Andy Bray & Terri Goldberg (NEWMOA), Sharon Johnson (WRRC), Deb Jacobson (GLRPPR), Tomas Vinson (Region 6), RickYoder (P2RIC), Laura Estes (Peaks), Ed Gonzalez & Kevin Dick (WRPPN), Chris Wiley (PPRC), Beth Anderson (EPA), Nedra Weinreich (Weinreich Communications), Abby Campbell and Marilyn Francis (Industrial Economics (IEC) contractor), and Jean Waters (P2Rx) met on December 10, 2003 conference call.

Agenda:

• Update from Nedra (5 min)
• Update from Beth and contractor on the PPIN logic model (sent to center directors 12/5/03)
• Review program directory collection policy - contact for all programs required?
• Revisit date/location of admin meeting
• Side navigation bar for topic hub
• PPRC measurement tool - review of Boston FOSTTA mtg
• Update on activity with tribes
• Each center director give brief report of what's happening in their center/region

Nedra has completed eight interviews with current users; currently interviewing nonusers. Most are quite familiar with the P2Rx services; many have known about P2Rx and used it since its inception. People are giving high marks to the regional centers and P2Rx. Most understand the distinction between network and centers. Some have some confusion between NPPR and P2Rx. Most people see topic hubs as key products.

People are primarily using P2Rx for topic hubs, case studies, and links. State people working with lots of different topics use topic hubs as introductions. One-stop shopping is seen as key feature of P2Rx. The p2rx.org site is an easy way to get to center’s web sites without remembering urls. The easy availability of staff is important. Improvements that were suggested: new technologies, vendor directory, some people would like more regulatory and compliance info, training resources, tribal info, measurement tools, generic site visit report forms. P2Rx needs to be marketed more, especially increase profile within EPA. Several people say the web site has improved over time.

Expect approval for the on-line survey by the end of January.

Kevin reported that John Roanhorse, with the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals at Northern Arizona University does training programs throughout region 9 and nationally. They have programs for air quality, waste water, solid waste, compliance and enforcement. John is interested in promoting P2 more, realized they have an opportunity to let people in his group know about P2Rx. The NPPR tribal workgroup call is next Tuesday

The next administrative committee meeting is proposed for Feb 18- 20 in Las Vegas. Ed can get rooms for $72/night at Carriage house. All on the call agree to the location if logistics can be worked out. An alternate date is Feb 25-27. Jean will confer with the exec committee about exact location.

Andy Swartz with IEC will also be on the project but isn’t on the call. When doing evaluations IEC generally will start with logic model. The evaluation is meant to capture key elements, not to be completely comprehensive.

One of the goals of the program is to increase partnerships among states and other entities. Abby asks if we’re just focusing on states. Rick says NGOs or not-for-profits are partners, DoD, tribes, local and federal government – any P2 professionals, regardless of organization. Marilyn asks about priority. State programs are generally first, NGOs, second, but it depends on the region. We go to people who we think need our service, and those who ask for it, etc.

Next steps are to develop evaluation methodology (memo, purpose of the evaluation, evaluation questions, and timeline). IEC will be evaluating from point of view of centers and users, EPA project officers, managers, etc. The issue is whether or not this program being operated the way it should. The evaluation is broader than the customer satisfaction work that Weinreich Communications is doing..

There was discussion of whether or not displaying a primary contact in the Program Directory should be required. It currently is part of our existing policy to display a primary contact. Sharon and Ed want it to be optional. Deb thinks it’s useful even if person is gone. Andy thinks it makes sense to have a primary contact. In region 9 they give a general program phone number so they don’t need a name. Rick has had frustration calling a general number and trying to find the right person. Laura uses the programs directory like a mailing list but may not display the contact info on the web. Eddie and John will propose a change in the standard.

Laura sent pdf of proposed side navigation bar. The first page shows changes to the nav bar. Second page shows complete list of links bibliography. Default is links sorted by resource type, page 3 shows sorted alphabetically. Last page shows what you’d see if you sort by keyword search. Not all centers catalog with key words. If there are no keywords, that option doesn’t show. This isn’t a new feature but puts it more in front of you. Also on page 4 are search tips. Below that is a link for people to suggest a link. This is an e-mail box so they can suggest a link or ask a question. It’s also been suggested that this show on the complete list of links page. Deb’s perception of suggest a link is for people to only suggest a link, they wouldn’t know to ask a question here. Deb likes the drop-down for visiting another topic hub. The search box currently works but this in new placement and a little simpler. Andy says when you type a text into that box, you’re not doing full text search. This is a great place-holder for now until we can get full text search. It was suggested to offer “browse” by keywords. All agreed to proceed.

NPPR workgroup on measurement will be co-chaired by Chris and Terri. EPA money will go through NPPR to duplicate the P2 metrics report of a year ago. Simultaneously, we’re having a discussion about logically putting the data together. Some are concerned about the quality of the data. There’s conflicting messages about whether it will be required or voluntary.

Measurement will be an iterative process. P2Rx needs to stay involved. The PPRC aggregation tool is not a competing system to other models that have been developed. The NEWMOA tool makes sure we’re getting the right numbers in the right place. Hopefully Chris and Terri will do a workshop at the NPPR conference in April. Terri says there are behavioral outcomes that are important in addition to environmental outcomes. If anyone wants on the NPPR discussion group, let Terri or Chris know. Terri has a listserv on P2 measures.

Web report – Tim Tompkins from WRRC took another job, we’ll miss his contributions. Andy will be doing monthly report outs on Bugzilla. The web group is working on the agenda for the January meeting in Tucson.

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