Summary: Conservation Law Foundation is seeking proposals from qualified consultants to support the development of the CLF Ocean Program’s community engagement and partnerships work to increase awareness of and support for ocean protection in New England. The consultant should bring expertise in developing equitable and inclusive partnerships for environmental advocacy campaigns. The consultant will focus on reviewing the Ocean Program’s habitat protection campaign and will develop an equitable and inclusive outreach strategy and workplan.

Timeline: Consultants should be available to begin work in November 2023. The project duration is expected to be approximately 2 months.

Due Date: Proposals are due no later than October 27th through email to Jen Felt @ jfelt@clf.org.

Project Contact: Jen Felt, Ocean Campaign Director, Email: jfelt@clf.org, Phone: (617) 850-1750

Background and Mission

Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) is the premier environmental advocacy organization in New England, forging lasting solutions to some of the toughest environmental challenges in the region. Since its founding more than 50 years ago, CLF has taken on powerful opponents who pollute the region’s air, land, and water. CLF has advocates on the frontlines of every New England state who use their deep local knowledge, legal acumen, and policy expertise to build a clean energy future and safeguard the health, quality of life, and economic prosperity of the people of New England. Since its founding, CLF has led such iconic battles as cleaning up Boston Harbor, stopping oil and gas drilling on Georges Bank, shutting down big coal throughout New England, securing the MBTA Green line extension as part of a groundbreaking Big Dig settlement, and giving teeth to the Clean Water Act to protect waters throughout the region.

CLF has safeguarded New England’s ocean for decades – from blocking oil and gas drilling on Georges Bank, to curbing overfishing, to pioneering smart ocean planning across the region. Today, we’re fighting for a clean, healthy, and productive ocean – for today and for generations to come. We do this by protecting special places in New England’s ocean, working to save North Atlantic right whales, building sustainable fisheries, and ensuring responsibly sited offshore

wind.

In order to address the current global extinction, climate and biodiversity crises, scientists recommend conserving at least 30 percent of the land and 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. New England is experiencing the disappearance of some of its iconic marine wildlife, and the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 97 percent of the rest of the world’s oceans. In response to these regional crises and in support of the national and global effort, CLF’s habitat protection campaign is working to advance marine protected areas and other forms of habitat protection in New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

CLF is aware that many people in the New England region, including indigenous communities, early colonizers, and residents throughout history, have depended on the ocean and its resources for food, recreation, and other physical, cultural, and spiritual needs. It is essential that these uses are understood and respected today as ocean use continues to change.

CLF’s mission is to protect New England’s environment for the benefit of all people. We use the law, science and the market to create solutions that preserve our natural resources, build healthy communities, and sustain a vibrant economy.

Organization

CLF currently has 125 staff members and an annual budget of $27 million. The organization is headquartered in downtown Boston with regional offices in Portland, Maine; Montpelier, VT; Concord, NH; New Haven, CT; and Providence, RI. CLF’s current work is organized around six topical areas: Clean Energy and Climate Change, Oceans, Clean Air and Water, Healthy and Resilient Communities, Environmental Justice, and Strategic Litigation.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Context

CLF is committed to addressing environmental challenges in a way that is inclusive of and equitable for all New Englanders. We know that our work will be stronger, better received and have more lasting impact if our organization and partnerships reflect the diversity of the communities where we are advocating for cleaner water and air, thriving natural resources, a healthier built environment, and better overall public health.

Diversity is one of CLF’s core values, and we believe that diversity in our workplace, boards, and membership will make us a stronger organization that is better able to achieve our mission.

Greater diversity is crucial to improving our strategic thinking, increasing our membership, and reaching more donors. As such, our goal is to integrate and align our work on diversity, equity, and inclusion with all aspects of our advocacy work.

CLF seeks a consultant that will support our efforts to build a community engagement and outreach plan that will help us identify and implement strategies to engage a wide range of community partners in our Oceans work, especially those who have historically been decentered from the work of ocean conservation. This includes Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, among others.

Scope of Work

The consultant, with support from CLF’s Oceans team and Senior Vice President, People, Culture and Equity, will accomplish the following overall activities and deliverables:

a.      Review existing Oceans habitat campaign plan, resources, and materials, providing feedback and recommendations for increasing equity and inclusion.

b.     Provide expertise on diversity, equity and inclusion and community engagement best practices and develop a strategy for expanding CLF’s partnerships in New England with a focus on creating a more diverse ocean habitat protection campaign and centering the voices of historically marginalized communities.

c.      Develop and (dependent on funding) support the implementation of an outreach strategy, including a detailed work plan to execute the strategy, for CLF’s habitat protection campaign that prioritizes diversity and equity in partnerships and campaign efforts.

These tasks will be accomplished through a combination of activities that will engage staff and outside partners and may include (as determined by the consultant with input from CLF staff):

a.      Focus groups, interviews, and/or any other method that will be useful in receiving input.

b.     Facilitating group meetings with staff and partners to ideally create consensus regarding a community engagement plan (including goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics).

c.      Research on best practices to build inclusive partnerships and environmental protection campaigns.

Project Deliverables:

1.     A written memo detailing the consultant’s review of the existing ocean habitat campaign that includes 5-10 recommendations to enhance and/or build community engagement and partnerships with BIPOC communities and partners.

2.     A clear outreach workplan that includes goals, objectives, timeline, and identified implementers to support the recommendations outlined in project deliverable #1.

3.     Engage in 2-4 (in person or zoom) meetings with CLF’s Ocean’s staff and others, as identified by CLF’s Ocean Campaign Director, to gather information and create consensus around the recommendations and workplan.

Consultant Qualifications

The selected consultant will have:

Ø Demonstrated experience developing and implementing collaborative and effective diversity, equity and inclusion plans that engage staff and community partners, particularly BIPOC partners.

Ø Knowledge and experience developing and implementing community engagement strategies aimed at centering historically marginalized communities.

Ø Experience gathering and utilizing qualitative information to inform a campaign planning process.

Ø Experience working with historically marginalized communities.

Ø Excellent communication skills (verbal and written).

Ø BIPOC consultants and others with relevant lived experience strongly preferred.

Budget

CLF’s budget for this project is up to $10,000. Please submit a budget that projects the number of hours and an hourly rate for each deliverable.

Proposal Submission:

Please submit a narrative proposal of no more than three pages that includes a link to the consultant’s LinkedIn or website page. If the consultant has neither of these, please submit a brief summary of the consultant’s background, qualifications, and experience.

Please visit our website www.clf.org for more information about our work.