Originally published by the Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange on February 11, 2025
Last year, Exchange members worked with fellow member, Greenprint Partners, to develop a new Framework of GSI Practice. The Framework is both an outline of the nine principles for building an effective GSI program within a local government and a compendium of best practices and case studies associated with each principle. Two of the nine chapters are complete and available on our website. A third, Design & Build, is under development. The Framework outline was the basis for a recent Educational Resources and Needs (ERN) Survey. Thanks are owed to so many of our members and nonmember partners who took five minutes to complete it! The survey results suggest two tracks of programming in 2025, one for more advanced practitioners and the other for beginner / intermediate level practitioners:
Advanced
- Monthly peer learning sessions and webinars focused on two areas: (1) GSI Maintenance and (2) Using GSI to Advance Sustainability;
- A professionally facilitated GSI and Equity Seminar where participants focus on an equity-related project, such as equitable citing, community-based workforce development, strategies for preventing displacement, and the like; and
- A new course on using the GSI Impact Hub, a compendium of tools for valuing co-benefits and siting projects so that they achieve the greatest impact.
Beginner / Intermediate
- Short-term training modules focused on two areas (1) GSI Procurement and (2) Developing the GSI Workforce;
- A new Catalyst Program, an effort to grow beginner- and intermediate-level GSI programs in local governments through site visits by experienced Exchange members and peer learning; and
- Customized offerings of our GSI Foundations and GSI and Equity training courses.
If you told us you have expertise or resources to share in any of the areas listed above, we’ll be reaching out to invite you to participate in an expert roundtable this spring. We are also hiring a new Education Coordinator to help implement this schedule of programming for 2025. In addition, we plan to re-issue the ERN Survey in fall 2025 and to refresh the programming offerings for 2026 based on the survey results. Finally, some of this programming will be available to nonmembers as well as members, and, as appropriate, we will offer CEUs to those attendees who need to meet licensure requirements. If you have questions about any of these plans, please reach out to Dr. Veronica Hotton, Education Manager, at veronica@giexchange.org.
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