues our second year conducting Lead Safe Home Projects (LSHP) workshops. So far we have served 62 households, and the majority of people come to us through fix-it-fairs, word of mouth, and from the Lead Poisoning Prevention workshops.

*Percentages may not add equal 100 due to rounding to the nearest whole percent.

Referrals Provided by CEP Staff to Other Resources

CEP functions as a significant referral source for many clients. The Outreach Coordinator has created a referral database to track how often and to whom we refer community members who contact us.  Information is available to community partners about how many referrals we’ve made to their specific organizations by request. Below are the overall statistics in this report. Referrals are divided into three categories:

A. “Active Office referrals” occur when a person who calls, emails, or walks in the door requests a service we do not offer and we refer them to the appropriate resource. Each member of CEP staff tracks referrals that we collect at the end of each month.

B. “Active Outreach Events” where we track which brochures are taken at an event by bundling and pre-counting at the beginning of each quarter.

C. “Passive Referrals” include the resources automatically given to our clients through workshops and the In-Home program, as well as how many people visit our website. The database is ready for the new fiscal year, and changes are to be expected as it develops.

CEP Staff make active referrals to many organizations, the top three of which (LeadLine, 211-info, and Senior Hotline) are resource hotlines that lead to thousands of other resources.

Active Referrals were made to more than 30 organizations, three of which (LeadLine, 211-info, and Senior Hotline) are resource hotlines that lead to thousands of other resources. The majority of referrals (78%) for this quarter were to agencies that provide energy assistance, mostly until CEP ran received Oregon HEAT funds. These numbers are under-reported.

In the next table below, “referral” means number of resources provided through receiving a packet from a workshop, an in-home audit, or unique visits to our website. “Resources” refers to how many resources a participant can access through the program. For example – if 100 people attended a lead workshop, each participant would receive 20 resources automatically, and that would mean that 2,000 pieces of information with phone numbers, addresses, organization information, etc. were distributed for the quarter.

In the office this quarter, most referrals go to LIEAP (Low-Income Energy Assistance Program) for energy assistance, 211 info, Multnomah County Weatherization, and Energy Trust of Oregon. At outreach events, the top referrals go to The Leadline, OSHA/DHS working with lead paint, and the Portland Water Bureau’s water bill assistance, and the BHCD Home Repair Program.

[2] SHORTFALLS

1. A.  Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshop

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

1. B.   Follow-up Visits/Surveys

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

1. C.   Outreach/Advertising Activities

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

1. D.   Lead-Safe Home Projects Workshop (Pilot)

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

1. E.                 High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Vacuum Lending

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

1. F.        Communication with Lead Hazard Reduction Program Grantees

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

[3] NEW DIRECTIONS

1. A.     Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Support

EPA Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Training (RRP)

In Mid-September the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Coordinator completed and submitted 2 applications to the US EPA to become an EPA recognized training provider for the new Renovation, Repair and Painting requirements for contractors and others who disturb lead-based paint in targeted housing.  CEP applied to become an accredited training provider for both the 8-hour Initial training as well as the 4-hour Refresher training. 

In late December, CEP received a letter from the EPA informing us that we were a nationally accredited training provider for both trainings. We began providing trainings in January.

To date, CEP has scheduled and conducted 8 full-day trainings in Portland, Salem and Corvallis and an additional 3 trainings in support of another accredited training provider.  We have trained a diversity of contractors and others including weatherization staff from various County programs, individuals from small and large firms and the entire Oregon Construction Contractor’s Board (CCB) Enforcement and Field Investigations staff.  These last groups are the individuals tasked with investigating and enforcing the RRP rule throughout the entire state of Oregon. 

There are several developments relative to outreach activities for this new direction. We created a new RRP section of the website with individual interconnected web pages including general information, why CEP is an expert in lead education, a registration page, frequently asked questions, and other resources. The Outreach Coordinator collaborated with the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Coordinator and Executive Assistant to make the website a tool for streamlining registration and information sharing with potential customers. We also created a Google Docs registration form and payment button to allow customers to register and pay online, saving CEP staff a considerable amount of time. Once these web pages were launched, they became the most popular pages on the website.

By becoming an accredited training provider for this new required course, not only is CEP able to bring in some resources to support programs, but now can take pride in seeing its lead poisoning prevention efforts encompass primary prevention efforts that attack the root causes of many lead poisonings – namely remodeling of older homes. 

1. B.     Follow-up Visits/Surveys 

As mentioned previously, we are working with a PSU Master of Social Work student to conduct a study of 07-08 basic workshop participants who have participated in regular follow-up surveys a few years ago.  During home visits to 8 (20%) of past follow-up participants, CEP will be gathering data about whether or how the information and resources provided to past participants is manifesting as a sustained change in behavior and feeling of empowerment around the issue of lead poisoning prevention.  Each household receives a refreshment of some of their kit materials as appreciation for their time and to help them test for lead and clean lead-safe in the home  It has been five years since our last in-depth analysis of this program, which was conducted on 2005 in partnership with Multnomah County Environmental Health and ClearCorps.

1. C.     Outreach/Marketing Activities

No new directions at this time.

D.  Lead-Safe Home Projects Workshops

No new directions at this time.

1. E.     High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Vacuum Lending Program

No new directions at this time.

1. F.      Communication with Lead Hazard Reduction Program Grantees

No new directions at this time.

[4] CLIENT DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION.

* Percentages/averages calculated from total number of responses to each question.

2^nd Quarter of 2009-2010

Prepared by Danielle Bartolomucci, VISTA Volunteer Coordinator

Reviewed by Chaun MacQueen, Education and Outreach Manager

Quarter in review

This year CEP became a host site for a Clara Barton VISTA Corps (CBVC) member, who is serving for one year as a Volunteer Coordinator.

CBVC members serve with local organizations who focus on preventing individuals and families from entering poverty or offering services to assist with transitioning out of poverty. They provide service through indirect, capacity building activities to ensure the organizations they are serving have the necessary resources to remain successful.

Some highlights from this quarter

• We gave 21 volunteer orientations
• We recruited and oriented 117 new volunteers
• We are hosting three interns through Easter Seals, Portland State University Masters in Social Work (PSU MSW), and Steps to Success.
• Of the 116 clients we served through In-Home Services, 42 (or 36%) of them had volunteer support

Data Collection

CEP staff gathers data to track our volunteer activities. Data for this report comes from other program reports and the following databases:

• Volunteer hours by program and individual
• Demographic information for volunteers
• Individual volunteer availability and interest
• Number of volunteer-focused community events in which we participate
• Volunteer recognition
• Hospitality

These data help us analyze effectiveness of volunteer coordination activities and helps identify gaps in volunteer recruitment. This also provides us the opportunity to gauge in-kind donations from the community, provide references for volunteers, and volunteer interests.

Volunteer Recruitment

This quarter the CBVC member participated in two volunteer recruitment activities.

We participated in the Student Volunteer Fair at Sunset High School on October 20^th, 2009, which afforded us the opportunity to speak to high school students about volunteering with CEP.

CNRG Non-Profit Networking Night on November 19^th, 2009 allowed us talk to a group of people about volunteer opportunities, community impact and collaboration, available programs and services, and partnerships building opportunities.

A. Volunteer Services Activities

Volunteer Time

Independent Sector is a Federal program that measures the value of volunteer time. Oregon’s dollar value for volunteer time is $17.90 per hour, which would total $26,689 in in-kind donations for the year. At the Federal rate of $20.25 per hour it would total $30,193. In the past few years, CEP has had a combination of a small number of interns who volunteer a large number of hours, and a large number of volunteers who participate in groups that come once or twice a year. This quarter, volunteers donated an average of 6.9 hours per person (range 1-172.5 hours).

*Number of non-duplicated volunteers (as some volunteers work within more than one program)

All new individual volunteers receive a one-hour volunteer orientation. Those that commit to volunteering receive one-on-one training with the appropriate program staff member. Group volunteers receive an orientation and then work with staff in small groups. Volunteers assist with the following activities for each program:

Weatherization Workshop

• Data entry
• Weatherization Workshop Leader training
• Kit assembly
• Workshop registration
• Assisting clients with trade-in and bonus materials.

Lead Poisoning Prevention

• Kit assembly
• Workshop facilitation
• Data entry

In-Home Weatherization Services

• Weatherizing homes
• Registering clients
• Scheduling clients for services, returning phone calls

Retail Fundraiser

• Assisting customers with purchasing materials
• Answering questions and demonstrating products

Other

• Board Member time and research for new members
• Executive Director support
• Energy Educator: Train the Trainer
• Fundraising/Newsletter emailing list for Constant Contact
• Transferring management document templates to Google Docs

Volunteer Demographics

In order to get a better idea about the demographic composition of our volunteer base, we asked volunteers to complete an anonymous survey at orientation. The Race/Ethnicity categories were taken from Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of 171 volunteers, 96 have filled out the anonymous survey so far. The results of the survey are as follows.

With a more information about our volunteers, we can conduct volunteer recruitment activities to help diversify volunteer pool to reflect our client base.

Group Volunteer Activities

Group volunteer events set up three people or more that volunteer at the same time. Typically the groups come from an already established organization such as an employer or school. We can accommodate up to 15 people in a day, sometimes a smaller established group also allows individual volunteers from the community to join their teams on project days.

During this quarter we continued in the process of planning and logistics for 17 group volunteer weatherization project and well as hosting and facilitating project days.

Group events from this quarter include

Weatherization Workshop

Oct 03, 2009               Weatherization Workshop Kit assembly

Nov 14, 2009  Portland Energy Conservation, Inc: Fix-It-Fair Kits

In-Home Weatherization – Community Weatherization Teams

Oct 24, 2009              Portland General Electric

Oct 29, 2009                Constructing Hope

Nov 04, 2009             Portland General Electric

Nov 07, 2009              Portland Energy Conservation, Inc

Nov 14. 2009             Portland Community College Service Learning Students

Nov 20, 2009              Portland Community College Service Learning Students

Dec 19, 2009   Portland General Electric

Dec 09, 2009   Bonneville Power Administration

Dec 10, 2009               Helensview High School

Dec 12, 2009               Enoch Manufacturing (canceled due to weather)

Currently we have five more group events scheduled for next quarter.

Individual Volunteers

CEP conducted nine orientations and set up training/first services days for 17 new individual volunteers. We coordinated and set up projects 27 individual volunteers (new and returning).

Interns

CEP hosts interns every year in partnership with a variety of other organizations from Steps-to-Success to Easter Seals to local colleges. Depending on the time of year, an intern may support program activities in a variety of ways – enter data, answer phones, weatherize homes, assemble kits, assist retail customers, help clients with Oregon HEAT requests, make photo copies, or special projects as assigned.

This quarter we hosted four interns – one through Easter Seals, two through Steps-to-Success, and one through Portland State University’s Master of Social Work program.

One of our Steps-To-Success interns finished up her six-month term of service as an Executive Assistant, and in November was promoted to a staff member through Oregon Jobs Plus. She continues as the Executive Assistant, and is also training to be training to be a Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshop Leader.

One Steps-to-Success Weatherization Assistant works largely for In-Home Services. She provides direct weatherization services, intake for clients, scheduling, and returns phone calls. She aids with prepping and transporting materials for client’s homes, and has assembled Weatherization Workshop kits.

Our Easter Seals intern works as a Program Assistant, providing the backbone of our office support. Her activities include: data entry, installation of weatherization materials, assist walk-in and phone clients with information and referrals, workshop registration, In-Home Services registration, Oregon Heat energy assistance, and Retail Fundraiser sales.

We developed a new partnership with Portland State University’s Masters of Social Work (MSW) Community Based Practice fieldwork placement. Her placement emphasizes the person-environment interplay with a focus on collaborative partnerships between local citizens, leaders, associations, and institutions. Students in this concentration explore individual and community resilience while assisting in implementing local strategies that strengthen protective factors and lower risk factors for ethnically and culturally diverse families, schools, neighborhoods, and communities. Her internship is broken into several phases: 1. experiential service-learning, 2. application of course concepts and implementation of a new project, and 3. assessment/evaluation and final report. She is placed with the Education and Outreach manager and will work with CEO from October 2009 to June 2010.

Volunteer Workshop Leaders

Volunteer Workshop Leaders are a vital resource for workshop programs. They provide a fresh style to workshop presentations while CEP staff train them in the technical information and presentation techniques. They also help set up and put away materials before and after workshops, can at times provide translation services, support participants in completing workshop paperwork and add a measure of safety by being a presence while the coordinator loads and unloads kits and equipment.

This quarter we have oriented three potential Workshop Leaders who are progressing through the training process, one of which will be able to provide fluent Spanish language interpretation services for workshops. We currently have five total Weatherization Workshop Leaders in training

Board Members

CEP currently has eight volunteer board members. Board members determined our mission and purpose, create and approve official policy, and enhance our public standing. Members also attend meetings and functions, make personal financial contributions, find new members, and help to ensure the legal and ethical integrity of CEP, as well as maintain accountability. We are working on streamlining a way to better capture the time our volunteer board members have given to projects and meetings.

Board activity this quarter includes:

• Review of the CEP Annual Report, to be approved in January
• Progress in creating a strategic plan
• Progress in creating a business plan
• Rough drafts of board job descriptions to form a board recruitment packet

B. Volunteer Program / Material Development

CEP is continually bringing our volunteer services program to a higher standard. This quarter, which includes our three busiest and highest work volume months, our Clara Barton AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer Coordinator has been mainly been focusing on volunteer recruitment, support, orientation, and training of interns, individual and group volunteers, planning and scheduling individual and group volunteer projects, while regularly facilitating group weatherization days. In addition to those activities she has also been using the experience to assess gaps in volunteer system, refine volunteer databases, Community Weatherization Team Orientation and Training PowerPoint. The experiences and observations of this quarter will assist her in future program organization and development.

Volunteer Coordinator Professional Development

Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association (NOVAA) hosted an Advanced Volunteer Managers Networking group on November 10^th, 2009. This provided a forum for to sharing information exchange, problem-solving, community impact, and creative new ideas in volunteer management with a group of other experienced volunteer coordinators.

A second event was also through NOVAA: Living the Life of Your Dreams as a Volunteer Administrator on November 19^th, 2009. At this event we were primarily trained on and practiced applying an efficient brainstorming and problem solving focused project development model.

Lastly, our Clara Barton AmeriCorps VISTA also participated in the WomenStrength Self Defense Class training series. It was a three week series on Tuesdays December 1^st, 8^th, and 15^th of 2009. Through this class she was provided realistic and female oriented self-defense techniques and personal safety tips and tactics. This education, though hopefully would never have to be applied, is inline with CEP utilizing a empowerment approach and showing support of staff keeping safety and being prepared.

2^nd Quarter of 2009-2010

Prepared by Sherrie Smith, Outreach Coordinator

Reviewed by Chaun MacQueen, Education and Outreach Manager

Quarter in review

Some outreach highlights from this quarter

• Fee-for-Service – Retail store, Lead Program expansion, and Energy Educator Training
  • Vision into Action – Storefront displays, website outreach, marketing, logistics, and preparation for PIVOT intern
• 20 Meetings and Presentations
• 7 community events
• Website upgrades – blog interfacing and new pages
• Constant Contact – setting up email lists, newsletter
• Four media events
• Training new Clara Barton VISTA Corps member

Data Collection

CEP staff gathers large sums of data to track our outreach and volunteer activities and the thousands of referrals we make to other agencies. Data for this report comes from other program reports and the following databases

• Media submissions including online sources, local newspapers, interviews, articles, the numbers of brochures printed by program, and community presentations
• Number and theme of community events in which we participate
• At events – number of people approach the table, have conversations with staff and volunteers, how many take information, and how many leave their contact information.

• Referrals we make to other agencies through workshops, in-home services, community events, telephone, email, and walk-in referrals.
• Website activity past and present
• How people hear about our programs both at registration and by what they say while participating in a program

This information helps guide us in deciding on what kind of outreach is effective, and where there may be gaps in outreach and service.

A. Outreach Activities

Community Presentations and Meetings

CEP hosted a representative from Region 10 EPA for a “site visit.”  The site visit was the final step before the EPA issues accreditation to an agency to conduct the new RRP training. During the site visit the EPA representative and CEP staff toured the Architectural Heritage Center to assess the site’s suitability as a “remote training facility” and then returned to CEP to assess our preparedness to offer trainings in-house as well as in off-site locations. The site visit went smoothly and the EPA representative more than once mentioned that CEP stood above all other applicants in the region in terms of thorough preparation and attention to detail.

Presentations:

There were no presentations to report this quarter.

Meetings/Networking Opportunities:

Oct 06, 2009               Portland Green Drinks networking event – Ecotrust Building

Oct 07, 2009               Spirit Mountain Casino Community Fund Grant Workshop

Oct 10, 2009               Oregon HEAT Annual Dinner

Oct 10, 2009               LUSSA monthly meeting

Oct 15, 2009               Portland Community Media orientation

Oct 22, 2009               Black United Fund Brownbag Families First luncheon

Oct 22, 2009               Oregon HEAT conference call – updates

Oct 28, 2009               ECOS (East County One-Stop) monthly board meeting

Nov 10, 2009              Met with Oregonian representative about prices for non-profit advertising

Nov 10, 2009              NOVAA (Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association) Training: Advanced Volunteer Managers

Nov 11, 2009              LUSSA monthly meeting

Nov 12, 2009              Center for Advanced Learning students about their Adopt-a-Grandparent program

Nov 17, 2009              Art on Alberta mural artists presentation

Nov 18-19 09              OECA quarterly meeting – Newport, Oregon

Nov 18, 2009              TACS Diversity Leaders Network: Social Policy Implications of Incarceration and Public Safety

Nov 19, 2009              NOVAA: Living the Life of Your Dreams as a Volunteer Administrator

Nov 19, 2009              CNRG Non-Profit Networking Night

Dec 07, 2009               Environmental Protection Agency site visit for RRP application approval

Dec 09, 2009               Portland Water Bureau LHRP partners quarterly meeting

Dec 18, 2009               Construction Contractors Board Lead-based Paint Programs stakeholders meeting – CCB headquarters, Salem, Oregon

Information and Referral

Community Energy Project makes and receives countless referrals from community partners and individuals, and participates in dozens of community events per year.

The table below represents self-reported data from weatherization workshop participants during registration and participation. We created the designations “registration” and “participant” data. We wanted to compare what people report as their information source when they register for a workshop to what participants writes on their feedback form after the workshop. “Registration” data includes mostly public workshop sign-ups, and “Participant” data includes both public and privately-hosted workshops, where the host organization is responsible for the outreach to their clients.

The following data includes all contracts throughout the reporting period. Special cases – such as Fix-it-Fair participants, and some interpreted workshop participants are not included in this table. This information gives us an idea about how workshop participants make their way to CEP workshops.

* Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding to the nearest whole percent.

We can see below that the support of the host agency is vital to the Lead Poisoning Prevention program, especially those host organizations providing private workshops for underserved communities. Lead Hazard Reduction partners such as the Portland Development Commission and Josiah Hill III Clinic are also important and reliable sources for us. These data do not include the info source for participants in workshops translated into a language other than Spanish as they do not fill out a form.

*Percentages may not add equal 100 due to rounding to the nearest whole percent.

This continues our second year conducting Lead Safe Home Projects (LSHP) workshops. So far we have served 17 households, and the majority of people come to us through fix-it-fairs, word of mouth, and from the Lead Poisoning Prevention workshops.

This year so far we have offered one Water to the Weather for Healthy Watersheds workshop. There was no pre-registration.

For low-income seniors and people with disabilities, we provide both In-Home Safety Repairs and Weatherization Services. Because there is so much overlap between programs in clients and staff, this information is combined into one chart. The data is for clients who had a work completed in their home.

Many In-Home Weatherization clients for the year were past participants, but may need updating in materials (as tracking and plastic gets older) or clients move into a new home. The vast majority of our repair clients come from caseworkers/advocates from organizations such as Portland Impact and Human Solutions. Numerous clients for both programs come from community partner referrals like Multnomah County Aging and Disabilities Services, North/Northeast Home Repair, IRCO, and other social service agencies.

External Referral

CEP functions as a large referral source for many clients. We’ve created a referral database to track how often and to whom we refer community members who contact us.  Information is available to community partners about how many referrals we’ve made to their specific organizations by request. Below are the overall statistics in this report. Referrals are divided into three categories:

A. “Active Office referrals” occur when a person who calls, emails, or walks in the door requests a service we do not offer and we refer them to the appropriate resource. Each member of CEP staff tracks the referrals they make, and the data is collected quarterly.

B. “Active Outreach Events” where we track which brochures are taken at an event by bundling and pre-counting each quarter.

C. “Passive Referrals” include the resources automatically given to our clients through workshops and the In-Home program, as well as how many people visit our website.

Active Referrals were made to more than 30 organizations, three of which (LeadLine, 211-info, and Senior Hotline) are resource hotlines that lead to thousands of other resources. The majority of referrals (57%) for this quarter were to agencies that provide energy assistance, mostly until CEP ran received Oregon HEAT funds. These numbers are under-reported.

In the table below, “participants” includes the number of clients who have received a package through a workshop, In-home services, or a unique visitor our website. “Resources” refers to how many resources a participant can access through the program. For example – if 100 people attended a lead workshop, each participant would receive 20 resources automatically, and that would mean that 2,000 pieces of information with phone numbers, addresses, organization information, etc. were distributed for the quarter.

Outreach Events

CEP participated in seven different community events this quarter. The type of events varied, as well as the thematic emphasis. Two events could not be attended due to staff illness. The Events are listed below.

General Outreach (all programs)

• Oct 30, 2009         Wintering In – Impact Northwest
• Nov 21, 2009        Fix-it-Fair – Roosevelt High School

Volunteer

• Oct 20, 2009         Student Volunteer Fair – Sunset High School

Lead Poisoning Prevention

• Oct 23, 2009         Resource Fair – Buckman Elementary
  • Oct 31, 2009         Multicultural Healthy Homes Healthy Kids Fair – Friends of Children
• Nov 11, 2009        Washington County Community Action Energy Fair
  • Nov 14, 2009        Winter Warm-Up Event – International Center for Traditional Childbirth

At every event we promoted all CEP programs and networked with other organizations.  Some events have a specific focus. General Outreach refers to events where we promoted all of CEP’s programs equally such as street fairs with general audiences across all ages. At events geared towards children and parents or health, our booth had a larger focus on Lead Poisoning Prevention.

Fiscal year-to-date CEP has participated in 20 events – nine General events, six Lead Poisoning Prevention events, one East County event, three volunteer events, and one Water to the Weather event.

At most events we have had a great deal of interaction with people, including introductions, information exchanges, and laying foundations with new partners. To help gauge the success of each event, we have developed a tracking system to gather data on how many people visit our table, how many we have conversations with, and how many take information. At a busy outreach event it is nearly impossible to track each person who comes to visit us at our table, so these results may be underreported. The results of this tracking system for the events of this quarter are as follows.

* Percentages are not mutually exclusive, and are a percentage of how many people visited the table

These data help us gauge how effective we are with outreach events and helps in planning before going to an event the next year.

From 2006, the first year we began tracking contact with clients, we’ve increased the percentage of people who take information and with whom we have conversations by 20%.

B. Outreach Development

Outreach Coordinator Professional Development

The Outreach Coordinator attended a TACS Diversity Leaders Network workshop on Social Policy Implications of Incarceration and Public Safety on 12/18/09.

Research for Marketing Development

As we look to expand on our marketing and development of an outreach plan, we’ve been doing research. This quarter we looked into

• ElloPortland.com – a website dedicated to local businesses
• VistaPrint.com – affordable printing options for everything from business cards to banners
• Contacted Willamette Week about being added to next year’s Give!Good give list
• Applied for Google Grants
• Researched and became an affiliate of Energy Federation Incorporated (EFI) to receive commission on sales
• Energy Trust of Oregon’s “Friends” list of contractors – a potential new market for the retail store

Special Projects

Train the Trainer DVD Release Party

This quarter we hosted a release party to celebrate finishing our Train the Trainer DVD. We created and mailed invitations to 73 people – staff, volunteers, friends of CEP, and people involved in making the video. Approximately 20 people, attended the party, and we played the DVD in its entirety multiple times.

East County Outreach

This quarter CEP continued to participate in the ECOS (East County One-Stop) monthly board meetings and participated in an outreach event in Wood Village. In-Home outreach was largely word of mouth and caseworkers that have become aware of the program from outreach for the past few years.

This quarter we

• Held a private workshop and set up a second private workshop with Springdale Job Corps in Troutdale.
• Worked with City of Wood Village, Troutdale Recreation Center to host public workshops
• Worked with Innovative Housing, who put distributed flyers in apartment complexes, informing people about an upcoming workshop.

CEP Fee-for-Service Fundraisers

Retail Fundraiser – Vision into Action

CEP was approved for Vision into Action grant to promote our retail store and provide job-training opportunities. Since approval, we have conducted research and outlined details for the launch of the store, and created position descriptions and solidified who our partners will be for internships.

Originally a PIVOT intern was going to begin her term of service this quarter, but staff illness with both CEP and PIVOT, in addition to the holiday breaks delays the internship from beginning until January.

This quarter we have

• Created/upgraded storefront displays
  • Replaced door weatherstripping / hex-head screws
  • Created wording/photos for informational displays, mounted on matte-board in strategic locations in the office
  • Mounted measuring tapes to demonstrate window sizes as part of a display
  • Updated the online portion of store
    • Added PayPal buttons with drop-down menus (which had to be removed due to lack of third-party host)
    • Added photos and descriptions from retail form
    • New language for promoting purchases
    • Partnership with EFI (Energy Federation Incorporated) for clients outside of the area who prefer shipping
    • Embedded youtube videos showing short examples on weatherizing a window and a door
    • Marketing
      • Created a basic marketing plan
      • Promotion of retail store when appropriate in available media coverage
      • Posted an advertisement on Craigslist.org
      • Created and submitted an advertisement for the January edition of Beloved Community Journal
      • Met with representative of ElloPortland.com, created an advertisement banner promoting the store, posted it online. (Secured years subscription for free, $700 value)
      • Logistics
        • Updated product prices, descriptions on retail form
        • Began tracking how customers heard about us
        • Created spreadsheet for inventory tracking
        • Intern skill-building
          • Easter Seals and Masters in Social Work Community-Based Practice Interns were trained to sell materials, inform customers about tips and tricks regarding products, and take payments
          • Had one of two interviews for PIVOT interns. Second interview was postponed until January.

Small-Measure Weatherization: Facilitating Community Empowerment, Education, and Involvement (Train the Trainer)

This quarter we conducted our first paid Training and Consulting workshop. This customized event was for Pastor Darnell Johnson, and Keith Miller form Holistic Community Coalition, from East Chicago, Indiana 12/16 and 12/17/09 at Community Energy Project office.

Their particular interest was in Developing/Designing a Community-Based Program where he trains people from the ex-offender community in a workforce-training job to conduct small measure weatherization for seniors and people with disabilities in their city. They found us through a Google search, which lead to our PDF flyer for this service.

We have also begun conversations with the Community Action Partnership Association of Idaho about utilizing this service. They heard about us through a retired board member with Pacific Power who spoke to them about our services. See next quarterly report for more details.

Other outreach activities include

• Participated in Informational Interview with marketing professional in the community with an interest in possibly volunteering to help market CEP Training and Consulting services
• Completed final DVD printing and DVD jackets for the 50 copies
• Participated in the Train-the-Trainer DVD release party on 12/1/09 at CEP office

EPA Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Training Provider Accreditation

In Mid-September the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Coordinator completed and submitted 2 applications to the US EPA to become an EPA recognized training provider for the new Renovation, Repair and Painting requirements for contractors and others who disturb lead-based paint in targeted housing.  CEP has applied to become an authorized trainer for both the 8-hour Initial training as well as the 4-hour Refresher training.  We are currently awaiting word on our approval. With mention of our application for the grant at meetings as part of a normal update, we have already begun to assemble a waiting list for interested participants who would like to attend our training upon approval.

The EPA conducted a site visit as the final step towards accreditation. See “Meetings and Presentations” for more details.

Oregon HEAT

This quarter staff and interns worked with Oregon HEAT clients that called or walked in. So far, we have distributed funds to 45 households.

Media Development

CEP has contacted the editors or reporters of 49 community publications to learn which ones had community calendars and were receptive to regularly scheduled events. As a result, we send a list of CEP community calendar events to 17 local publications on a monthly basis: Southeast Examiner, Portland Alliance, The Bee, Asian Reporter, El Hispanic News, the East Portland News, East County News, Portland Family Magazine, Metro Parent Calendar, The Skanner, Mid-County Memo, Portland Observer, Gresham Outlook, The Hollywood Star, and Concordia News. The Oregonian publishes CEP events in their calendar by using CEP’s web calendar. The Outreach Coordinator frequently studies the local media to find new angles for future article writing, and to find CEP publications, and contacts potentially interested reporters about stories relating to CEP services.

The number of papers to which we send press releases varies by how much time we have for publication. Press releases tend to be immediate and time-sensitive, and we have a list of 13 papers we use who can print a story with only a week or two notice. Most community papers are monthly, and often need a month and a half notice to publish a story. If the press release is not time sensitive, then we expand the size of the list.

Due to frequent requests from the media to go into client homes, we have developed an official statement regarding our policies with client dignity and protection, to be posted on our website.

We are currently constructing a portion of the website specifically for the press which will have with past coverage, FAQ, and a media packet available for download.

Media Events by Program

This quarter we had four media events via internet, television news, print, and radio.

Oct 13, 2009   GoodSearch highlighted CEP as “Charity of the Day”

Oct 21, 2009   KOIN 6 News on preparing for the cold weather

Oct 27, 2009   Portland Business Journal Book of Giving

Nov 13, 2009  AM 750 KXL’s “Good News PDX”

Dec 08, 2009   KGW 8 News on staying comfortable in cold weather

GoodSearch is a Yahoo! powered search engine that donates 50% of its revenue to the charities designated by its users. GoodSearch has “charity of the day” it highlights on its home page, for which CEP was chosen.

The Portland Business Journal generates the Book of Giving, a yearly publication dedicated to providing information on different non-profits in hopes of inspiring holiday donations. CEP had a full page color publication in the Book of Giving, thanks to a donation from PacifiCorp, which was sent to subscribers and local businesses.

KOIN 6 News came to our office to film three live segments on weatherization. The Weatherization Workshop Coordinator gave demonstrations on door weatherstripping and window kit installation, and the Outreach Coordinator showed how to change a furnace filter. CEP’s segments were intermingled with segments from the Energy Trust of Oregon and NorthWest Natural Gas. It aired live and one of CEP’s segments was the feature story on KOIN 6’s official website.

KGW Channel 8 News went to a weatherization workshop to interview the Weatherization Workshop Coordinator regarding tips on weatherization and what services CEP offers. They filmed a small segment with the Coordinator, as well as portions of the workshop. The segment aired that evening at 11pm.

Online Marketing

Posting to community websites and list serves such as CNRG and CraigsList.org is a simple and convenient way to post new workshop information that becomes more effective with experience. Some news agencies, such as The Oregonian use our online calendar and publish events frequently on their own. There are always a variety of places where we are mentioned on personal blogs and sustainability sites as well that utilize our calendar to spread the word to their constituents.

The Lead Poisoning Prevention Coordinator is active in an online community called LeadNet, in which local community members, activists, and educators discuss lead issues.

This quarter we open purchased a Constant Contact account, an email marketing tool. We created a variety of lists, totaling 756 contacts (after culling bounce backs) and sent our first electronic quarterly newsletter, followed by a holiday appeal. We added a box to the website giving people the option to sign up for our mailing list. At this point 2-3 new people are signing up a week.

We created a second WordPress account to store newsletter content. The newsletter contains a small synopsis of a story, with an embedded hyperlink entitled “read more…” leading the reader to individual WordPress entries expanding on the story.

Through Constant Contact we also sent an email holiday appeal to 634 people on December 14, 2009.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing gives us the chance to reach new audiences locally and nationally, especially the millennial generation. Currently CEP has a MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, which are in the top 30 most visited pages on the internet. Three staff also have LinkedIn accounts. The Viral Marketing Plan outline is consistently revised with experience and education.

This quarter we

• Placed links to social networking accounts on website
• Maintained and updated our MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn accounts
  • Made frequent status updates
  • Researched “Causes” – a fundraising program through Facebook
  • Interacted with the online community through comments and “friending” other account holders
    • Facebook: 56 fans
    • MySpace: 69 friends
    • Twitter: 32 followers
    • YouTube: 2 subscribers, 3 friends 700+ views of CEP videos

Community Energy Project Official Website and Blog

We maintain an organized binder documenting website activity. Instead of focusing on website hits – where a single user can create multiple hits for the site, we focus on how many unique visitors come to the site. The bottom row indicates the fluctuation in unique visitors in comparison to the previous year.

Due to some issues with the AVstats tracker, the visitors for the month of December were unreported for at least two full days. We took an average of the missing days to supplement the data for accuracy.

The past four years show periods of increase in CEP’s activity. In 2006 CEP created and hired for the Outreach Coordinator position, where we see a substantial spike from the previous year. In 2007, a professional graphic designer volunteered to redesign CEP’s official website, where we see another spike. 2008 leveled off, and now in 2009 we have seen another record increase. Every month since January has had an increase, perhaps due in part to viral marketing and increased marketing for new programs and to the ongoing economic recession.

The Outreach Coordinator routinely updates calendar activities, website information, and links while promoting our website in all online and newspaper postings, and distributing updated brochures to maintain visitation rates and thus the sharing of information on all of our programs.

This quarter we

• Added a short history about CEP (by client request)
• Updated sponsor list, with new links
• Updated board member list, added links to affiliate organizations
• Overhauled retail page (see Retail Fundraiser above)
• Created and added a “gift tag” to Donation page, altered wording and process for making a donation
• Embedded YouTube videos on Purchase page near tip sheets
• Updated calendar items through the end of January
• Added brochure links to program pages
• Changed “What’s New?” To wordpress.com, which opens in a new window. The blog format allows for easier updating and infinite archiving. We transferred all old “What’s New?” entries to the new format.
  • Lead RRP (Renovation, Repair, and Painting) application
  • Adventures with “Flat Stanley”
  • Koin 6 news coverage links
  • Donations to CEP
  • Program announcements pertaining to limited materials
  • Added a “Testimonials” section, filled in with thank-you cards/emails
  • Met with a webmaster to discuss options with running website – altering the home page, going through WordPress, etc.
  • Began to reformat the “About Us” page to the style of a classic Home page
    • Minimized page sprawl by creating a tab for board members and funding (which also affords us more room to expand on both of these areas)
    • Created new pages: newsletters/reports, brochures, FAQ, and media. Began filling in content.
    • All new pages have embedded tables that cross-link all the new sections together.
    • Doubled the questions for Weatherization Workshop FAQ, organized questions by category
    • Added “Join Mailing List” button to “Donate,” “Contact Us,” and “About Us” pages.

The most popular segment of the website this quarter was calendar, then shifted each month, between programs, Purchase, and Contact Us. What’s New? is no longer tracked with standard webstats.

The most common key phrases that visitors typed into search engines were: Community Energy Project, Plastic Storm Window Kits, and Portland Weatherization. Visitors from over 25 different countries visit the site every month.
Brochure Development

We regularly update all brochures as necessary.

This quarter we

• Overhauled our General Brochure to include new lead programs
• Overhauled the Lead Poisoning Prevention brochure to eliminate the insert and include the Lead-Safe Home Projects and HEPA lending program

With the elimination of the LSHP/HEPA insert, CEP has six Brochures/inserts: General Information, Weatherization Workshops, Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshops, In-Home Services, Volunteers, and Workshop Leaders. We have a 1/3 page inserts for the In-Home Services on Safety Repairs.

Building Signage/Branding

This quarter we met with Art on Alberta representatives about having community murals on the exterior of CEP’s building. Art on Alberta gave a presentation on a variety of potential artists, and we have decided on the artist we would like to work with.

In-Kind Donations

CEP receives in-kind support from all over the community, in the form of space, interpretation services, material donation, hospitality, and more. Below is a table representing in-kind donations in regards to Weatherization and Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshops.

This year, workshops have been translated in Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.

Other In-Kind Donations this fiscal year:

• Professional help with design for Portland Business Journal Book of Giving
  • Writer $110
  • Graphic Artist $165
  • Associate $225
• Professional help with design for Portland Business Journal Book of Giving
• ElloPortland 1 year subscription / Advertising $700

Please note that the most accurate documentation of in-kind donations can be obtained from the finance department. This section is for informational purposes only.

Donated Professional Services

CEP has received a wide variety of professional services that have had a lasting impact on our organization, such as the design of our official logo and our current website design. CEP received no professional services this quarter.

Mentoring Clara Barton VISTA Corps Member

This year the CBVC member began serving as the Volunteer Coordinator. Please see the Volunteer Services report for more details. Below are activities from this quarter pertaining to support we provide for her.

Training

• VISTA observed orientations, gave supervised orientations to both groups and individuals
• VISTA led a group of PGE volunteers with Outreach Coordinator supervising/troubleshooting
• Data entry, setting up spreadsheets, tips and tricks, etc.
• Trouble-shooting, communication skills, activities tracking
• Reporting  – Monthly Activity Reports, Quarterly report support
• Set VISTA up with a NOVAA (Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association) membership – for which she has attended two trainings
• Grant meeting for Spirit Mountain Community Fund 10/7/09

Day-to-Day Support

• Weekly check-ins and minutes
• Monthly paperwork – VISTA timesheets, Monthly Activities Reports
• Filing, database management, paperwork, reporting
• Intern paperwork for Easter Seals and Steps to Success
• Filled in for VISTA during absence – leading weatherization teams, coordinating interns and volunteers, etc.

C. Development of an Outreach Plan

Marketing Plan Outline:

August 2009

-         Updated corner building sign

September 2009

-         Change out worn and torn display materials – door weatherstripping, rope caulk, hex-head screws, etc.

-         Place “Buy Weatherization Materials Here” sign on front of building

October 2009

-         Send first quarterly newsletters

• Create an online storage space for newsletter information

-         Sign up for Constant Contact account

-         Portland Community Media – attend orientation

-         Create mailing lists (ongoing)

• Targeted groups (contractors, handymen, environmentalists, etc.)
• Create a “join our mailing list” button for website

November 2009

-         November Fix-it-Fair

-         Retail displays explaining products and prices

-         Upgrade purchase page on website to include pictures, videos, and updated information

December 2009

-         Beloved Community Journal (December submission for Jan-March paper)

January 2010

-         January Fix it Fairs

-         Chinook Book meeting – advertise in next cycle? Have a coupon?

-         Create and submit newspaper advertisements

-         Research PSA’s on regular local channels

-         Compile mailing list out of Energy Trust of Oregon Allies

February 2010

-         E-Mailing to ETO allies

-         New window display (Flat Stanley shadowbox)

-         Send quarterly newsletter

-         Create and submit newspaper advertisements

-         Air CEP PSAs on Portland Community Media

March 2010

-         Seek out store “testimonials” for advertising next year

-         Better Living Show

-         Research “Causes” on Facebook

-         Send mailing/emailing to customers to rate satisfaction of products, get testimonials, answer questions, etc.

April 2010

-         Send quarterly newsletter

-         Research ways to get free internet advertising for nonprofits

-         Participate in outreach events as scheduled

-         Analyze data from retail store – how did people hear about us? What events could have caused jumps in sales?

May 2010

-         Participate in outreach events as scheduled

O F        O R E G O N

2828 N.E. Alberta St. Portland, OR.  97211 

Grantee Evaluation and Progress Report Form

The Black United Fund’s ability to continue to support a broad range of community based programs depends, in part, upon the success of our annual campaign, which in turn depends upon our responsiveness to our donors and the communities we serve.  You can assist us in being more responsive by completing this report thoroughly and accurately (attach additional pages, if necessary).  Please email this completed form to: alivingston@bufor.org

Failure to submit this report will jeopardize consideration of your organization for future funding.

Organization:              Community Energy Project, Inc. (CEP) 

Address:                     422 NE Alberta Street Portland OR 97211  

Executive Director:    Sherry Burbach

Contact Person:          Sherrie Smith               Phone:    (503) 284-6827 ext 10

Email:                          director@communityenergyproject.org                    

Website:  www.communityenergyproject.org

Amount of Grant:        $1,500.00                 Grant #:    #F-08-08

Date Received:           January ‘09 

Programmatic area most directly served by funded project:

            □  Arts & Culture          □  Economic Development                   □  Education        

            □  Health                       X  Human Service                                 □  Social Justice

County(ies) & Neighborhood(s) Served:

Multnomah County

Describe the project and specific objectives for which the grant was requested.  The project was designed to give CEP staff the tools to increase culturally-appropriate outreach to diverse communities. The outreach was to find clients, volunteers, and employees. BUFOR funds were specifically awarded to cover the cost of diversity training. 

Did you meet these objectives?  Yes  X     No

If so, please describe the project results and successes.  If not, please explain the challenges you encountered. Our staff person did attend training and shared the results with the rest of the staff, engaging them in conversation around the seminars she attended. And we did increase outreach to the Native American community this fall, substantially, with the result of providing many more people of that culture with weatherization training and services. We have replaced one employee due to attrition and he meets four minority criteria, and we have added an intern who meets one criterion. We are presently attempting to recruit for our Board of Directors and would like to have more diverse representation there.

Please describe a unique success or “great story” that communicates to our donors the impact of Black United Fund grants, (please inform if client confidentiality must be preserved).

This story could be named, The Ripple Effect. CEP used BUFOR funds to send our Outreach Coordinator, Sherrie Smith, to advanced training in cultural competence.  She subsequently shared her experience with all of our staff. A couple of months later, we participated in the Native American Housing to Home Ownership event for the third straight year. We have to consider the effectiveness of attending any event, and attending this event hadn’t, by itself, increased our ability to serve Native American people. Since our contracts require that we serve at least the same percentage of any ethnic group as is represented by their census percentage, we were not happy with this outcome. However, in this third season, Sherrie happened to see someone she knew at the fair who now works for NAYA, the Native American Youth and Family Center. She asked this person, “Why are we not giving workshops for NAYA?” That simple recognition of where to look for an initial community contact caused by raised consciousness resulted in a meeting of the Executive Directors and then an invitation to meet with the elders of NAYA. After that successful visit, NAYA sponsored a Do-It-Yourself Weatherization Workshop for their constituency, complete with a full dinner for participants. A Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshop as since been scheduled for that community and we are working on a plan to train Native American volunteers to weatherize in the homes of senior Native American people, which will add to their comfort in receiving weatherization services.

At the midpoint of this service year, the number of Native American families served by our Do-It-Yourself Weatherization Workshops came to 29; in previous years we were lucky to reach 3 to 5 families during an entire season. We would call this improvement a great success.  

Have there been any significant changes in the organization or project design since the grant was awarded?

No

Describe specific measures your organization has taken to move towards self-sufficiency and sustainability.

CEP has been working toward sustainability by attempting to diversify our funding base; for many years we existed primarily on government funding with some utility funding. Legislative action cut off the bulk of the utility funding 6 or more years ago.

Our development plan has included:

• Developing new, marketable programs and business opportunities;
• Making new relationships with foundations and trusts;
• Developing a private donor base.

Four years ago we began to market weatherization materials on a small scale to the public; this activity generates a small but growing income stream. Two years ago the State Department of Justice awarded CEP funds to develop a training program that would serve energy educators. After completing the contract, the program is ours to market. We completed the program in September and are negotiating our second consultation service now. In addition CEP began an EPA certified lead RRP (Renovator, Remodeler, Painter) trainer on December 30^th, giving us the capacity to sell government-mandated training to people in the construction trades.

Please provide current Oregon statistics pertaining to your program and services provided.

Projected # of clients to be served (from original proposal):  1,100+  Actual # served:   1,333 for Weatherization

Of the clients you serve, what percent are in the following categories?

*See City of Portland Bureau of Housing and Community Development Median Income Chart on the Grant Seekers Page.  If applying from a different city please base your information on the Median Family Income in your area.

Actual # of clients who successfully completed the program:    1,333 

 Note:  please email/mail materials produced (brochures, digital photographs, newsletters, etc.) as a result of the Black United Fund of Oregon’s grant.  The Black United Fund reserves the right to use any or all materials sent by its grantees in publications to promote its activities.

Please email a copy of the actual budget for this project.  Identify both income and expenses.

We used the entire amount of $1,500 for tuition for Sherrie Smith to the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication ($1,010), mileage, materials, and meals for fifteen hour days. 

Please describe any significant changes in income or expenses from those submitted in the original grant proposal.

None

Signature of Executive Director or Contact Person:                                                                         

Title:  Executive Director                                              Date:  January 12, 2010

Black United Fund of Oregon, Inc.   2828 N.E. Alberta St. Portland, OR.   97211

(Rev.  6/07)

QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORTS

Agency:  Community Energy Project 

Program:  In-Home Weatherization

Person Completing Report :  Matt DeAmico      Title: In-Home Services Program Manager

Reviewed By Executive Director, Sherry Burbach

Phone Number _503-284-6827

Date of Report _January 1, 2010

Quarterly Performance Report Due Dates

                                                                     Reporting Period                        Report Due

1^st Quarter                                                 7/1 – 9/30                                 October 15^th

2^nd Quarter                                                10/1 – 12/31                              January 15^th

3^rd Quarter                                                 1/1 – 3/31                                  April 15^th

4^th Quarter                                                 4/1 – 6/30                                  July 15^th

Reviewed By __________________________________________        Date ________________

                        (County Staff)

Form updated 9-09

PROGRAM INFORMATION SUMMARY REPORT

                                                    (To be completed each Quarter) 

From the number listed above, how many are:

Please note:  Hispanic is no longer considered a race but an ethnicity.  A member of any race may be considered to be Hispanic. 

Comments on 2^nd quarter contract:

This contract funds a small piece of the total services for the Community Energy Project (CEP) In-Home department.  The majority of clients served by this department live within the Portland city limits.  This year, CEP has seen the most demand for services from the community in its 30 year history.  The In-Home department has received twice the number of requests than it did the previous year.  Currently, new referrals to the In-Home program are only being accepted for residents of East Multnomah County.  New clients calling from Portland will not be served until the next fiscal year.  Work is continuing at a slow and steady pace with one staff member (the manager) being fully dedicated to delivering weatherization service, one staff member serving clients in Portland with safety repairs as a first priority, and one staff member splitting his time between weatherization and safety repairs.  Volunteers have been used extensively this year to handle the high demand for service.

QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORTS

Agency:  Community Energy Project, Inc.

Program:  Do-It Yourself Small Measure WX & Energy Education Workshops

Person Completing Report : Chaun MacQueen       Title Education and Outreach Manager

Phone Number _503-284-6827 ext. 105

Date of Report :  January 11^th, 2010

Quarterly Performance Report Due Dates

                                                     Reporting Period                        Report Due

       1^st Quarter                           7/1 – 9/30                                 October 15^th

þ    2^nd Quarter                          10/1 – 12/31                              January 15^th

3^rd Quarter                                   1/1 – 3/31                                  April 15^th

4^th Quarter                                   4/1 – 6/30                                  July 15^th

——————–

 Reviewed By __________________________________________        Date ________________

                        (County Staff)

Form updated 9-09

PROGRAM INFORMATION SUMMARY REPORT

                                                    (To be completed each Quarter)

From the number listed above, how many* are:

Please note:  Hispanic is no longer considered a race but an ethnicity.  A member of any race may be considered to be Hispanic.

*Note: Participants self-report data and may elect to skip questions on the survey form, so not all totals add up to the total number served.

DIY Weatherization Workshop Program Activities

The Community Energy Project’s (CEP) Weatherization Workshop program provides education on low-cost, small measure weatherization techniques in lower income Portland neighborhoods and the Portland Metro Area.  Free materials are distributed to eligible low-income workshop participants.  The City of Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) supports energy education for the bulk of CEP’s workshops for low-income Portland residents. Multnomah County Office of Schools and Community Partnerships funded services for East Multnomah County residents. The Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians Foundation is supporting expanded services to Native Americans. Portland Energy Conservation Inc., and CEP’s retail fundraiser is supporting the distribution of weatherization kits at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Fix-it-Fairs this year.

This quarter, CEP’s Weatherization Workshop Program served 12 qualified households through 2 home weatherization workshops funded by the East Multnomah County CDBG.

CEP served a grand total of 628 metro area households this quarter through all contracts (505 City of Portland Housing Bureau, 12 East Multnomah County, 26 Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians Foundation, 61 PECI Fix-it-Fair, and 24 non-qualified participants). There were two non-qualified participants from last quarter, brings the year-to-date total up to 630 households served. Non-qualified participants include households with income exceeding the income guidelines and came for the information, lived outside of the State of Oregon, or submitted incomplete income verification forms.  Full reports detailing these additional services are available by request.

I.  Activities.  Describe the major activities carried out during the reporting period.

For a second year in a row, we experienced a flood of participants pushing the households served up over the contract goals for Portland Housing Bureau before Christmas. After data analysis for contract compliance, we were able to shift some of the participants to other contracts and grants from East County and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians Foundation, which means we’ve officially completed 98% of the contract goal for households served under the Portland Housing Bureau contract. We distributed an announcement alerting and PHB and the public that we would still conduct the remaining workshops on the schedule, but we were out of materials. We received notice that we may receive supplemental funds to continue serving clients in the next quarter for the workshops scheduled. The outcome of that appeal will be addressed in the third quarter report. It is important to note that we have the materials for the remaining East County residents reserved, and the materials shortage does not affect our ability to serve East County.

This quarter CEP continued to participate in the ECOS (East County One-Stop) monthly board meetings and participated in an outreach event in Wood Village. In-Home outreach was largely word of mouth and caseworkers that have become aware of the program from outreach for the past few years.

The primary activities for this quarter of the 2009-2010 fiscal year included:

• Conducted 2 workshops in East County at Springdale Job Corps and at the City of Wood Village for residents of Troutdale.
• Provided weatherization kits to 12 qualified households with an average of 2.4 people per home at workshops
• Scheduled workshops with Springdale Job Corps, SnowCap Community Charities, and at the City of Troutdale next quarter.
• Continue to communicate with community partners and network with new partners to help reach more residents of East County who can use this service
• Appeared twice on local TV news stations about keeping warm and resources and workshops available (KOIN 6 and KGW
• Participated in several community events, fairs, and networking meetings to promote our program and get the word out about services available to the public
• Ordered materials for workshop participant kits

• Communicated with Innovative Housing, who put distributed flyers in apartment complexes, informing people about an upcoming workshop.

 Ongoing Activities

• Conducting informational presentations to community groups/staff at other agencies promoting CEP programs and services (including weatherization workshops)
• Networking with other community service providers and community members to develop new workshop hosts who can assist with reaching traditionally underserved groups, provide translation assistance, provide space, or childcare at privately-hosted workshops
• Evaluating curriculum and implementing of minor adjustments
• Researching energy conservation and weatherization technical information and related resources
• Maintaining workshop props, models, and presentation equipment
• Training and supervising volunteers and interns for the program
• Participating in TACS Diversity Leaders Network and Cultural Competency trainings
• Program development research and planning

Comments from Workshop Participants

After each workshop, we collect feedback from participants. At the end of the year, we will provide more detailed feedback from clients. For now, here are some comments from Troutdale residents who’ve attended workshops this quarter:

• We appreciate the workshop!
• Thank you for coming to Troutdale to help us
• Excellent presentation – so willing to answer questions – helpful
• I learned a lot

Participants reported hearing about the workshop from various sources, including:

• Word of mouth
• Through Job Corps
• Flyers
• Village News (mailed in November)
• CNRG list serve (email)
• Hewitt Place Townhomes & Innovative Housing, Inc.
• In a presentation

II. Shortfalls.  Describe any project activities that are behind schedule or are not being carried out and explain the reason for the problems and how they are being resolved.

There were no shortfalls.

 III. New Directions.  Describe any activities or approaches taken that deviate from or add to the scope of the project.

 All new directions serve to enhance the service to clients and expand resources to the community.

PROJECT PROGRESS REPORT – Second Quarter 2009-2010 

AGENCY NAME:       Community Energy Project                                          DATE: January 11th, 2010

PROJECT NAME:      Lead Poisoning Prevention Program     

PREPARED BY:          Chaun MacQueen, Education and Outreach Program Manager

                                    Perry Cabot, Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Coordinator

Sherrie Smith, Outreach Coordinator

REVIEWED BY:         Sherry Burbach, Executive Director

Objective: To educate the Portland community about the sources and dangers of lead, and about the tools available for eliminating the hazards of lead exposure in the home, with the goal of ending childhood lead poisoning in Portland, Oregon.

[1]     ACTIVITIES. Describe the major activities carried out during the reporting period.

This quarter, CEP conducted 13 basic lead poisoning prevention workshops for 113 qualified households, for a total of 24 workshops and 225 qualified households served so far this year.

CEP loaned out the HEPA vacuums 10 times this quarter, and 17 times this fiscal year. Participants in this program used the HEPA units to remove a total of 8.18 lbs of possibly lead-contaminated debris from their homes this quarter. So far this year, the HEPA vacuums were loaned out a total of 17 times and collected 16.25 lbs of dust and debris. 

 CEP provided 3 Lead-Safe Home Projects workshop for 17 qualified households so far this fiscal year.

 A. Basic Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshops

 The primary activities for this quarter of the 2009-2010 fiscal year:

• Coordinated and conducted 13 basic lead poisoning prevention workshops for 113 qualified households
• Scheduled Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshops for next quarter
• Provided 2 Lead-Safe Home Projects workshop this quarter for 15 households with a year-to-date total of 3 workshops for 17 qualified households
• Participated in Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Fix-it Fair at Roosevelt School
• Participated in the Multicultural Healthy Homes and Healthy Kids fair organized by Josiah Hill III Clinic (provided workshops, table)
• Scheduled Lead-Safe Home Projects (tier 2) workshops for next quarter
• Coordinated lending of the HEPA vacuum for 10 uses with positive results. Collected a total of 8.18 lbs of possibly lead-contaminated debris from homes
• Continued to train and support new Clara Barton VISTA Corps member in lead program
• Made updates to reformatted database
• Trained CEP intern to become a basic lead poisoning prevention workshop leader, and she conducted her first workshop
• Provided contact info for 50 (44%) CEP lead workshop participants requesting a Water Test Kit to the County LeadLine after each workshop, with a year-to-date total of 90 water test kits requested through CEP workshops.
• Participated in several community events, fairs, networking meetings to promote our Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

 Program Development

 Lead Program Coordinator participated in OR OSHA training, “Identifying and Controlling Hazards”

• Conducted 22 follow-up sampling visits in homes throughout the Portland metro area for the Multnomah County Health Department Lead Dust Sampling Follow-up Study to evaluate PDC PRLHCP program effectiveness
• Lead Program Coordinator attended a 2-day train-the-trainer provided by the Alliance for Healthy Homes on the new EPA RRP Lead Renovator trainings
• Participated in EPA Region 10 site visit to complete the accreditation process for certifying CEP as an EPA RRP Lead Renovator (full and refresher) training provider by next quarter.
• Participated in HB 2134 advisory committee meetings

Ongoing Activities

• Participate in outreach and networking activities with LHRP and other community partners around lead and environmental health issues
• Submit/publish articles and news releases to local publications and internet sources on a routine basis to promote lead awareness and specific workshops
• Provide information and referral for community members to LHRP partner services
• Collect, track, analyze, and report workshop participant /outreach activity data
• Update and maintain a reference binder on recalled toys and household items from Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Conduct follow-up communication with participants who’ve sent in their lead dust test kits and discuss results, answer questions
• Program Manager and Outreach Coordinator provided training and ongoing support for new VISTA Volunteer Coordinator from Clara Barton VISTA Corps
• Participate in LHRP partner meetings and events
• Participate in Multnomah County Environmental Health’s Healthy Homes Collaborative meetings
• Conduct CEP Education and Outreach Team Meetings
• Participate in Technical Assistance for Community Services (TACS) Diversity Leaders Network (every other month)
• Conduct program evaluation and analysis, make appropriate changes

Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshop Highlights—Basic Workshop

This quarter, CEP conducted 13 Tier 1 basic Lead Poisoning Prevention workshops for 113 qualified households (115 total). The average household size was 4.2 people in the home.

The year-to-date average attendance among all qualified participants was 9 households per workshop, with a public workshop average attendance of 4.5 participants and a private workshop average attendance of 12.4 participants per workshop. The tables below illustrate the breakdown of the different types of workshops we’ve provided this year.

CEP partners with hundreds of organizations and community groups each year to host our public workshops. We provide flyers and conduct the marketing for these workshops, and may receive assistance from the host location as well.

  Six public workshops were conducted this quarter at the following locations:

CEP also partners with community service organizations and agencies that help us reach underserved groups experiencing barriers to attending regularly scheduled public workshops. These host agencies provide assistance with marketing and outreach, interpretation in many languages, as well as accommodations for people with disabilities. These workshops are usually closed to the public to allow for tailoring the workshop for these groups.  

Seven privately-hosted workshops were conducted this quarter at the following locations:

In-Kind Support 

CEP partners with several schools, churches, community centers, and other organizations to host workshops that are family-friendly and open to the public. Almost all of our partners provide free space for 2 hours per workshop, and occasionally provide interpretation services, childcare, and assistance with outreach. So far this fiscal year, community partners donated 30 hours of free space rental (lead workshops only).  Three workshops were conducted in Spanish by CEP staff, and did not require outside assistance for interpretation, however one of the three interpreted workshops was multi-lingual; where Vietnamese and Chinese interpretation services were provided by the host organization.

Lead Dust Sampling Kits 

CEP provided 14 lead dust test kits in the 2^nd quarter.  Most of these kits were distributed as components of the Tier 2 Lead-safe Home Projects resources.  Dust test kits are included as a built-in component of the Tier 2 “Lead-Safe Home Projects” workshop resulting in automatic distribution of kits at all such workshops.  Other workshop participants are encouraged to schedule a ten-minute visit to CEP to receive the kit and a one-to-one demonstration of the resource.  CEP believes that these mini-appointments offer an excellent opportunity for each client to discuss specific concerns they might have about their particular perceived or real dust hazards.

One client dust test was submitted to the lab for analysis this quarter and the results came back indicating lead hazards present on both sill and floor.  This client was immediately contacted and the results discussed.  The client borrowed CEP’s HEPA vacuum and was additionally equipped with a cleaning kit from having taken the basic workshop so that they could directly address the existing hazards in their home.  Without the testing and cleaning resources provided by CEP, this client and his children risked prolonged exposure to lead dust hazards in their home.

B. Program Evaluation: Follow-up Surveys/Visits

The Education and Outreach Program Manager and VISTA Volunteer Coordinator set up an internship position with PSU Master of Social Work Community-Based Program for a nearly one year placement at CEP. This intern will assist with updating and improving the follow-up surveys and will conduct an assessment of all CEP programs.

We will conduct follow up surveys as it gets closer to the end of the fiscal year when we’ve served nearly all the qualified households. We will begin planning in late winter and conduct the surveys in the spring.

Post-Workshop Participant Comments

We gather immediate participant feedback on anonymous demographic survey forms at the end of each workshop, and report these data in the tables at the end of this report. Some comments from participant evaluation forms this quarter:

• This information was very helpful for me. Thank you. We need to emphasize the importance of this and have more sources of information
• Send information to every house, not only in class please
• More herbal supplement info specific to this issue. My husband is a professional painter and even all of the protection did not stop him from being seriously poisoned
• Unexpectedly Perry had to conduct the workshop in Spanish. He did an awesome job. HeadStart program, mainly low income families with young children, This program and free materials are extremely valuable, Thank You.
• Your Spanish was easy to follow even from someone who has limited education and interactive. Good presenter to watch.
• Very informative and should be offered at more locations
• Great job! Very valuable for me & I feel that I can share valuable info w/friends & family; especially those with children
• the class was very well taught

C. Outreach/Marketing Activities

The Outreach Coordinator prepared an independent report outlining all of CEP’s outreach and volunteer efforts in much detail. Here we just include highlights specific to the Portland Water Bureau contract for lead poisoning prevention workshops. The full CEP Outreach and Volunteer report is available upon request.

Presentations/ Meetings/Networking Opportunities:

Oct 06, 2009               Portland Green Drinks networking event – Ecotrust Building

Oct 07, 2009               Spirit Mountain Casino Community Fund Grant Workshop

Oct 15, 2009               Portland Community Media orientation

Oct 22, 2009               Black United Fund Brownbag Families First luncheon

Nov 10, 2009              Met with Oregonian representative about prices for non-profit advertising

Nov 10, 2009              NOVAA (Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association) Training: Advanced Volunteer Managers

Nov 12, 2009              Center for Advanced Learning students about their Adopt-a-Grandparent program

Nov 17, 2009              Art on Alberta mural artists presentation

Nov 18, 2009              TACS Diversity Leaders Network: Social Policy Implications of Incarceration and Public Safety

Nov 19, 2009              NOVAA: Living the Life of Your Dreams as a Volunteer Administrator

Nov 19, 2009              CNRG Non-Profit Networking Night

Dec 07, 2009               Environmental Protection Agency site visit for RRP application approval

Dec 09, 2009               Portland Water Bureau LHRP partners quarterly meeting

Dec 18, 2009               Construction Contractors Board Lead-based Paint Programs stakeholders meeting – CCB headquarters, Salem, Oregon

Community Events

CEP participated in 7 community events this quarter. The type of events varied, as well as the thematic emphasis. At every event, we promote all CEP programs, and network with other organizations.  At events geared towards children or health, our booth was much more focused on Lead Poisoning Prevention.  CEP promoted lead awareness, specifically the Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshops, other LHRP partner resources and programs, and volunteer and internship opportunities with the program at the following outreach events:

• Oct 30, 2009               Wintering In – Impact Northwest
• Nov 21, 2009              Fix-it-Fair – Roosevelt High School
• Oct 20, 2009               Student Volunteer Fair – Sunset High School
• Oct 23, 2009               Resource Fair – Buckman Elementary School

• Oct 31, 2009               Multicultural Healthy Homes Healthy Kids Fair – Friends of Children
• Nov 14, 2009              Winter Warm-Up Event – International Center for Traditional Childbirth

• Nov 11, 2009              Washington County Community Action Energy Fair

At most events we had a great deal of interaction with people including: introductions, information exchanges, and laying foundations with new partners. To help gauge the success of each event, we have developed a tracking system to gather data on how many people visit our table, how many we have conversations with, and how many take information. At a busy outreach event it is nearly impossible to track each person who comes to visit us at our table, so these results may be underreported. The results of this tracking system for the events of this quarter are as follows.

      *Percentages are not mutually exclusive, and are a percentage of how many people visited the table

These data help us gauge how effective we are with outreach events and helps in planning before going to an event the next year. From 2006, the first year we began tracking contact with clients, we’ve increased the percentage of people who take information and with whom we have conversations by 20%.

Publications/Media

CEP has contacted the editors or reporters of 49 community publications to learn which ones had community calendars and were receptive to regularly scheduled events. As a result, we send a list of CEP community calendar events to 17 local publications on a monthly basis: Southeast Examiner, Portland Alliance, The Bee, Asian Reporter, El Hispanic News, the East Portland News, East County News, Portland Family Magazine, Metro Parent Calendar, The Skanner, Mid-County Memo, Portland Observer, Gresham Outlook, The Hollywood Star, and Concordia News. The Oregonian publishes CEP events in their calendar by using CEP’s web calendar. The Outreach Coordinator frequently studies the local media to find new angles for future article writing, and to find CEP publications, and contacts potentially interested reporters about stories relating to CEP services.

The number of papers to which we send press releases varies by how much time we have for publication. Press releases tend to be immediate and time-sensitive, and we have a list of 13 papers we use who can print a story with only a week or two notice. Most community papers are monthly, and often need a month and a half notice to publish a story. If the press release is not time sensitive, then we expand the size of the list.

This quarter we had four media events via internet, television news, print, and radio.

Oct 13, 2009   GoodSearch highlighted CEP as “Charity of the Day”

Oct 27, 2009   Portland Business Journal Book of Giving

Nov 13, 2009  AM 750 KXL’s “Good News PDX”

GoodSearch is a Yahoo! powered search engine that donates 50% of its revenue to the charities designated by its users. GoodSearch has “charity of the day” it highlights on its home page, for which CEP was chosen.

The Portland Business Journal generates the Book of Giving, a yearly publication dedicated to providing information on different non-profits in hopes of inspiring holiday donations. CEP had a full page color publication in the Book of Giving, thanks to a donation from PacifiCorp, which was sent to subscribers and local businesses.

(Internet) Viral Marketing

Viral marketing gives us the chance to reach new audiences locally and nationally, especially the millennial generation. Currently CEP has a MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, which are in the top 30 most visited pages on the internet. Three staff also have LinkedIn accounts. The Viral Marketing Plan outline is consistently revised with experience and education. This quarter we:

• Placed links to social networking accounts on website

• Maintained and updated our MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn accounts and made frequent status updates
• Researched “Causes” – a fundraising program through Facebook
• Interacted with the online community through comments and “friending” other account holders

              o Facebook: 56 fans

              o MySpace: 69 friends

              o Twitter: 32 followers

             o YouTube: 2 subscribers, 3 friends 700+ views of CEP videos

Posting to community websites and list serves such as CNRG and CraigsList.org is a simple and convenient way to post new workshop information that becomes more effective with experience. Some news agencies, such as The Oregonian use our online calendar and publish events frequently on their own. There are always a variety of places where we are mentioned on personal blogs and sustainability sites that utilize our calendar to spread the word to their constituents.

This quarter we open purchased a Constant Contact account, an email marketing tool. We created a variety of lists, totaling 756 contacts (after culling bounce backs) and sent our first electronic quarterly newsletter, followed by a holiday appeal. We added a box to the website giving people the option to sign up for our mailing list. At this point 2-3 new people are signing up a week.

CEP’s website has been significantly updated to reflect new programming and our participation in viral marketing. We created a second WordPress account to store newsletter content. The newsletter contains a small synopsis of a story, with an embedded hyperlink entitled “read more…” leading the reader to individual WordPress entries expanding on the story.

Through Constant Contact we also sent an email holiday appeal to 634 people on December 14, 2009.

Volunteer Support

This year CEP became a host site for a Clara Barton VISTA Corps (CBVC) member, who is serving for one year as a Volunteer Coordinator. CBVC members serve with local organizations who focus on preventing individuals and families from entering poverty or offering services to assist with transitioning out of poverty. They provide service through indirect, capacity building activities to ensure the organizations they are serving have the necessary resources to remain successful.

CEP volunteers provide support for all of our programs. This quarter, seven volunteers provided 44 hours of labor for the Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshop program to help us assemble workshop kits, data entry, and leading basic lead poisoning prevention workshops (see table below).  We continue to partner with organizations such as Steps to Success, Hands-On Greater Portland, Easter Seals, Federal Work-Study programs, PIVOT Job Corps, and other organizations to help recruit and place interns and volunteers at CEP. All new individual volunteers receive a one-hour volunteer orientation. Those that commit to volunteering receive one-on-one training with the appropriate program staff member.

Independent Sector is a Federal program that measures the value of volunteer time. Oregon’s dollar value for volunteer time is $17.90 per hour, which would total $26,689 in in-kind donations for the year. At the Federal rate of $20.25 per hour it would total $30,193. In the past few years, CEP has had a combination of a small number of interns who volunteer a large number of hours, and a large number of volunteers who participate in groups that come once or twice a year. This quarter, volunteers donated an average of 6.9 hours per person (range 1-172.5 hours).

*Number of non-duplicated volunteers (as some volunteers work within more than one program)

D. Lead-Safe Home Projects Workshops

CEP conducted 2 Tier 2 “Lead-Safe Home Projects” workshops in the 2^nd quarter serving 15 qualified households and 17 households so far this year at a total of 3 workshops.  One workshop was hosted at CEP and the other was held at Roosevelt High School during the first Fix-it Fair of the 09-10 season.  

CEP’s Tier 2 Lead-safe Home Projects workshop continues to attract people with a diversity of intended projects and feedback remains very positive from participants following the workshops.  One observation stemming from the most recently offered Tier 2 workshop at the 1^st City of Portland Fix-it Fair is that these events are challenging venues for the Tier 2 workshop due to the required 45 minute workshop format. To manage this challenge, if participants have questions CEP is unable to address in the allotted timeframe, we always direct participants to bring follow-up questions to the CEP table and, additionally, direct them to other resources such as the PDC Lead Hazard Control Grant Program, Construction Contractor’s Board, and Oregon Department of Human Services Lead-Based Paint Program.  We will include participant survey data table when are closer to reaching our 50 household goal for this project.

As CEP enters the final stretch in the process to becoming an EPA Accredited Training Provider for the new Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) 4 and 8-hour training courses, it could not be more clear that the Tier 2 workshop offers a free and valuable resource for metro-area homeowners and renters taking on smaller scale projects in the home. 

E.   High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Vacuum Lending

CEP loaned out HEPA units to 10 households in the 2nd quarter, and 17 total uses so far this year.

The HEPA vacuum lending program continues to see steady demand from CEP workshop participants and those who hear about the resource from CEP outreach events.  CEP loaned out sealed HEPA vacuums 10 times in the 2^nd quarter and collected a total of 8.18 lbs. of potentially lead-contaminated dust and debris.  So far this year, the HEPA vacuums were loaned out a total of 17 times and collected 16.25 lbs of dust and debris.

Based on feedback surveys, Clients were uniformly satisfied with the program.  Feedback comments included:

• “You are a much valued resource and I’m grateful for the information you’ve shared with us.”
• “Keep up the good work!” 
• “Great program”
• “Perry was informed and supported us in many ways! Thank you for the help!!”

One client borrowed the HEPA vacuum after a CEP-provided dust testing kit revealed dust loading on both sill and floor that exceeded HUD designated safe levels.  The client was in the late stage of a significant remodel of the home and the combined resources of CEP’s programs were a tremendous help to this particular client in terms of focusing their efforts in the directions that would have the greatest immediate impact on reducing hazards in their home. 

CEP anticipates that demands for the HEPA units will taper in the winter months and pick up again as spring remodel season kicks into force later in the 3^rd quarter and throughout the 4^th quarter. 

We continue to seek ways to make the lending program available to households that do not have credit cards or the financial resources to leave a deposit for the borrowed equipment.  

Recently, we changed our lending policy to allow individuals to leave bank authorized checks as a deposit with CEP – improving program access for individuals who do not have credit cards.  

F. Communication with Lead Hazard Reduction Program Grantees

CEP maintains participation in Multnomah County Health Department (MCHD) Healthy Homes Group partner meetings and LHRP Partners Quarterly Meetings, which may naturally become the avenue for forging collaborations and successfully finding additional support needed to continue to provide and improve lead poisoning prevention services to the area.

CEP provided contact info for 50 (44%) CEP lead workshop participants requesting a Water Test Kit to the County LeadLine after each workshop, with a year-to-date total of 90 water test kits requested through CEP workshops.

Multnomah County Health Department: Lead-Dust Sampling Follow-up Study

In August 2009, CEP was invited to submit a bid to provide Lead Risk Assessment services for a follow-up study being conducted by the Multnomah County Health Department.  The County Health Department itself was providing program evaluation and analysis on behalf of the Portland Development Commission’s Lead Hazard Control Grant Program.  CEP’s bid was accepted and in mid-October, the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Coordinator began collecting dust wipe samples in the homes of recipients of PDC funds for lead hazard control. 

By the end of November, CEP had conducted 22 follow-up sampling visits in homes throughout the Portland metro area, including locations as far away as Cornelius and Estacada.  6-10 samples were collected in each home using standard dust wipe sampling protocols.  The owners of the homes where sampling was conducted were, almost uniformly, past attendees of CEP’s basic lead poisoning prevention workshop program and familiar with the Program Coordinator.  This continuity of service made scheduling the home visits a much easier process and put clients at ease regarding allowing a contractor into the home environment.

In a vote of confidence in CEP’s capacity to accurately and professionally complete the requested follow-up sampling, the Multnomah County Health Department has considered extending the contract for an additional 2 years. 

HB 2134: Stakeholder Meetings

On November 25^th and December 18^th, the Program Coordinator traveled to the Construction Contractors Board (CCB) offices in Salem to participate in stakeholders meetings regarding proposed rules for the CCB Lead-Based Paint Program.  The State of Oregon is in the process of adopting and taking local control of the new EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rules and there has been a division of responsibilities between the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the CCB.  Each division drafted its own set of rules and these rules have the potential to financially or otherwise impact various stakeholders. The meetings are required components of the State rule-making process (HB 2134) that allow these stakeholders the opportunity to comment and suggest revisions to the proposed rules. 

Participant Referral Sources

CEP staff continues to make routine referrals to all of the LHRP partners on a daily basis. Below are data sets that show the extent of referrals made to CEP’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program as well as the amount of referrals CEP staff make to community partners.

The table below represents self-reported data from community members on how they found us during registration (sign-up only) and from actual participants at the workshop. We can see that the support of the host agency is vital to the Lead Poisoning Prevention program, especially those host organizations providing private workshops for underserved communities. Lead Hazard Reduction partners such as the Portland Development Commission and Josiah Hill III Clinic are also important and reliable sources for us. These data do not include the info source for participants in workshops translated into a language other than Spanish and did not fill out a form.

*Percentages may not add equal 100 due to rounding to the nearest whole percent.

This continues our second year conducting Lead Safe Home Projects (LSHP) workshops. So far we have served 17 households, and the majority of people come to us through fix-it-fairs, word of mouth, and from the Lead Poisoning Prevention workshops.

*Percentages may not add equal 100 due to rounding to the nearest whole percent.

Referrals Provided by CEP Staff to Other Resources

CEP functions as a significant referral source for many clients. The Outreach Coordinator has created a referral database to track how often and to whom we refer community members who contact us.  Information is available to community partners about how many referrals we’ve made to their specific organizations by request. Below are the overall statistics in this report. Referrals are divided into three categories:

A. “Active Office referrals” occur when a person who calls, emails, or walks in the door requests a service we do not offer and we refer them to the appropriate resource. Each member of CEP staff tracks referrals that we collect at the end of each month.

B. “Active Outreach Events” where we track which brochures are taken at an event by bundling and pre-counting at the beginning of each quarter.

C. “Passive Referrals” include the resources automatically given to our clients through workshops and the In-Home program, as well as how many people visit our website. The database is ready for the new fiscal year, and changes are to be expected as it develops.

CEP Staff make active referrals to many organizations, the top three of which (LeadLine, 211-info, and Senior Hotline) are resource hotlines that lead to thousands of other resources.

In the next table below, “referral” means number of resources provided through receiving a packet from a workshop, an in-home audit, or unique visits to our website. “Resources” refers to how many resources a participant can access through the program.

In the office this quarter, most referrals go to LIEAP (Low-Income Energy Assistance Program) for energy assistance, 211 info, Multnomah County Weatherization, and Energy Trust of Oregon. At outreach events, the top referrals go to The Leadline, OSHA/DHS working with lead paint, and the Portland Water Bureau’s water bill assistance, and the BHCD Home Repair Program.

[2] SHORTFALLS

1. A.                 Lead Poisoning Prevention Workshop

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

1. B.                 Follow-up Visits/Surveys

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

1. C.                 Outreach/Advertising Activities

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

1. D.                Lead-Safe Home Projects Workshop (Pilot)

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

1. E.                 High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Vacuum Lending

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

1. F.                  Communication with Lead Hazard Reduction Program Grantees

There were no shortfalls in this activity.

[3] NEW DIRECTIONS

1. A.     Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Support

We are actively pursuing supplemental funds to cover costs not covered by the Portland Water Bureau contract. Since we have consistently exceeded our contract goals significantly for over three years, we have determined that the program needs are growing in order to respond to community demand for the popular basic lead poisoning prevention workshops. We secured a small $5,000 grant from the Portland Development Commission to supplement these services. We also secured funds through a successful bid to Multnomah County Health Department for a Dust Wipe Sampling Study where we sampled 22 households.

In Mid-September the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Coordinator completed and submitted 2 applications to the US EPA to become an EPA recognized training provider for the new Renovation, Repair and Painting requirements for contractors and others who disturb lead-based paint in targeted housing.  CEP has applied to become an authorized trainer for both the 8-hour Initial training as well as the 4-hour Refresher training. 

In November, CEP was contacted by the EPA Region 10 in Seattle and a “site visit” was scheduled for early December.  The EPA uses the site visit to view the proposed training facilities/locations, ascertain that the training organization has secure document storage capabilities and, most importantly, assess the prospective trainer’s capacity and readiness to conduct off-site trainings if they have applied to be a mobile training provider.  CEP put substantial time and resources into both the initial application process as well as preparation for the site visit.  The site visit went extremely well and CEP was informed that their application was “head and shoulders” above the rest of the applications received at the Regional EPA office in Seattle in terms of thoroughness of the application and supporting documentation.  The EPA representative informed us that she would make her recommendation that we be accredited, however we must wait for the decision at headquarters. We hope to get confirmation by the New Year, 2010.

1. B.     Follow-up Visits/Surveys

No new directions at this time.

1. C.     Outreach/Marketing Activities

No new directions at this time.

D.  Lead-Safe Home Projects Workshops

No new directions at this time.

1. E.     High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Vacuum Lending Program

No new directions at this time.

1. F.      Communication with Lead Hazard Reduction Program Grantees

No new directions at this time.

[4] CLIENT DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION.

* Percentages/averages calculated from total number of responses to each question.

** includes both Quarters 1 and 2 to correct previous report and updated YTD results.

Community Energy Project (CEP) – In Home Weatherization Program

Second Quarter Report: October 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009

Prepared by:  Matthew DeAmico, Program Manager, In-Home Services

Volunteer and Outreach Information by: Sherrie Smith, Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator

Reviewed by:  Sherry Burbach, Executive Director

I.  Activities.  Describe the major activities carried out during the reporting period.

The In-Home department has been busy installing simple draft stopping materials for people this quarter.  We have served 142 families at the mid-point of the fiscal year, or about 71% of our target. This year the In-Home department has received twice the number of requests for service as it did last year.  Our capacity to serve clients compared to the rate of requests is shown in the following graph: 

One staff member (the department manager) is dedicated to weatherization installations, one staff member is making home visits for minor safety repairs as a priority and one staff member splits his time among weatherization and repair projects.  Volunteers are being used as much as possible to help with weatherization projects.  The addition of an Americorps VISTA volunteer coordinator has made it much easier to get volunteers involved in projects this year.

II.  Shortfalls.  Describe any project activities that are behind schedule or are not being carried out and explain the reason for the problems and how they are being resolved.

Without additional seasonal staffing capacity, requests for service during the peak season can not be honored as quickly.  The following graph shows the response rate from last fiscal year when there was an additional staff member to help out with weatherization projects.  Keep in mind also that the demand for service was less during fiscal year 2008-2009.

III.  New Directions.  Describe any activities or approaches taken that deviate from or add to the scope of the project.

Intake for the program was closed in late November and any clients that have requested service after that are being placed on a list to be served next year.  Some of the clients on the 2010-2011 list will receive a few compact fluorescent light bulbs in the mail as a way of giving them something to help out right away with energy bills.  Since the department is sparsely staffed this year, clients that have able bodied friends or relatives that can help install materials can come in to the office to pick up a maximum of 5 plastic storm window kits.  We will follow up with these clients next spring or summer to make sure that these projects went ok.  35 clients have been provided materials for self installations this quarter, and that data is included in the totals for this report.

IV.  Client Demographic Information.  This demographic information reflects only completed projects due to unavailability of data of clients waiting to be served.

Follow Up Information

Follow up information regarding energy savings, material usage and comfort issues will be conducted later in the fiscal year as more information is available and as clients have had some time with the materials installed in their homes.

V.  Outreach Information

  By Sherrie Smith, Outreach Coordinator

Community Energy Project makes and receives countless referrals from community partners and individuals, and participates in dozens of community events per year.  The following data shows how clients found out about both the In-Home Weatherization and Safety Repair programs.

 Many In-Home Weatherization clients for the year were past participants, but may need updating in materials (as tracking and plastic gets older) or clients move into a new home. The vast majority of our repair clients come from caseworkers/advocates from organizations such as Portland Impact and Human Solutions. Numerous clients for both programs come from community partner referrals like Multnomah County Aging and Disabilities Services, North/Northeast Home Repair, IRCO, and other social service agencies.

VI.   Volunteer Information

 By Danielle Bartolomucci- Volunteer Coordinator

Independent Sector is a Federal program that measures the value of volunteer time. Oregon’s dollar value for volunteer time is $17.90 per hour, which would total $26,689 in in-kind donations for the year. At the Federal rate of $20.25 per hour it would total $30,193. In the past few years, CEP has had a combination of a small number of interns who volunteer a large number of hours, and a large number of volunteers who participate in groups that come once or twice a year. This quarter, volunteers donated an average of 6.9 hours per person (from1-172.5 hours).

The following chart shows information regarding volunteer hours for each program:

*Number of non-duplicated volunteers (as some volunteers work within more than one program)

All new volunteers first receive an Orientation from the Volunteer Coordinator and then move into one-on-one training with the appropriate program staff member.

The In-Home Services volunteers participated in direct service projects weatherizing in people’s homes.  Volunteers assisted with projects in 42 households of 116 total households served this quarter (36%) across all In-Home weatherization contracts.

This quarters completed events include:

Oct 24^th       Portland General Electric

Oct 29^th       Constructing Hope

Nov 4^th        Portland General Electric

Nov 7^th        Portland Energy Conservation, INC.

Nov 14^th           Portland Energy Conservation, INC.

Nov 14^th      Portland Community College Service Learning Students

Nov 20^th      Portland Community College Service Learning Students

Dec 19^th          Portland General Electric

Dec 9^th             Bonneville Power Administration

Dec 10^th      Helensview High School  

[2] No Response may include clients that self-identify as Latino/Hispanic, which can not be accurately indicated on the provided chart.

Community Energy Project (CEP)

CEP Home Safety Repair Program

Second Quarter Report: October 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009

Prepared by:  Matthew DeAmico, Program Manager, In-Home Services

Volunteer and Outreach Information by: Sherrie Smith, Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator

Reviewed by:  Sherry Burbach, Executive Director

I.  Activities.  Describe the major activities carried out during the reporting period.

The minor safety repair program has served 118 families or about 59% of target as of December 31, 2009. We have kept a steady pace of serving clients this year.  Requests for service come mostly from caseworkers and occupational therapists.  Most jobs are completed within two weeks of the requests.  One staff member is dedicated to serving clients in this program as his main priority.  Volunteers have not been used much this year, but occasionally some volunteers with higher skill levels are used in this program.  Currently the workload is acceptable for one full time employee.

II.  Shortfalls.  Describe any project activities that are behind schedule or are not being carried out and explain the reason for the problems and how they are being resolved.

There are no shortfalls to report at this time.  Clients are being served in a timely manner and are receiving a high quality of service.  The majority of clients are extremely grateful that CEP is able to help them out.

III.  New Directions.  Describe any activities or approaches taken that deviate from or add to the scope of the project.

No new directions are being taken with this program.  The scope of work is still limited to minor things like bath safety equipment, simple railings and the occasional easy carpentry repair.  Occasionally a minor electrical or plumbing project has been contracted out to local licensed professionals such as installing a ground fault circuit interrupting outlet (GFCI) or a sink drain trap replacement.  The materials budget for projects is currently about $100 per client.  The small jobs seem to even out with the bigger jobs, so it has not been a problem to keep spending under control while providing a good service under our current scope of work.

IV.  Client Demographic Information.  This demographic information reflects only completed projects due to unavailability of data of clients waiting to be served.

V.  Outreach Information

 By Sherrie Smith- Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator

Community Energy Project makes and receives countless referrals from community partners and individuals, and participates in dozens of community events per year.  The following data shows how clients found out about both the In-Home Weatherization and Safety Repair programs.

Many In-Home Weatherization clients for the year were past participants, but may need updating in materials (as tracking and plastic gets older) or clients move into a new home. The vast majority of our repair clients come from caseworkers/advocates from organizations such as Portland Impact and Human Solutions. Numerous clients for both programs come from community partner referrals like Multnomah County Aging and Disabilities Services, North/Northeast Home Repair, IRCO, and othver social service agencies.

1. VI.             Volunteer Information

Volunteers were not used on any repair projects this quarter.  Volunteers were used extensively on In-Home weatherization projects, however.  Repair projects often require more skill and training, and currently there is a high demand for weatherization so that is where volunteer efforts are being directed.

 Community Energy Project (CEP)

Do-it-Yourself Weatherization Workshop Program

Second Quarter Report: October 1, 2009 – December 31, 2009

Prepared by:              Chaun MacQueen, Program Manager, Education and Outreach

                                 Sherrie Smith, Outreach Coordinator

Reviewed by:             Sherry Burbach, Executive Director

Overview

The Community Energy Project’s (CEP) Weatherization Workshop program provides education on low-cost, small measure weatherization techniques in lower income Portland neighborhoods and the Portland Metro Area.  Free materials are distributed to eligible low-income workshop participants.  The City of Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) supports energy education for the bulk of CEP’s workshops for low-income Portland residents. Multnomah County Office of Schools and Community Partnerships funded services for East Multnomah County residents. The Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians Foundation is supporting expanded services to Native Americans. Portland Energy Conservation Inc., and CEP’s retail fundraiser is supporting the distribution of weatherization kits at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Fix-it-Fairs this year.

This quarter, CEP’s Weatherization Workshop Program served 505 qualified households through 31 home weatherization workshops funded by the Portland Housing Bureau.

CEP served a grand total of 628 metro area households this quarter through all contracts (505 City of Portland Housing Bureau, 12 East Multnomah County, 26 Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians Foundation, 61 PECI Fix-it-Fair, and 24 non-qualified participants). There were two non-qualified participants from last quarter, brings the year-to-date total up to 630 households served. Non-qualified participants include households with income exceeding the income guidelines and came for the information, lived outside of the State of Oregon, or submitted incomplete income verification forms.  Full reports detailing these additional services are available by request.

Please note: We recognize that the level of service we’ve provided over the last two seasons’ second quarter is not sustainable. We are appreciative of our staff’s diligence to serve in emergency situations; however they will not be able to nor are expected to maintain this level of productivity indefinitely. We worked with our community partners and have implemented measures to limit attendance and have even had to cancel some workshops, and still the need outstrips the availability of the resource. We are working on solutions.

I.  Activities.  Describe the major activities carried out during the reporting period.

For a second year in a row, we experienced a flood of participants pushing the households served up over the contract goals before Christmas. After data analysis for contract compliance, we were able to shift some of the participants to other contracts and grants from East County and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians Foundation, which means we’ve officially completed 98% of the contract goal for households served under the Portland Housing Bureau contract. We distributed an announcement alerting the public that we would still conduct the remaining workshops on the schedule, but we were out of materials. We received notice that we may receive supplemental funds to continue serving clients in the next quarter for the workshops scheduled. (We happily acknowledge receiving notice that funds were allocated subsequent to the end of the quarter. Thank you!) The outcome of this allocation will be addressed in the third quarter report.

The primary activities for this quarter of the 2009-2010 fiscal year included:

• Conducted 31 weatherization workshops for 505 PHB-qualified households
• Scheduled 48 of the required 50 workshops for the fiscal year (but 7 cancelled)
• Continued to communicate with partners who host our workshops, schedule workshops for winter and spring
• Appeared twice on local TV news stations about keeping warm and resources available (KOIN 6 and KGW
• Participated in the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability Fix-it Fair at Roosevelt School
• Participated in several community events, fairs, networking meetings to promote our Weatherization Workshop Program
• Maintained workshop demonstration materials and equipment/props
• Provided Volunteer Orientation and training to volunteers who assembled workshop kits and had an interest in becoming a Community Workshop Leader
• Trained volunteers and interns on data entry, registration, and office support
• Ordered materials for workshop participant kits
• Created an “emergency kit” distribution procedure (using leftover donations from another project) and released a special announcement when the materials ran out in the warehouse due to extreme high participation in workshops and sent out appeals for additional funds to continue to serve clients

Ongoing Activities

• Conducting informational presentations to community groups/staff at other agencies promoting CEP programs and services (including weatherization workshops)
• Conducting outreach/marketing activities for the program
• Networking with other community service providers and community members to develop new workshop hosts who can assist with reaching traditionally underserved groups, provide translation assistance, provide space, or childcare at privately-hosted workshops
• Evaluating curriculum and implementing of minor adjustments
• Researching energy conservation and weatherization technical information and related resources
• Maintaining workshop props, models, and presentation equipment
• Training and supervising volunteers and interns for the program
• Participating in TACS Diversity Leaders Network and Cultural Competency trainings
• Program development research and planning

Weatherization Workshop Highlights

This quarter, CEP’s Weatherization Workshop Program served 505 qualified households through 31 home weatherization workshops, for a total of 530 served through 33 workshops so far the fiscal year. The average size of households served was 3.6 people per home.

We have scheduled over 40 of the 50 required workshops to fill the contract, with requests coming in daily. We had to cancel 7 workshops due to last-minute changes from workshop hosts relating to illness or logistical issues and inclement weather. We have put community workshop host organizations on a waiting list to be called if the supplemental funds and donations come through after the New Year.

CEP partners with several schools, churches, community centers, and other organizations to host workshops that are family-friendly and open to the public. We conducted 23 public workshops at the following locations:

CEP also partners with other community service organizations and agencies that help us reach underserved groups experiencing barriers to attending regularly scheduled public workshops. These host agencies provide interpretation in many languages, as well as accommodations for people with disabilities. These workshops are usually closed to the public.

Eight privately-hosted workshop was conducted at the following location:

Almost all of our partners provide free space for 3 hours per workshop, and occasionally provide interpretation services, childcare, and assistance with outreach. This quarter, community partners provided 22 hours of interpretation for participants at 13 workshops in Spanish, Ethiopian, Somali, Vietnamese, and Chinese. The community provided 102 hours of free workshop space and workshop host organizations provided refreshments for participants at 15 PHB-funded workshops.

Outreach Highlights

The Outreach Coordinator prepared an independent report describing all of CEP’s outreach and volunteer efforts in much detail. Here we just include highlights specific to the PHB contract for weatherization workshops. The full CEP Outreach and Marketing report is available upon request.

Community Events

CEP participated in 7 community events this quarter. The type of events varied, as well as the thematic emphasis, however we promoted the Weatherization Workshop Program at all events. The events are listed below.

• Oct 30, 2009   Wintering In – Impact Northwest
• Nov 21, 2009  Fix-it-Fair – Roosevelt High School
• Oct 20, 2009   Student Volunteer Fair – Sunset High School
• Oct 23, 2009   Resource Fair – Buckman Elementary School
  • Oct 31, 2009   Multicultural Healthy Homes Healthy Kids Fair – Friends of Children
  • Nov 11, 2009  Washington County Community Action Energy Fair
    • Nov 14, 2009  Winter Warm-Up Event – International Center for Traditional Childbirth

The Outreach Coordinator tracks interactions at tabling events to get an idea of how many people we talk to, and the nature of the communication. At a busy event it is nearly impossible to keep track of how many people come to a table during a busy outreach event, so these results may be underreported (see table below).

*Percentages are not mutually exclusive, and are a percentage of how many people visited the table

Community Presentations and Meetings

CEP hosted a representative from Region 10 EPA for a “site visit.”  The site visit was the final step before the EPA issues accreditation to an agency to conduct the new RRP training. During the site visit the EPA representative and CEP staff toured the Architectural Heritage Center to assess the site’s suitability as a “remote training facility” and then returned to CEP to assess our preparedness to offer trainings in-house as well as in off-site locations. The site visit went smoothly and the EPA representative more than once mentioned that CEP stood above all other applicants in the region in terms of thorough preparation and attention to detail. 

Meetings/Networking Opportunities:

Oct 06, 2009               Portland Green Drinks networking event – Ecotrust Building

Oct 07, 2009               Spirit Mountain Casino Community Fund Grant Workshop

Oct 10, 2009               Oregon HEAT Annual Dinner

Oct 10, 2009               LUSSA monthly meeting

Oct 15, 2009               Portland Community Media orientation

Oct 22, 2009               Black United Fund Brownbag Families First luncheon

Oct 22, 2009               Oregon HEAT conference call – updates

Oct 28, 2009               ECOS (East County One-Stop) monthly board meeting

Nov 10, 2009              Met with Oregonian representative about prices for non-profit advertising

Nov 10, 2009              NOVAA (Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association) Training: Advanced Volunteer Managers

Nov 11, 2009              LUSSA monthly meeting

Nov 12, 2009              Center for Advanced Learning students about their Adopt-a-Grandparent program

Nov 17, 2009              Art on Alberta mural artists presentation

Nov 18-19 09              OECA quarterly meeting – Newport, Oregon

Nov 18, 2009              TACS Diversity Leaders Network: Social Policy Implications of Incarceration and Public Safety

Nov 19, 2009              NOVAA: Living the Life of Your Dreams as a Volunteer Administrator

Nov 19, 2009              CNRG Non-Profit Networking Night

Dec 07, 2009               Environmental Protection Agency site visit for RRP application approval

Dec 09, 2009               Dec 18, 2009   Construction Contractors Board Lead-based Paint Programs stakeholders meeting – CCB headquarters, Salem, Oregon

Publications

CEP has contacted the editors or reporters of 49 community publications to learn which ones had community calendars and were receptive to regularly scheduled events. As a result, we send a list of CEP community calendar events to 17 local publications on a monthly basis: Southeast Examiner, Portland Alliance, The Bee, Asian Reporter, El Hispanic News, the East Portland News, East County News, Portland Family Magazine, Metro Parent Calendar, The Skanner, Mid-County Memo, Portland Observer, Gresham Outlook, The Hollywood Star, and Concordia News. The Oregonian publishes CEP events in their calendar by using CEP’s web calendar. The Outreach Coordinator frequently studies the local media to find new angles for future article writing, and to find CEP publications, and contacts potentially interested reporters about stories relating to CEP services.

The number of papers to which we send press releases varies by how much time we have for publication. Press releases tend to be immediate and time-sensitive, and we have a list of 13 papers we use who can print a story with only a week or two notice. Most community papers are monthly, and often need a month and a half notice to publish a story. If the press release is not time sensitive, then we expand the size of the list.

Due to frequent requests from the media to go into client homes, we have developed an official statement regarding our policies with client dignity and protection, to be posted on our website.

We are currently constructing a portion of the website specifically for the press which will have with past coverage, FAQ, and a media packet available for download.

Media Events by Program

This quarter we had four media events via internet, television news, print, and radio.

Oct 13, 2009   GoodSearch highlighted CEP as “Charity of the Day”

Oct 21, 2009   KOIN 6 News on preparing for the cold weather

Oct 27, 2009   Portland Business Journal Book of Giving

Nov 13, 2009  AM 750 KXL’s “Good News PDX”

Dec 08, 2009   KGW 8 News on staying comfortable in cold weather

GoodSearch is a Yahoo! powered search engine that donates 50% of its revenue to the charities designated by its users. GoodSearch has “charity of the day” it highlights on its home page, for which CEP was chosen.

The Portland Business Journal generates the Book of Giving, a yearly publication dedicated to providing information on different non-profits in hopes of inspiring holiday donations. CEP had a full page color publication in the Book of Giving, thanks to a donation from PacifiCorp, which was sent to subscribers and local businesses.

KOIN 6 News came to our office to film three live segments on weatherization. The Weatherization Workshop Coordinator gave demonstrations on door weatherstripping and window kit installation, and the Outreach Coordinator showed how to change a furnace filter. CEP’s segments were intermingled with segments from the Energy Trust of Oregon and Northwest Natural. It aired live and one of CEP’s segments was the feature story on KOIN 6’s official website.

KGW Channel 8 News went to a weatherization workshop to interview the Weatherization Workshop Coordinator regarding tips on weatherization and what services CEP offers. They filmed a small segment with the Coordinator, as well as portions of the workshop. The segment aired that evening at 11pm.

Online Marketing

Posting to community websites and list serves such as CNRG and CraigsList.org is a simple and convenient way to post new workshop information that becomes more effective with experience. Some news agencies, such as The Oregonian use our online calendar and publish events frequently on their own. There are always a variety of places where we are mentioned on personal blogs and sustainability sites as well that utilize our calendar to spread the word to their constituents.

This quarter we open purchased a Constant Contact account, an email marketing tool. We created a variety of lists, totaling 756 contacts (after culling bounce backs) and sent our first electronic quarterly newsletter, followed by a holiday appeal. We added a box to the website giving people the option to sign up for our mailing list. At this point 2-3 new people are signing up a week.

We created a second WordPress account to store newsletter content. The newsletter contains a small synopsis of a story, with an embedded hyperlink entitled “read more…” leading the reader to individual WordPress entries expanding on the story.

Through Constant Contact we also sent an email holiday appeal to 634 people on December 14, 2009.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing gives us the chance to reach new audiences locally and nationally, especially the millennial generation. Currently CEP has a MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, which are in the top 30 most visited pages on the internet. Three staff also have LinkedIn accounts. The Viral Marketing Plan outline is consistently revised with experience and education. This quarter we:

• Placed links to social networking accounts on website
• Maintained and updated our MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn accounts
  • Made frequent status updates
  • Researched “Causes” – a fundraising program through Facebook
  • Interacted with the online community through comments and “friending” other account holders
    • Facebook: 56 fans
    • MySpace: 69 friends
    • Twitter: 32 followers
    • YouTube: 2 subscribers, 3 friends 700+ views of CEP videos

Information and Referral

Community Energy Project makes and receives countless referrals from community partners and individuals, and participates in dozens of community events per year. The table below represents self-reported data from weatherization workshop participants during registration and participation. We created the designations “registration” and “participant” data. We wanted to compare what people report as their information source when they register for a workshop to what participants writes on their feedback form after the workshop. “Registration” data includes mostly public workshop sign-ups, and “Participant” data includes both public and privately-hosted workshops, where the host organization is responsible for the outreach to their clients.

The following data includes all contracts throughout the reporting period. Fix-it-Fair participants, Energy Fair participants, and translated workshop participants are not included in this table. This information gives us an idea about how workshop participants make their way to CEP workshops.

* Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding to the nearest whole percent.

Referrals Provided by CEP Staff to Other Resources

CEP functions as a significant referral source for many clients. The Outreach Coordinator has created a referral database to track how often and to whom we refer community members who contact us.  Information is available to community partners about how many referrals we’ve made to their specific organizations by request. Below are the overall statistics in this report. Referrals are divided into three categories:

A. “Active Office referrals” occur when a person who calls, emails, or walks in the door requests a service we do not offer and we refer them to the appropriate resource. Each member of CEP staff tracks referrals they make, and the data collected quarterly.

B. “Active Outreach Events” where we track which brochures are taken at an event by bundling and pre-counting before an event.

C. “Passive Referrals” include the resources automatically given to our clients through workshops and the In-Home program, as well as how many people visit our website. The database is ready for the new fiscal year, and changes are to be expected as it develops.

CEP Staff make active referrals to more than 60 organizations, three of which (LeadLine, 211-info, and Senior Hotline) are resource hotlines that lead to thousands of other resources.

In the table below, “referral” means number of resources provided through receiving a packet from a workshop, an in-home audit, or unique visits to our website. “Resources” refers to how many resources a participant can access through the program. For example – if 100 people attended a lead workshop, each participant would receive 20 resources automatically, and that would mean that 2,000 pieces of information with phone numbers, addresses, organization information, etc. were distributed for the quarter.

Volunteer Support

This year CEP became a host site for a Clara Barton VISTA Corps (CBVC) member, who is serving for one year as a Volunteer Coordinator. CBVC members serve with local organizations who focus on preventing individuals and families from entering poverty or offering services to assist with transitioning out of poverty. They provide service through indirect, capacity building activities to ensure the organizations they are serving have the necessary resources to remain successful. The VISTA Volunteer Coordinator prepared an independent report describing all of CEP’s outreach and volunteer efforts in much detail. Here we just include highlights specific to the PHB contract for weatherization workshops. The full CEP Volunteer report is available upon request.

CEP volunteers provide support for all of our programs. This quarter, 33 volunteers provided 251.5 hours of labor for the DIY Weatherization Workshop program to help us assemble workshop kits, data entry, preparing materials, assisting with registration, and facilitating workshops (see table below).  We continue to partner with organizations such as Steps to Success, Hands-On Greater Portland, Easter Seals, Federal Work-Study programs, PIVOT Job Corps, and other organizations to help recruit and place interns and volunteers at CEP. All new individual volunteers receive a one-hour volunteer orientation. Those that commit to volunteering receive one-on-one training with the appropriate program staff member.

Independent Sector is a Federal program that measures the value of volunteer time. Oregon’s dollar value for volunteer time is $17.90 per hour, which would total $26,689 in in-kind donations for the year. At the Federal rate of $20.25 per hour it would total $30,193. In the past few years, CEP has had a combination of a small number of interns who volunteer a large number of hours, and a large number of volunteers who participate in groups that come once or twice a year. This quarter, volunteers donated an average of 6.9 hours per person (range 1-172.5 hours).

*Number of volunteers without duplication (as some volunteers work within more than one program)

II. Shortfalls.  Describe any project activities that are behind schedule or are not being carried out and explain the reason for the problems and how they are being resolved.

There were no shortfalls.

III. New Directions.  Describe any activities or approaches taken that deviate from or add to the scope of the project.

All new directions serve to enhance the service to clients and expand resources to the community.

CEP Fee-for-Services Activities Development

Retail Fundraiser – Vision into Action

CEP was approved for Vision into Action grant to promote our retail store and provide job-training opportunities. Since approval, we have conducted research and outlined details for the launch of the store, and created position descriptions and solidified who our partners will be for internships. This quarter we have:

• Created/upgraded storefront displays
• Marketing
  • Created a basic marketing plan
  • Promotion of retail store when appropriate in available media coverage
  • Posted an advertisement on Craigslist.org
  • Created and submitted an advertisement for the January edition of Beloved Community Journal
  • Met with representative of ElloPortland.com, created an advertisement banner promoting the store, posted it online. (Secured years subscription for free, $700 value)
  • Logistics
    • Updated product prices, descriptions on retail form
    • Began tracking how customers heard about us
    • Created spreadsheet for inventory tracking
    • Intern skill-building
      • Easter Seals and Masters in Social Work Community-Based Practice Interns were trained to sell materials, inform customers about tips and tricks regarding products, and take payments

Training and Consulting Services

With the successful completion of the State of Oregon Department of Justice Reliant Energy Settlement-funded pilot training program, CEP is now embarking on releasing training and consulting services for energy education, outreach, and volunteer management training as well as EPA Accredited Repair, Renovation, and Painting (RRP) rule training for contractors.

Small-Measure Weatherization: Facilitating Community Empowerment, Education, and Involvement – A Training for Energy Educators

This quarter we conducted our first paid Training and Consulting workshop. This customized event was for Pastor Darnell Johnson, and Keith Miller form Holistic Community Coalition, from East Chicago, Indiana 12/16 and 12/17/09 at Community Energy Project office.

Their particular interest was in Developing/Designing a Community-Based Program to train people from the ex-offender community in a workforce-training job to conduct small measure weatherization for seniors and people with disabilities in their city. They found us through a Google search, which lead to our PDF flyer for this service.

We have also begun conversations with the Community Action Partnership Association of Idaho about utilizing this service. They heard about us through a retired board member with Pacific Power who spoke to them about our services. See next quarterly report for more details.

EPA Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Training Provider Accreditation

In Mid-September the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Coordinator completed and submitted 2 applications to the US EPA to become an EPA recognized training provider for the new Renovation, Repair and Painting requirements for contractors and others who disturb lead-based paint in targeted housing.  CEP has applied to become an authorized trainer for both the 8-hour Initial training as well as the 4-hour Refresher training. 

In November, CEP was contacted by the EPA Region 10 in Seattle and a “site visit” was scheduled for early December.  The EPA uses the site visit to view the proposed training facilities/locations, ascertain that the training organization has secure document storage capabilities and, most importantly, assess the prospective trainer’s capacity and readiness to conduct off-site trainings if they have applied to be a mobile training provider.  CEP put substantial time and resources into both the initial application process as well as preparation for the site visit.  The site visit went extremely well and CEP was informed that their application was “head and shoulders” above the rest of the applications received at the Regional EPA office in Seattle in terms of thoroughness of the application and supporting documentation.  The EPA representative informed us that she would make her recommendation that we be accredited; however we must wait for the decision at headquarters. We hope to get confirmation by the New Year, 2010; we have subsequent to quarter end received accreditation.

Oregon HEAT Energy Assistance

We continued our partnership for a sixth season with Oregon HEAT to provide emergency assistance with heating bills for income-qualified people in need.  We have only a small amount of funds relative to the LIEAP agencies.  However, we can reach homebound seniors and people with disabilities, as well as low-income folks trying to conserve energy resources and reduce their bills. This quarter staff and interns worked with Oregon HEAT clients that called or walked in. So far, we have distributed funds to 45 households.

Staff Capacity-Building

Two CEP staff are members of the TACS (Technical Assistance for Community Services) Diversity Leaders Network. This quarter they participated in the session, “Social Policy Implications of Incarceration and Public Safety.”

The Education and Outreach Program Manager participated in a 32-hour training provided by Oregon State Parks for the National Association for Interpretation (NAI) Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) training at Tryon Creek State Park. She received hands-on training and lots of information and resources for environmental interpretation and environmental education. As a requirement for certification, she produced a 10 minute program on how saving energy in your home helps reduce global warming impacts, “Save Energy and…Polar Bears!” This resulted in an invitation to return to Tryon Creek to provide this program in a one-hour extended form for the Lake Oswego community; hopefully to generate donations and sales to the retail store.

CEP’s Lead Program Coordinator participated in OR OSHA training, “Identifying and Controlling Hazards,” which he will share with the rest of CEP staff as part of our safety portion of the staff meeting next quarter. The Lead Program Coordinator attended a 2-day train-the-trainer provided by the Alliance for Healthy Homes on the new EPA RRP Lead Renovator trainings in preparation for the accreditation application process.

The VISTA Volunteer Coordinator and interns attended Portland Police Bureau’s WomenStrength self-defense trainings as part of their orientation to CEP service.

BUREAU OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT PROGRESS REPORT

IV. BHCD-funded Client Demographic Information.  List total number of clients[i] participating in the project for the reporting period and since the program began.

* Year-to-date “other/declined/no response” include: 126 “Hispanic/Latino(a),” 3 “other,” 16 “declined response” and 49 “no responses.”

Additional Statistical Information (Not required by BHCD) 

The following statistics are collected for other funders supporting CEP Weatherization Workshops for BHCD-qualified households.