Public Education Activity Report October 1 , 2018 to September 30 , 2019
The purpose of this activity report is to document the public education-related initiatives conducted by the Stormwater Public Education Task Force ( PETF ) under the direction of the Regional Stormwater Management Coordinating Council ( RSWMCC ) that took place from October 1 , 2018 to September 30 , 2019 ( the “ report time period ”). The PETF ’ s mission is to promote Municipal Stormwater Public Education in North Central Texas through the exchange of professional experience and to explore , develop , and implement opportunities for mutual cooperation . Participation in the PETF and education campaigns is a volunteer effort to help meet stormwater public educational requirements .
During this reporting period , the PETF continued to focus on five educational campaigns : stormwater education resources , lawn and garden care , proper management of pet waste , fallen tree leaves / yard waste , and fats , oils , and grease ( FOG ). Other cooperative efforts were also conducted during the report time period ( identified in the “ Other ” section ). See the following sections for specifics .
Note that FY refers to the NCTCOG Fiscal Year , which runs from October 1 to September 30 of each year .
Social Media Templates The PETF identified increased social media presence as a regional need and chose “ Social Media Templates ” as the FY18 project . NCTCOG staff created month-by-month templates that covered each of PETF ’ s topic areas ( SmartScape , Doo the Right Thing , General Stormwater Education , Educator ’ s Toolbox ) as well as Fats , Oils , and Grease .
Each document included posts relevant to specific days ( such as World Environment Day , National Pollinator Week , etc .) and a variety of posts within each of the previously listed topic areas . Each month also has a folder of visuals that correspond with some of the posts , but all posts can be stand-alone if a municipality does not want to pair it with a picture . Several of the optional visuals also included space for customization , such as city logos or individualized messaging .
The project was completed in February 2018 . Later updates included additional content pertaining to March is Texas SmartScape Month and the Doo the Right Thing Calendar Contest . All templates and associated visual files can be accessed at https :// www . nctcog . org / envir / watershed-management / stormwater / public-education-task-force under the “ Outreach Materials and Resources ” heading .
Stormwater Educator ’ s Toolbox
The educator ’ s toolbox was initially developed by the PETF as a FY2013 project . In April 2015 , a complementary Educator ’ s Toolbox webpage ( www . nctcog . org / envir / SEEclean / stormwater / program-areas / public _ education / toolbox . asp ) was created , compiling a list of helpful links for environmental educators related to stormwater issues .
The main focus of the FY17 work program was to update and overhaul the educator ’ s toolbox . The toolbox currently has about 40 resources . It is meant to be a living , expanding set of resources ; organizations or individuals are encouraged to make suggestions about resources that might be helpful to stormwater educators . Suggestions may be sent to : cguzman @ nctcog . org . A couple key resources of PETF origin are detailed below .