Outreach & Engagement in a Post Pandemic World

Minnesota communities face negative environmental impacts of excessive stormwater runoff. Health and economic consequences of too much TP and algae in our waters pose serious health risks.
Since the 90’s, the City of Minneapolis has advocated community outreach and education for residents and businesses on how they can improve the City’s water resources.
Two grass-roots volunteer programs in Minneapolis have shown significant educational and water quality impacts. Both empower people to protect and manage their local water by keeping trash, leaves and sediment out of the streets, resulting in measurable TP reductions.
The Minneapolis Adopt-a-Drain Program started in 2016 before joining the metro-wide program in 2019. Adopt-a-Drain provides direction and tools to adopt storm drains, keeping them clean by removing debris, trash, and sediment.
The ‘sister’ Minneapolis program is the Storm Drain Stenciling Program, providing volunteers with equipment free of charge to clean up and stencil storm drains.
In 2021 alone, Minneapolis had 598 new adopters, who spent 2,100 hours cleaning 1,376 new storm drains, collecting over 48,000 pounds of debris and removing 43 pounds of TP. Through December of 2021, over 2,600 participants have so far adopted 5,661 storm drains.
Minneapolis reporting of collection data rose from 32% in 2019 to 50% in 2021.
The presentation will show GIS mapping efforts; door hanging results; lessons learned about outreach initiatives; a teaching module for Minneapolis schools; efforts to include social equity and environmental justice components; finishing with highlighting the efficacy of these two programs.
Session participants will understand the importance of adopting storm drains, and the different strategies that can be successfully employed in their organizations.