Breaking the Mold: Two New Approaches To Reaching the Public

1
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• State of California
• Department of Toxic Substances Control
• External Affairs Program
• Public Participation Unit

Presenters Stacey Lear, Public Participation
Specialist [phone], slear_at_dtsc.ca.gov Kim
Foreman, Public Participation Specialist (714)
484-5324, kforeman_at_dtsc.ca.gov 5796 Corporate
Avenue, Cypress, CA 90630
2
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Presentation goals
• Share our experience in using plain language and
  video fact sheets
• Show before-and-after examples
• Share lessons learned

3
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• What our agency does
• We regulate hazardous waste, encourage pollution
  prevention, and oversee cleanup of hazardous
  waste sites throughout California

4
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• What we as public participation specialists do
• As Public Participation Specialists, we ensure
  federal, state and local mandates are followed
  during community involvement activities
• Provide opportunities for community involvement
  in the cleanup process
• Provide information and ask for input from
  communities and stakeholders through surveys,
  fact sheets, letters, public meetings, etc.

5
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• We have a long history of strong public outreach
• Public Participation is key goal
• Support from the DTSC Director

6
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• The problem we reach the public primarily with
  fact sheets, but people were not reading them
• Low response and low turnouts to meetings
  indicate we were not reaching our audience
• Our fact sheets were too long, too technical, and
  too hard to read
• Almost HALF of American adults read at only basic
  levels between 5th grade and 8th grade
• Public is overwhelmed with informationyou must
  get readers attention very quickly
• 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey NALS,
  www.vluonline.org/download/NALS.pdf

7
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Our goals for improving the effectiveness of our
  communication
• Improve the readability of materials by using
  plain language principles
• Find communication methods other than fact sheets

8
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• How we made our fact sheets easier to read
• Used shorter, simpler words with fewer syllables
• Used shorter sentences
• Switched to we and us
• Switched to statement subheadings to tell the
  story
• Used descriptive words in place of formal titles
• Took out unnecessary detail

9
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• How we made our fact sheets easier to read
  (continued)
• Used active voice
• Passive Soil samples will be taken
• Active The cleanup team will take soil samples
• Passive A Health Risk Assessment was conducted
• Active We conducted a Health Risk Assessment

10
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• How we made our fact sheets easier to read
  (continued)
• Changed DTSC to our agency
• Moved the main idea to the beginning of the fact
  sheetcut to the chase
• Fully detailed reports are still available to the
  public

11
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• How we made our fact sheets easier to read
  (continued)
• Department-wide Graphic and Editorial Style
  Manual
• Available on our web site in August 2003
  www.dtsc.ca.gov

12
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Old style example 1
• The Department of Toxic Substances Control
  (DTSC) has prepared this fact sheet to announce
  the results from the recent soil and air sampling
  for asbestos at the former San Diego Gas
  Electric (SDGE) Encanto Gas Holder Station
  (Encanto GHS) site.

13
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• New style example 1
• As you may know, last June we took over 200
  samples of the air and soil to see if there was
  asbestos at the former San Diego Gas Electric
  Encanto Gas Holder Station site. The tests
  showed no asbestos in the air or soil.

14
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Old style example 2
• Approximately one-third of the pipes were abated
  (wrapping material removed) at the Encanto GHS
  site prior to March 2001. In response to
  community and regulatory concerns about the
  proximity of the abatement process to residential
  areas and various odor complaints, SDGE agreed
  to transport the remaining stockpile of pipes
  off-site for abatement at a facility in
  Bakersfield.

15
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• New style example 2
• They took off the wrapping around the pipes,
  which had a layer of material containing
  asbestos. At first, they unwrapped the pipes at
  the site. Then they moved the pipes away from the
  site to unwrap them after residents said they had
  concerns about noise, odors, and mess.

16
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Old style example 3
• A Draft Remedial Action Plan (RAP) has been
  issued for the Cal Compact Landfill Site (Site)
  Lower Operable Unit (OU) in Carson, California,
  to address the proposed plan to preserve the
  environmental quality of the Lower OU. The public
  has the opportunity to comment on the draft RAP
  prior to its finalization.

17
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• New style example 3
• This fact sheet describes our proposal to clean
  up chemicals in the soil at the Sunflower
  Property at 9755 Distribution Avenue in San
  Diego, California. The chemicals in the soil
  include volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as
  the dry-cleaning solvent, perchloroethylene.

18
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Old style example 4
• As part of the soil gas investigation workplan,
  three soil borings were put in with a direct-push
  drill rig, for sample collection earlier this
  year. At about the same time 10 soil gas probes
  were put in various locations in the vicinity of
  the former service center.

19
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• New style example 4
• We tested the soil for chemicals in 13 places
  around the site.

20
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Use headings to tell the story
• Use newspaper style
• Use complete or nearly-complete sentences

21
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Use headings to tell the story
• Old Introduction
• New PCBs Found on the Fieldstone Property
• and in the Yards of Nearby Houses
• Old Site Investigation
• New We Looked for Asbestos From Gas Pipe
• Wrapping
• Another possibility We looked for Asbestos

22
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Use headings to tell the story (continued)
• Old What Happens Next?
• New We Will Let You Know What We Find
• After We Complete the Sampling
• Old Site History
• New The Site Was Used for Manufacturing
• and Processing Metals

23
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Use headings to tell the story (continued)
• Old Information Repositories
• New More Information at the Library and Our
• Agencys Office
• Old No heading important information
  buried in text
• New Dealing With Noise, Dust, and Traffic
• New Not a Risk to the Public

24
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Challenges we faced
• Explaining technical concepts with simple words
• Using active voice when the ones doing the
  action are not the focus of the fact sheet
• Using we when our agency isnt actually doing
  the actions described

25
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Solutions Describe technical concepts with
  simple words
• First, decide if you absolutely must use the
  technical term
• If so, use a general term followed by a technical
  one
• Example our proposal to clean up chemicals in
  the soil. This proposal,
• called a draft Remedial Action
  Plan.
• Example chemicals called PAHs (polycyclic
  aromatic hydrocarbons).
• Example a soil treatment unit called a Soil
  Vapor Extraction System .

26
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Solutions Describe technical concepts with
  simple words (continued)
• Old This fact sheet presents the results of
  the Remedial
• Investigation/Feasibility Study
• New This fact sheet tells you what we found
  .We took
• the samples and analyzed the results as
  part of a
• formal process called a Remedial
  Investigation/
• Feasibility Study.

27
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Solutions Describe technical concepts with
  simple words (continued)
• If you dont have to use the specific term, use a
  simpler word or words (sometimes being simpler
  may mean using more words - and thats okay)
• Excavate dig out, remove
• Remediate clean up
• Protective of protects
• Characterize the site find out what chemicals
  are present, and in what amounts
• Exceeds the maximum contaminant level is above
  the level considered safe

28
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Solutions Found a way to use active voice and
  we
• Introduced concept of cleanup team
• Identified all the players and explained their
  roles

29
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Solutions When cleanup team is too vague
• Identified the players and explained their roles
• Used cleanup team for contractors
• Used our agency and we for DTSC
• Used the property owners to specify them

30
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Using video in addition to fact sheets William
  Mead Homes
• Government subsidized housing, 415 units
• 95 Hispanic half speak only Spanish
• Other language groups Vietnamese
• High-interest site w/activist involvement and
  media presence

31
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• William Mead Homes
• Investigation started in 1992
• Lead and benzene in the soil in open areas
• Finished the first half of the cleanup now were
  doing the second half
• Issued 7 fact sheets over 11 years
• All fact sheets are in English, Spanish, and
  Vietnamese

32
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• William Mead Homes
• More than 80 of surveyed residents did not read
  our fact sheets
• Too lengthy
• The language was too technical
• Some literacy issues
• Almost all residents said they knew nothing about
  the cleanup and were skeptical that any cleanup
  actually took place

33
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• William Mead Homes sample from fact sheet
• In August 2000, the Department of Toxic
  Substances Control (DTSC) and Tetra Tech, Inc.,
  conducted site investigations north of Cardinal
  Street, within the William Mead Housing Project.
  This investigation was in response to concerns
  expressed by residents of William Mead Homes
  related to a soil removal project that occurred
  south of Cardinal Street. The goal of the field
  investigation was 1) to determine if
  contamination from the old refinery operations at
  south of Cardinal Street, or other sources, exist
  in the area, and 2) to determine if further
  sampling or action is required.

34
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• William Mead Homes
• Decided to make a video fact sheet telling
  residents about the cleanup
• Our staff wrote the script
• Shorttotal running time of 3 minutes
• We contracted with a universitys communication
  department to produce the video. Cost 5,000 for
  205 copies
• Distributed the video to residents by taking
  copies door-to-door
• Produced the videos in English, Spanish, and
  Vietnamese

35
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• William Mead Homes
• Show the Video

36
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• William Mead Homes
• Met with a focus group of 22 residents to view
  the video and get their responses
• Asked the focus group questions based on
  information in previous fact sheets
• Asked the focus group the questions before
  viewing the video then again after viewing the
  video

37
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• William Mead Homes
• Results showed residents had a far better
  understanding of the cleanup after the video
• Residents said they preferred the video to the
  past fact sheets. What they liked
• Easier to understand the cleanup operations
• Visuals clarified things
• Video did not take a long time to view

38
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Where we go from here
• Collect more feedback from the public
• Continue to adapt our outreach materials to meet
  the communitys needs

39
Breaking the Mold Two New Approaches To
Reaching the Public

• Questions? Comments?