The Clean Business Program is one of the the many projects run by Clean Marin, a Marin County collation of waste management organizations, that urges local businesses to implement better waste practices and reduce litter out side of their properties. As a Clean Marin intern I was responsible for laying down the ground work for the program and putting together the pledge that business owners would sign. The pledge itself was synthesized from similar program pledges, but I personally wrote the preface in order to provide background information on the issue and highlight the importance of the work being done. I conducted research on similar programs as well as local waste organizations by getting in touch with county officials who had connections with the Chamber of Commerce and Marin Sanitary. This allowed me to gain experience with formal email outreach, setting up meetings, and gathering industry information in a way that would be useful to completing the programs vision. The program has already gathered support from multiple business and can be viewed in greater detail on the website.
From working on this project I was able to develop deeper and professional communication and outreach skills. I had extensive opportunities to synthesis information from multiple people and organizations in a way that best suited my purpose. I gained the mindset to always reach out to people who may be able to support your cause and how to organize productive meetings.