This month:                           

Kearns & West is a San Francisco-based, small, woman-owned collaboration, communication and public engagement firm specializing in helping agencies and organizations effectively connect with their stakeholders and the public. We believe that more effective planning and communication can help stakeholders in the San Francisco Bay/Bay-Delta estuary resolve conflicts and jointly achieve better outcomes. Our experience in the water, energy, marine, land use, and environmental sectors provides a unique ability for us to understand and work with stakeholders and agencies to develop and implement top-notch collaboration and public engagement programs.
 
We have over 30 years of experience helping clients:

• Conduct stakeholder, situation, and conflict assessments;
• Design and facilitate or mediate effective collaborative processes, such as policy dialogues, permitting processes, or technical workshops;
• Conduct strategic planning efforts; and
• Develop and implement public outreach and engagement programs.

 
Kearns & West works closely with organizations and stakeholders to identify issues, facilitate and mediate effective collaborative discussions, and design public engagement programs to create solutions addressing interests. We use interdisciplinary teams of facilitators, mediators and communications professionals with public policy, legal, science, and engineering backgrounds to achieve organization and stakeholder goals.
 
Kearns & West has projects all over the U.S. along with some international projects as well. Our clients include local, state and federal government agencies, utilities, private companies, and non-profit organizations. Recent Bay Area-focused collaboration and stakeholder engagement projects include:
 

• Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Kearns & West recently completed a Public Participation Plan for the Air District to help the Air District to communicate and collaborate when identifying and addressing public and stakeholder needs and concerns. The plan includes guidance on conducting outreach to limited-English-proficiency residents as well as low-income communities.
• Bay Area Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Plan. Kearns & West designed and led stakeholder outreach and engagement activities to inform development of the Plan, which was completed in 2013. Kearns & West facilitated a series of public workshops to inform development of the Plan and conducted outreach to disadvantaged communities to identify water resource projects to benefit their constituents.
• California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. Kearns & West worked with the California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative to design and facilitate four separate regional stakeholder groups as part of a six-year effort to implement California’s Marine Life Protection Act. Each regional group involved a broad range of interests—including commercial and recreational fishing, tribes, harbormasters, ocean-dependent businesses, conservation organizations, divers, researchers, and federal, state, and local agencies. The groups were charged with developing proposals for marine protected areas in state waters. All four regional stakeholder groups successfully developed alternative proposals and forwarded these to state decision-makers for consideration and action. 
• Delta projects.  Kearns & West has worked extensively in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta supporting planning, restoration, and flood control projects and efforts. Recent projects include support for the Delta Stewardship Council, the Fish Restoration Program Agreement between the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (DFW), flood protection planning, DWR’s Delta Levee Program, and the Bureau of Reclamation’s remand process for two Biological Opinions for coordinated operations of California’s State Water Project and Reclamation’s Central Valley Project.

Kearns & West has a proven record of success thanks to our stakeholder-centric approach of providing robust collaboration and strategic communications services, and we are considered a national leader in the environmental dispute resolution field. We bring knowledge and tools generated from hundreds of stakeholder engagement projects at the local, state, regional, and national levels. For more information about K&W, visit www.kearnswest.com or contact Eric Poncelet, Senior Director/Senior Mediator at eponcelet@kearnswest.com; 415-391-7900.

BPC Note: Kearns & West was also instrumental in the organization of our recent Ocean Planning Workshop!

BCDC Executive Director Larry Goldzband addressing the guests

The mission of Panoche Westside Group is to build, own, and operate a number of liquefaction facilities and fueling stations at strategic locations in California to supply liquefied natural gas for use in marine, truck fleets, and rail applications. PWG is developing I-5 Clean Fuels in Fresno County, California. The I-5 Clean   Fuels project will supply LNG to the Northern California market by early 2016. 

Finger Design is a full-service graphic design and marketing communications firm located in downtown Oakland. We have more than 30 years of extensive experience working with public and private sector clients — designing annual reports, brochures, newsletters, corporate identity programs, websites, signage, presentation graphics and posters. Finger Design has won numerous awards for design excellence. Visit our website at www.fingerdesign.com, call us at 510.465.0505 or email us at finger@fingerdesign.com.

Kos Read Group provides public affairs, strategic communications, and PR services to public, private, and non-profit organizations seeking to create good jobs, build international partnership, foster environmental sustainability, and promote thriving culture. Based in Oakland, we serve clients throughout the Greater Bay Area, California, and the Pacific Rim. If you’re looking for a partner that delivers results, contact Isaac@KosReadGroup.com.