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Networking, Collaboration, and Collective Impact: Due East Partners · Clean Water Conversations

• 0:11
  SPEAKER_03: Hello everyone and welcome to Clean Water Conversations, the podcast where we have casual discussions about creating clean and clear water right here in Lancaster County.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Ken.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, this is Allison.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we are once again right in the middle of the holiday season.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm just wondering, what is your favorite part of the holiday season?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: I like the buildup.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: In my family, it's interesting because my daughter gets super excited about Christmas, but she likes holds herself back from being air quotes allowed to start decorating.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: So with Thanksgiving being so late this year, it's really funny to watch her.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: How about you, Ken?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, mine is not necessarily a popular answer, especially this year.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: I really am enjoying the music.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: Oh I have already started listening to Christmas music.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: But that's okay.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's all right.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: And just to embrace the things we like.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: What's your win this for this week?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, there's so many things to celebrate, so many wins to be excited about.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: I am really super excited to have Monique Dykman on board with us as the team.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: So that's right.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Shouts of joy.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yay! Yeah, she's really fun, really great expertise to be able to add to our team as the director of programs and partners.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: And Ken, tell us about your wins.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, my biggest win.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: We just recently had the Academy, the I should spell this out, Lancaster Watershed Leadership Academy Island Trip, which kind of tops off the whole uh year.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: And um, yeah, we we went down to the Karen Noonan Center in Maryland and we went proging.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: We uh hiked through a a a marsh.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we did some really neat things out on a boat, uh like oyster dredging.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we went and we went crabbing and um and and learned a lot, and it was a really neat experience.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: And and to top it all up, the weather was perfect.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: It was beautiful.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: November's the best.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: Great times, great times.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have to add another win because there's a lot right now.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, go ahead.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we got to go down to Maryland with the Academy, and then recently we got to host a group from the Chop Tank River watershed that came up here to Lancaster.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: So shout out to Envision the Chop Tank.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: Kind of new partners of sorts.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Very similar network approach and part of a capacity building initiative that we're in.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really good to do some peer swapping, peer learning information swapping.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: And speaking of partners.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and Marilyn, that's true.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: We have a really cool guest this week.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Bess Langvine.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: She is with Dew East Partners, one of the co-founders, and a longtime partner of the Lancaster Cleanwater Partners.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Let's dive right in.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: Your icebreaker question is what is something about your hometown that you've come to appreciate over time?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was really lucky to grow up in Easton, Maryland, which is on the eastern shore of Maryland.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time was a really close-knit small town where everyone knew one another.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And as a young person, that could sometimes feel really frustrating.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And because you couldn't get away with anything.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And as I got older, I realized just how lucky I was to grow up in a community where people not only knew who I was, knew who my family was, but were looking out for me and for us.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Whether that be our church community at school, on the sports field, or simply just walking down the street.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: There were always people who really cared about your well-being because we were all so interconnected to one another.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it was the best place to grow up.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: It just is and was quintessential small town America where we were out until the streetlights came on at night.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Playing kick the can and flashlight tag and running into one another's houses and knowing you could always knock on a door and get help, which I think is still very much true.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I feel so fortunate to have grown up in East End and it's still a wonderful, lovely place to be and visit.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: That's great.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: We keep coming back to that memory of the streetlights.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: I think that was our entire generation was uh yeah.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_03: Their parents had no idea where you were because we didn't have cell phones, and you know, you stayed out until the until the streetlights came on, and then you better get yourself back home.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was so much better in some ways.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then my mom had a cowbell she would ring when it was time for us to come for a meal.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Man, you got to live more cowbell, more cowbell, more cowbell to run in and eat your food as quickly as possible and just run back out so you wouldn't miss anything or be it when you got back.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: Love that.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, do you have a favorite memory, like something that jumps out at you?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite memories being a kid is when our community would get together and have neighborhood parties.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And they say that your sense of smell is so strong when it comes to evoking memories.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I can to this day sort of smell the ozone of the humidity of Maryland summer and the smell of the blue crabs or the the pig that was roasting.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and just this great sense of connection and community and family.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I can I can I can still feel it today.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_03: That's great.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so growing up in East End, there are all kinds of things that you mentioned as part of that community growing up.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: What did you want to be when you were growing up?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like as a kid, what did you think you wanted to grow up to be?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to grow up and be Cal Ripkin, who was or is a famous baseball player on the Orioles.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: I just didn't know that girls couldn't play baseball.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, really growing up, I really wanted to be Cal Ripkin.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And my dad actually called me Little Cal.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like every other kid.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like every other kid in who was an Orioles fan who played shortstop on a baseball softball team.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: So the so when I was a kid, I wanted to grow up and be Cal Ripkin.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then don't you feel like that answer changes depending on what age you were?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that was probably true until I was about nine, and then realized that girls couldn't play baseball, or at least at the time.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then I've been through lots of iterations of what I want to be when I grow up.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Still trying to figure that one out.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: The answer is when I grow up, I will let you know.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: What?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: Go.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't think I was nine and saying, I want to grow up and be a consultant.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I there was definitely a time in my life when I knew that I wanted to do a job that meant using my skills to improve communities and the environment.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that that was gonna happen.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: I just didn't know what shape and form that was gonna come in.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_03: So you earned your BA in international BA, yeah.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Your own show, Ken.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_03: That would be uh Bachelor of Archelor of Arch, yeah, yeah.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my goodness.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: I went to college.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: How about that?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: I went to college.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: And and you majored in international relations and affairs from University of Pennsylvania.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: And you got your here we go again.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_03: Your master's in business administration or MBA from University of Maryland.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: Now, there's like a lot to unpack there, especially coming from uh your your wish to be Cal Ripkin.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: But how do you go from international relations to facilitations, network development, business strategy, amongst like a dozen other skills you have?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: How does that progression work?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that assumes that anybody as an undergraduate actually has a clue what they're doing.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: But fair point.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll we'll we'll um I think kids these days, the young people these days seem to know.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: The international relations program at Penn was this incredible mix of political science, history, and economics.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was this very practical study that helped me live in the world global world of ideas while still thinking about how I would apply this to a job, whether that be a political science track working in DC or economics.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually, by the time I graduated, I really wanted to work for the State Department.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I went to take the State Department exam.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time they called him the cones that he wanted to be in.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I missed the mark by 0.025 of I was crushed.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I had had this really defining experience while in college.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: I actually took a year off from college, and I went and worked and lived in Honduras at a home for abuse and abandoned girls, and that solidified this commitment to me that I was gonna go do something in the social or environmental sector.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had set my sights on working for the State Department, and while that was a crushing blow, um, and my ego was probably too big to just go back and take the test, um, it gave me the opportunity to really think about some different avenues that I could still pursue that same goal.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I actually went into politics and campaigns right out of college.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's just a great place for young people to start because you get to do work on a campaign that you've no business doing, but the hours are so grueling that it tends to attract a younger group of people.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I got to work for a gubernatorial race here in Maryland.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then I went and worked for a political action committee to help get pro-choice democratic women elected to office.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then from there, kind of came back to my home community and realized that I wanted to use the sort of passion and skills that I had at that time to give back to where I had grown up and recognizing that while there's great need in areas around the world like Honduras, that there was a great need here in my backyard and wanted to be part of supporting the equitable advancement of communities.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I came back to Annapolis and did a little bit of fundraising consulting, and then by great luck, ended up as the executive director of the community foundation here in Ann Rondo County, the first full-time executive director of that really small organization, and was able to stay there for eight years.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really what entrenched me in this work and with nonprofits and public agencies and businesses and really working across sectors to address really big structural issues and problems across a county, across the state, across a country.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Holy smokes.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So not exactly at the straight line.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then I guess I I sort of paused while I was executive director of the community foundation.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's when I went back to business school at Maryland, knowing that there was really important skills and knowledge that I needed to be able to run a business well, whether that was a nonprofit business or a for-profit business.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: Bess, every time I talk to you, I am more and more inspired.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the idea, oh my gosh.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, there's so much more that I want to ask about and connections we can continue to make.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: But seriously, that's an incredibly impressive journey.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I imagine quite a collection of lessons learned, but things that brought you such joy.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: I can hear it in your voice.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, thanks for saying that.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have been so fortunate at a young age to get clear on the kind of impact I wanted to have in the world without necessarily knowing how I was gonna do that.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I have felt so fortunate along the way to find different opportunities.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And none of them have felt like a job.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: None of them have felt like a job.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the work we do now for Dewey's, like we've got to do with Lancaster Clean Water Partners, and we get to do with other collaboratives and coalitions and organizations and agencies across the region or across the country, is so inspiring and invigorating and challenging and fulfilling that it just doesn't feel like a job.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm gonna take that and kind of launch from there.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Am I correct that it was 2015 that you started Do East Partners?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: We did.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're celebrating.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Woo! Oh, thank you.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: The studio audience is helping us out.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so you helped the Lancaster Clean Water Partners, the steering committee at the time, develop that common agenda because that was a key piece to the start of our work.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, first off, thank you for your leadership and helping us kickstart that.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Can you explain what a common agenda is and why at that time was it an important and useful tool for Lancaster?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: We feel so grateful to have been on or near the ground floor of the work you all were doing in Lancaster.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And thanks to Chris Thompson and the Campbell Foundation and John Cox and others for inviting us into the conversation.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we use the collective impact framework and adapt it to different communities, challenges, and opportunities.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: And at the top of the framework is a common agenda.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we believe a common agenda is best articulated simply as a shared vision and set of priorities across a diversity of multi-sector partners.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And what that means is all of the constituents or stakeholders who need to be at the table because they're impacted by the issue or the problem, which of course, as you all know better than I do in Lancaster, it was the degradation of your streams and rivers.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that there was this huge issue around impaired streams and rivers, and that that was impacting the quality of life of every Lancasterian, as you all like to call yourselves.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so we needed to make sure that not only was there a shared sense of direction, but the right people were at the table from the beginning to signal that this was going to be a really diverse collaborative dynamic effort.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so the common agenda is often considered that collaborative plan, but I actually think it's more of sort of the broader call to action and sense of direction for all the people and players and organizations that need to be at the table.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: I love that description.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Is that drive with how you is that how you would define it, Allison?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I like that simple piece of it is the call to action and the sense of direction at the same time.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of details in there, but at its core, that's what it is.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: It is the tool to call us all to action together.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: So absolutely.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's that rallying crack.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: And how did that Lancaster experience kind of fall on the timeline of your other collective impact work?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because Deweast Partners has really become a leader in this effort of collective impact around the country, an expert in the content and then also implementation and creating the tools for others to implement it.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, help us put some pieces together from where the Lancaster piece fits into your bigger effort.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: When we started Deweast in 2015, Lauren Maddox, my business partner, was actually coming right off the campaigns for grade level reading, which at its core is a nationwide effort to ensure that every third grader in the US was at a third grade read level before they matriculated to fourth grade.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so that effort included philanthropy, government, a diversity of agencies, libraries, schools, community organizations, faith-based organizations, both nationally and then in community.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so we came, we started Deweast having already been working in collective impact.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I also will say it was just a philosophy.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: While it is a framework, it's also a philosophy that we've been using since the beginning at Deweast, which is no one entity can solve any of these big entrenched issues that we have in our community.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: And even when we come in to do strategic planning for an individual organization, we're constantly asking them to think about that broader ecosystem of organizations and agencies and leaders and communities that they work in and what that means for their unique role and the role they play within that ecosystem.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: So when we started Dewey, we were already doing collective impact.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think we started working with what then became known as like circling water partners in 2017.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: So really soon after launching Deweys.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: And what was great about that is a lot of the known stories around collective impact in our experience, and I think Allison, you and I have found this to be true, we're in the social sector.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're around issues around education and family and neighborhood and community development.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was great for us, really soon after starting Deweys, to be able to dig in using the collective impact model around environmental issues.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: And what we have learned from you all, and what we have learned subsequently from other collective impact efforts, is as critical as it is to have a common agenda, to have a clear vision and set of shared priorities, to have a shared vision and shared priorities, is you have to have the right leadership at the table.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you all launched Lancaster Cleanwater Partners, what then became known as Lancaster Cleanwater Partners, you started with a lot of the right people at the table.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't just mean the traditional leaders in a community.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: That means the folks who have traditionally had influence and the people who are most influenced by an issue.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so have the greatest sense of ownership.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: And to make sure that both of those sets of folks were at the table from the get-go, representing the diversity of interests.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: So there were folks making sure the voices of farmers are at the table.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: There were voices from local green groups, government agencies at different levels, business, philanthropy, were at the table from the get-go.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we have replicated that same model over and over again through our collective impact work, whether it be related to the environment, whether it be related to addressing relational violence, whether it be related to anti-poverty strategies.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Making sure you have the right people at the table from the beginning helps you set that right vision and make sure the right voices are being heard.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Again, those people who are most impacted by an issue, but also have the most influence over changing the systems that create the issue is so important.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: So if you want to know more about the people that were involved back then and the process of creating Lancaster Clean Water Partners, go back to our original episode, which is called Origins with Chris Thompson.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: And Bess, you mentioned that you do this kind of work with groups all over the region, the country.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious, what are some of your lessons learned?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: And is this part of what you and Lauren had in mind?
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Is this the kind of direction you saw for Dewey's partners, or is this like we pivot and found this new opportunity?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let me start with what we've learned.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to really understanding the power of shared leadership, we've also really learned how important it is to make sure there are resources that are going to be available to help implement the common agenda.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think sometimes we aren't upfront enough about the fact that money matters.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: And while there is so much power in collaboration, recognizing that it takes resources to do it is so important.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say corollary to that is we have learned and it's reinforced to us time and time again how important the backbone organization is to a collective impact effort.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so what's so powerful and yet so challenging about a collective impact effort is that you're bringing a diversity of partners together with their own missions and their own objectives, who, while they share the same vision and sense of priorities, have lots of different ways they're going to go about helping to contribute to the achievement of those priorities towards that vision.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so you have to have an organization, entity that's going to constantly be connecting and communicating and bringing together those partners to share learning, share information, to be talking about how we're going to be working together and to support those coordinated efforts.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so many, and you all know this.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Much better than I.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: They're so busy doing their day-to-day jobs that to then ask them to layer on top the collaborative work, which they all value, is it is a lot to ask.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so, how important it is to have a well-organized, well-staffed backbone organization is so critical to success.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think lastly, and I think this is why you all created this podcast, is how important communication is.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we traditionally in the nonprofit sector and even public sectors underinvested in communication.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: But this is all long-term work, right?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Clean and clear water in Lancaster by 2040, that's 15 years from now.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we've constantly got to be communicating about what's going on and what are the wins and where's their progress and where are there ways for folks to get engaged?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would say, in addition to leadership, it's absolutely that strong coordinated backbone leadership and communication.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: What else have you learned?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because I feel like you're not only just a great practitioner, but you're such a great student of this.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I could geek out on collective impact right along with you all day long.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, that storytelling.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And Ken has done such a great job in 2025, especially of building that narrative of local success.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: And changing Lancaster to be that place of success and focusing in on that, changing the story about that has been so key.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: But you're exactly right that it's done in a collective impact model, but it can feel sometimes like there's these layers of things that are on top of everything else.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I was reminded as you were speaking of this image.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: We had a meeting last week of a couple different networks that came together, and we asked people to kind of fill in the blank of the glue is blank.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so I have this really fun collection of things.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Ken, I need to send it to you for social media.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Of how people answered that.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Cause that's what the network can be.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's this glue that keeps things together.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's not front and center of everybody's mind all the time, every day, but it is this thing that keeps the reality of a common goal.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: That makes it real.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: We always speak about the connective tissue, but I think glue is probably better.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's just more makes more sense to folks.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is hard work and you can't see and touch and feel it all the time.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: Earlier this year you helped us rewrite our common agenda, kind of update it.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: So my question then is now what?
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: What do we do with that as a tool, as a concept moving forward?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things you all have been so successful at doing is building and constantly growing and nurturing a base of partners and supporters.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it was wonderful to engage with so many of them during the development of the Refresh Common Agenda, the new common agenda.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: And now the real challenge is how do we translate that common agenda to a shared work plan?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: And how do we divvy up the work amongst partners and amongst Lancaster Clean Water Partners as the backbone entity to make sure that the work gets done over the five-year time horizon of the plan?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so what's hard about where you are, having had some interaction with you all, is bringing that plan to life with your partners.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to believe that's probably where you all are right now.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we are.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: And we have that really helpful implementation plan that you helped create for us and now using it.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: And to your earlier point of putting the right type of backbone capacity behind that so that we can continue to facilitate the conversations and make it real for people without being another layer that they have to manage.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: So you're really kind of filling in the gaps and providing the true backbone support, that boost, that amplification of partners.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: And what you all do so well, and I I see this even in, I see this in your common agenda, I see it in your implementation plan, is there are times when you all as the backbone have to lead on a strategy.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: There are times where you have to co-lead on a strategy with a set of partners, and then there's strategies that partners themselves are fully responsible for.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so that job of making sure people know what they're assigned to and why, and collectively holding each other responsible for the work getting done and for the outcomes is I think the hardest part of this work.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you're sweet.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: All jokes aside, I mean, we love working with you all.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: The most rewarding part is seeing the partners not just come together, but collectively celebrate what's been done and see the momentum and the enthusiasm build for the next phase of work.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the moment that exemplifies this the best in your process was the hundred-person partner meeting you all had.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that it was at a historic mill.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was, yeah.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it was challenging to get people to move around that room, but it was challenging because the place was packed with partners from across all the sectors, from all different kinds of municipalities, from all different kinds of nonprofits and community groups.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that does exemplify what's so powerful about this clean water movement you all have created in Lancaster.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think why we all feel really excited and good about this common agenda, because we know that it was shaped by a diversity of these partners and that they have ownership over it.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that to me is the most rewarding part, not to mention really just seeing the incredible progress you all have made.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, when we started this conversation in 2017, you all had the EPA breathing down your neck.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: And now you're the poster child for how do you lead on clean water across a county?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And how do you do that in a way that brings people along, is well resourced, is smart and strategic, and is changing both how people tell the story of Lancaster, but how policy decisions are made, how funding flows, how organizations work together.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that that is what's so inspiring and encouraging to us.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: And seeing you all actually be able to produce the measurable outcomes when it comes to the quality of clean water.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Bess, you are very kind and so appreciate you calling out those places of wins, but places we had to stretch.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: And that has been true for us here in the environmental sector conservation space.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: But you guys at Deweast do the same kind of work in lots of different sectors.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm curious to hear from you where are you seeing similar interest, similar success, whether that's geographic or specific sector, or yeah, give us a peek into some of your other areas of your business.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for asking.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just in along the vein of collective impact, we are seeing a lot of state-based public agencies really start to understand the value not just of authentic community engagement, but of the collective model and the need to bring communities and organizations together to collectively plan and develop solutions.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we've been able to spend a lot of time this past year in Maryland working with local organizations that are implementing Governor Moore's Enough Initiative, which is an acronym, but I can't even tell you what all the letters mean.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: We'll give you a pass.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: But long story short, it's Governor Moore's initiative to end childhood poverty in the state of Maryland.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And what is great is it's not only looking at not only calling on communities to identify the systemic changes, but providing the funding and the resources for them to really go deep on their place-based work and go kind of block by block and community by community.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so that is work that we've been doing recently and having community members in communities with high concentration of poverty have the time, the resources support they need to determine what solutions are going to really help them and their neighbors address poverty in their communities.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's been really exciting for us.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think the other sector I want to lift up is we do a lot of work in the corporate sector too, helping businesses design what we call their corporate community engagement programs or what are more readily called sort of corporate social responsibility.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's really their corporate give back programs.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so helping companies really think about how to tie what they're good at and what they're trying to achieve, their business strategy to the needs and opportunities in the communities in which they operate and turn that into a corporate give back strategy that includes not just money, but employee engagement and opportunities that play a leadership role in the issues that they care about.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's so much opportunity to help businesses be even more targeted to help address some of these really big issues and communities, not to mention support individual organizations and efforts, and also sort of bring all their resources to bear to do that.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we do this work across sectors by design.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we work with nonprofit organizations to do a lot of strategic planning and business planning, thinking about how what is their role and how can they advance their visions, and then really thinking about how do multi-sector collaboratives design and implement these common agendas?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then what's the role of business?
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason we do this is because we know we need all these groups to not only be strong and sustainable, particularly when we're referring to nonprofit organizations, but we need them to all be working together to address these issues.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Again, whether it be third grade reading or clean water or poverty or transportation, you name it.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's the only way any of this work is gonna get done.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: And we do this work because we want to see communities improve and communities advance and that's both across the social and environmental sectors.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you are definitely achieving that because word about due east has spread, and it is so cool to see all of the success that you have created and then what you have allowed others to create.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for empowering and equipping so many of us to be able to do this work.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Your expertise is incredible.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so bringing that to Lancaster in the network form, but then giving us some of those on-ramps, like you're saying, for corporate community engagement and always remembering to bring people to the table who will be um negatively impacted if we don't do this.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh a question that I I I'm gonna allow Ken to ask here because it ties it back so well to some of these deadlines and Lancaster's role in the bay, too.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_03: Here in Lancaster, we're looking at you you had already mentioned this, a at a collective goal of clean and clear by 2040.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: Now, before that arrives, we are using the end of 2025 as a milestone for local and bay-driven goals for our water quality work.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: But that isn't a finish line.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's just a milestone.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, we're it's not a stopping point.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: So, what brings you excitement and eagerness as we look beyond 2025?
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's such a great question.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think one thing that brings excitement that despite all the challenges, and they're really big right now, yeah, there are still winds that have been had and that are going to continue to be had.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: And there is still progress being made across the Jess Chesapeake Bay and this clean water movement across the Chesapeake Bay to make progress, whether you're looking, we're talking about Med Menhaden or we're talking about oyster restoration.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so I feel really heartened by this progress that's been made and that's going to continue to be made.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: And while we didn't achieve the goals that we had by 2025, there was a lot of good work being done.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's two things that make me feel eager and excited moving forward.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: And one is I really believe we're all doing this work differently now.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing it in the way that Lancaster Clean Water Partners has always been doing it.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: And as you just said, Alison, is we're making sure that all the people that need to be at the table are at the table before plans get made and also decisions get made.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: And we're doing it in a truly collaborative way.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that speaks to the leadership across the Chesapeake Bay restoration, I'm going to call it movement, is we've got this current group of leaders who are sincerely committed to collaboration as much as they are dedicated to the growth and sustainability of their organizations, and being willing to flex and compromise and partner in really new and exciting ways that is gonna actually help us achieve the results that we need to in time for our next milestone.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I see the work being done differently, and I see it being done differently because of the leadership that we have.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm gonna transition us to trivia because the other part of reality is that we're doing all this hard work.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: We're running companies, we're running networks, and we're also moms and dads and doing sports and going to the grocery store.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so I am excited because Ken loves trivia.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: So here you go, Bass.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Your trivia for this week is that outside of work, you love to be yelling loudly at your son's ice hockey games or clapping at your daughter's dance performances.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so your trivia, here you go, Ken.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Over to you.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_03: So we I put together a round of trivia about youth sport.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: No, I think you'll do just fine.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_03: I think you'll do just fine.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_03: So, first off, according to iSport360, what is the most popular youth sport in America?
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: Soccer.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_03: It is indeed soccer.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_03: Secondly, what is the most you probably know this the answer to this one.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_03: What is the most expensive youth sport?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: Ice hockey.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_03: It is ice hockey.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I might I might battle either you or iSport 360 on there with uh horseback riding.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, we're failing.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: They probably enough yet.
• 37:49
  unknown: We're failing.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, the second on their list is skiing and snowboarding again for the the equipment.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I imagine a horse would be would definitely be more yeah.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_03: What youth sports championship is played in Williamsport, Pennsylvania each August?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Little League call the Little League Championship.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's the little league world series.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_03: And this year it was this year it was uh won by Chinese Taipei's Tun Yuan Little League in 2025.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_03: They they won it.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_03: So wow.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_03: So according to the most recent sports and fitness industry association report, which state has the highest participation in youth sports?
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: Think New England.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll give you the region.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: Massachusetts.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_03: Very nice.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, it is Massachusetts at 62.9%.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh followed by Minnesota at 62.8.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_03: There's that ice hockey again, is my guess.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was, yes.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, do you do you know that I have started I helped start a collective impact initiative here as a volunteer in Annapolis to help make sure that every kid in the city has access to sports and recreation?
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is perfect.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: No, but this is perfect.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I love it.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm doing it as I'm putting into practice the things we do at work as a volunteer, and we've created this whole we call it the coalition crew, this 50 plus partners representing all the sports organizations and families and communities.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you just do this on the side.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, Beth.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: With a lot of help from a lot of people.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_03: So per ESPN, at what age do most children start playing sports on Teams?
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: Seven.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_03: You've gotten so many of them, sorry.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_03: Six, actually.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_03: It's getting younger and wow.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but Bess, I'm sure your kids do the whole six, seven thing.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: So we can't walk past that.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: Let's not even go there.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_03: Now that same sp uh report says that most quit kids quit eventually for what reason?
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: This is so sad.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_03: No, they just they stop having fun.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_03: That is sad.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: I need that report for playing Apple because we're gonna talk.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's good to know because I didn't know that.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Will you send that to me?
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_03: I can do that.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: I need that information because we gotta make sure the coaches know that.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, that is very true.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's just sad.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_03: So, which state has the highest participation in high school football?
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: Do not overthink this one.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_03: Texas.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_03: It is Texas.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_03: And a couple here for your daughter.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what is the most performed ballet globally?
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: The nutcracker.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: I will just cut you off right there.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: I spent all weekend curling hair for the that would seem like it would be too true.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, according to this report, it's Swan Lake.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't believe that.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_03: After ballet, what is the most popular style of dance to take in a class?
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hip hop.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_03: It is hip hop.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_03: There's our trivia.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's our show.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much, Best.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: Having your voice with us today.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's our prize, Bess.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your time.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for all that you've done for Lancaster.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for letting us be part of it.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: I hope we can continue to work together.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you all so much for the chat today.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that is our show.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_03: We will be back in just a couple of weeks.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_03: Until then, take care.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: Bye, everybody.
• 41:43
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• 41:57
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• 42:00
  SPEAKER_03: If you have comments or suggestions for show topics, or are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact us at info at Likestract Cleanwater Partners.com.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for listening.