Regional Alliance Information

Greetings Colleagues -

Thank you to all of you for your interest in the INCLUDES EarthConnections Alliance in general and in being a regional pathway implementation site in specific. We are calling regional pathway implementation sites 'Regional Alliances'. I attach our current description of the EarthConnects project activities. You will see that this outlines what a pathway is, the support that we will provide to the regional alliances, the relationship of regional alliances to program partners, and the community of practice that will make this all more than the sum of the parts. If you read this description and are still excited here are some more details and next steps.

- We use region to mean a geographically centered community for which a pathway makes sense (I think of it like an educational watershed). Our current examples range in scale from part of an urban area to the the Oklahoma tribal nations. Our early experience suggests that thinking about the size of an area that shares and can address an environmental issue, natural hazard, or resource issue and thinking about the relationship between educational institutions that will support flow of those students through the multiple steps in their education to the workforce is important.

- We are budgeting for approximately seven regional alliances in the first year of the project with opportunities for five additional alliances in year 2, and eight each of years 3-5. Regional alliances that are just beginning are eligible for up to $20K for each of 2 years for a local staff person or intern to help organize the regional alliance and its activities including development of a pathway map and implementation plan. Some of you have well established regional activities. You are eligible for up to $20K for each of 1 or 2 years of implementation funds to work with program partners. Some of you are in the middle and are eligible for both things. In total, depending on where you are starting we anticipate supporting you for up to 3 years.

- We will select the first seven regional alliances to create a compelling proposal based on materials received from interested parties.
-For beginning alliances, you will need to have no less than 3 committed founding members for your regional alliance. They need to be grounded in either the educational or community activities that will provide the starting point for your alliance and pathway development. For example, you could have one member who is the Middle School Earth Science teacher, one who is involved in making the local community more flood resilient, and one who is involved in the local nature center. Or you could have a member of the geoscience faculty at the local university, a faculty member at the high school and a leader of local sustainability or climate change action group. These are not prescriptive, think about who you have that is ready to go. Then you need to have approximately 1 page of text that presents the case for your capacity to move from your initial founding partners to a regional alliance that has the capacity to create a pathway that links geoscience education in the context of societal issues and community service that uses this knowledge across grade levels. This should include a description of the local issue(s) that the pathway will address and why this is an important issue for the region. We will be looking for strength of commitment, prior history of working together, and capacity for success. It is also important that the seven we select span a range of local issues, are geographically distributed, and address the issues of diversity that underpin the INCLUDES program.
- For intermediate and advanced alliances. We will need a pathway map that describes your current programming. I attach a description of a pathway map with two examples - note this is the first time this description has been used, so if we aren't making sense please ask questions. In addition, we need to have a description of how you would like to grow and strengthen your existing programming to make it a more robust pathway. I am using pathway here in the formal sense- how would you move from where you are to the full implementation of a pathway as described in the attached documents. You don't have to envision the answer, just describe what you know about where the opportunity or need lies and what you know about the steps you would need to take. This should not be longer than a page. Lastly, if on reading the description of the implementation funds in the program activities you already know how you would like to spend funds for one or two years, please describe that briefly. We will need to budget out the first year funds in the proposal — so once we know who is going to do what in year one, we would come back for a real budget. If you would like to have support for a local intern or staff person, please also let us know that.

It is also possible to be a regional project member of the EarthConnections community of practice. In this capacity, you would be invited to participate in our virtual programming, interact with colleagues through our communication platform, and participate in the annual meeting.

This is planned as an informational meeting -- which means that questions are encouraged throughout the meeting via the chat or by raising hand. We will have some slides to answer the following questions -- but it is more important that you get your questions answered. The goal is that all participants leave knowing what they need to know to 1) decide if they would like to be considered to be part of the proposal as a year 1 Regional Alliance; 2) decide if they would like to express interest in either the community of practice or consideration as a regional alliance in the out years; and 3) submit materials for consideration.

• What is the Earth Connections Alliance (RA)?
• What is a Regional Alliance? What are you committing to?
• What is a Pathway?
• What is required to be considered for funding as a year 1 RA?
• What if I want to join later?
• What if I just want to be part of the community?

We need to receive indications of interest no later than March 5 and initial materials no later than March 11.

• EarthConnections Regional Alliance Express Interest Form