Communications and design for Cleveland’s Climate Action Plans
Lotus, in partnership with ALH Design, led the development and design of several communication tools for the City of Cleveland’s Climate Action Plan and Municipal Action Plan, as well as the design of the two plans themselves. The City of Cleveland tasked Lotus and ALH Design with crafting two series of social media posts regarding the publication of the Climate Action Plan, a staff engagement workshop to promote implementation efforts amongst City staff, and a community toolkit to encourage community-based organizations and individuals to take action. Lotus designed two versions of the staff workshop to accommodate different audiences and use cases. The adaptable and accessible community action toolkit was designed to meet the wide-ranging diversity of the Cleveland community. Both tasks included a detailed step-by-step agenda to guide staff members through facilitating a workshop or community meeting and adapting the materials to their specific audience. ALH Design led the graphic design of the two plans and all social media posts, public-facing workshop materials, and the community action toolkit.
City of Fort Collins | Under-Resourced Buildings Engagement
under-resourced buildings engagement
Lotus worked with the City of Fort Collins to engage under-resourced building (URB) stakeholders. The core purpose of the engagement was to gather insight into specific tools, resources, and other support mechanisms that Fort Collins could deploy to support commercial and multifamily building owners and tenants in achieving greater energy efficiency. Lotus delivered a final report to the client that compiled current stakeholder challenges in pursuing energy efficiency and provided research-backed recommendations for programs that could overcome those challenges. The team successfully engaged all stakeholder types, including, but not limited to, affordable housing providers and nonprofits supporting affordable housing providers, multifamily tenants, business tenants and commercial developers, collecting critical data and program or policy recommendations specific to these building types.
The team applied community-centered principles throughout the engagement process to ensure reach with key URBs. Lotus developed a context guide that documented the factors and processes for the City to consider when developing the engagement strategy, resources, and support services to help URB communities make building improvements. The context guide served as the foundation for fair and defensible engagement throughout the project.
Lotus also developed a stakeholder map of URBs based on the City’s specific, data-driven definition. Our team spearheaded the creation of the matrix of data criteria defining and categorizing URBs. Following that, buildings were specifically identified and targeted for engagement based on their criteria score.
Lotus facilitated a number of engagements, including in-person focus groups, virtual focus groups, informational interviews, and listening sessions. All engagements were planned with a focus on bringing the community together, including providing participant stipends, food, and childcare while ensuring all materials and presentations were translated and interpreted into languages most appropriate for the audiences. Lotus conducted all Spanish written translations in-house. We contracted with the Community Language Cooperative (CLC) to provide interpretation services for in-person meetings in Spanish and for translation services in Vietnamese, Arabic, and Mandarin Chinese.
City and County of Denver | Energize Denver Equity Priority Buildings Facilitation Services
Energize Denver Equity Priority Buildings Facilitation Services
Lotus worked with the Energize Denver at the City and County of Denver to engage equity priority building owners. The purpose of engagement efforts was to inform building owners about forthcoming regulations and requirements for small buildings through the Energize Denver program and gather insight into specific tools, resources, and other supports Denver may be able to offer to support building owners in meeting the requirements. Lotus conducted a detailed analysis of stakeholders and built relationships with local community-based organizations and cultural brokers to plan engagement activities and share these opportunities with the intended audiences.
Lotus facilitated a number of engagements, including in-person focus groups, virtual focus groups, informational interviews, and listening sessions. All engagements were planned with a focus on equity, including providing participant stipends, food, and childcare while ensuring all materials and presentations were translated and interpreted into languages most appropriate for the audiences. Lotus developed a final report summarizing engagements and providing recommendations and guidance to Denver on opportunities to improve services and resources for equity priority building owners to better compel compliance with Energize Denver requirements. Denver is currently implementing many of the recommendations in A final report.
City of Commerce City | Sustainability Action Plan
Lotus led the development of sustainability and community health recommendations that are woven into the first Sustainability Action Plan for Commerce City, Colorado. An environmental justice priority community, the City wished to ensure that recommendations were derived from community input and informed by data. Lotus facilitated a citizen-led Environmental Policy Advisory Committee to develop recommendations that will result in a healthier, more sustainable community. Additional community outreach occurred in the form of community meetings, civic engagement training, a community survey, and workshops with City staff and business and industry leaders. As part of the process, Lotus also completed the City’s first GHG inventory and business-as-usual forecast, modeling the GHG impact of strategies, identified the cost impacts of strategies and funding resources, and met with City staff to develop internal sustainability recommendations. Subcontractors on the project analyzed and made recommendations specific to air and water quality issues in Commerce City, which were woven into the full recommendations report.
In addition to completing the City’s first community-wide greenhouse gas emissions inventory as a part of the Sustainability Action Plan development, Lotus developed the City’s first municipal operations greenhouse gas emissions inventory. Lotus utilized the Local Government Operations Protocol to complete the inventory. The development of this inventory will help the City government create and monitor sustainability actions outlined in the Sustainability Action Plan. Lotus continued supporting the Commerce City Department of Energy, Equity and the Environment with facilitation of the Environmental Policy Advisory Committee and designing program collateral for one year after the plan was finalized.
“Commerce City unanimously passed a Sustainability Action Plan which was the culmination of input from multiple community and business meetings. Lotus was instrumental in facilitating the process as well as preparing technical documents such as an Air Modeling Threshold Report; Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Stormwater Management Plan. The Sustainability Action Plan was translated into Spanish for increased stakeholder engagement. Lotus has provided outstanding service””
Denver Public Schools | Climate Action Plan
climate action plan
Our work supporting Denver Public Schools and their students was highlighted by Former Vice President Kamala Harris as a model for others to follow.
Lotus worked with Denver Public Schools (DPS) to develop new goals and programs focused on GHG emissions reductions, renewable electricity, environmental justice and education, and resource management. The plan was co-created with DPS stakeholders and included a strong focus on equity and accessibility as well as a fun, interactive, and engaging process. The new plan outlined a roadmap for achieving the goals laid forth in the recent DPS Climate Change Resolution. These goals included reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent of 2010 levels by 2050, prioritizing sustainability actions in schools and communities facing greater environmental injustice, and making sustainability a core value of DPS. Lotus also fully reworked the DPS website to drastically increase engagement with students, staff, and general public.
Lastly, Lotus created a program to help empower students to lead this effort to ensure that this work continues long after we are gone.
You can view the plan in Spanish here. Este plan es disponible en español AQUI.
“Lotus was pivotal in supporting us in the creation of a transparent, clear, and relatable climate action plan that will engage our greater community for years to come. Their ability to engage our stakeholders throughout the development was invaluable.”
“Vice President Kamala Harris says Denver students’ climate plan is a model for others to follow.”
Summit County, CO | Climate Action Plan & Climate Equity Plan
The jurisdictions, municipalities, ski areas, and institutions in Summit County, convened by High Country Conservation Center (HC3), contracted with Lotus to create a Climate Action Plan for the community. Lotus guided and supported the entire development process, which included conducting Summit County’s first GHG emissions inventory. Lotus facilitated and led the stakeholder engagement process that informed the development of Summit County’s Climate Action Plan in collaboration with the High Country Conservation Center. Our team convened meetings of stakeholders and experts, provided education and background on climate change, and facilitated conversations to develop strategies that will reduce emissions and achieve the goals of the Climate Action Plan for this mountain community. The development process also included modeling the impacts of stakeholder-selected strategies to determine emissions reductions, energy use, and other benefits; forecasting a business-as-usual case scenario; and providing the community with a final Climate Action Plan that defines aspirational targets for climate mitigation and resiliency and establishes a path towards achieving these goals.
Lotus ultimately developed a Comprehensive GHG Inventory and an aspirational yet achievable Climate Action Plan for the County.
Since completing the County’s Climate Action Plan, the jurisdictions in Summit County embarked on implementation work. Lotus worked with the High Country Conservation Center to update the County’s GHG inventory with 2021 data and develop a Climate Equity Plan that specifically details projects and programs to enhance equity in the community through the implementation of climate action work. Lotus facilitated an equity steering committee that included representatives from local community-based organizations, local governments, and agencies serving disproportionately impacted communities in Summit County. The Steering Committee advised on the development of a tri-lingual public survey, listening sessions, and informational interviews to guide the development of climate equity strategies that will supplement the existing climate action work. During the implementation of this work, HC3 will continue to work with Steering Committee members through the strong relationships that were built in this process to ensure that climate equity strategies meet their intended goals in supporting benefits for all Summit County residents.
Below is a presentation on Summit County’s Climate Equity Plan from Mountain Towns 2030.
“Lotus’ expertise was instrumental in developing our community’s climate action goals and understanding what it will take to meet them. Their depth of knowledge and nimble facilitation skills were a tremendous asset to our planning process.”