oEPA
Case Study: Savannah Pilot
Background
This case study provides an overview of a community-
port collaboration pilot project conducted in Savannah,
Georgia over roughly a two-year period starting in 2016.
In addition to Savannah, pilot projects were conducted
in New Orleans, Seattle and Providence and were
collectively known as the Near-Port Community Capacity
Building Project. Pilot communities received technical
assistance and utilized the draft Community-Port
Collaboration Toolkit developed as part of the EPA Ports
Initiative.
Marambee House, Inc. / Citizens for Environmental
Justice (Harambee House) applied to participate in the
pilot program to strengthen collaboration between
near-port communities, Georgia Ports Authority (GPA)
and other Port of Savannah terminal operators/owners.
Harambee House, which has been working for over 20
years to create safe, healthy and just communities in
Savannah, was already working with GPA to develop
regular communication channels and partner on
other special projects. They were eager to build on
emergency response planning efforts after a recent
uncontrolled warehouse fire and saw an opportunity to
inform residents about upcoming major port expansion
investments.
Technical Assistance
In May 2017, EPA enlisted a technical assistance provider
to convene a series of in-person Needs Assessment
meetings with stakeholders. The Needs Assessment
process included facilitated discussions with GPA
senior staff, Hudson Hill, West Savannah and Woodville
Neighborhood leaders (community leaders) and City
of Savannah elected officials and staff. The Needs
Assessment also included a narrated boat tour of the Port
of Savannah, a bus tour of GPA's terminal facilities and a
community tour of near-port neighborhoods. Participants
shared their experiences and discussed their views on the
status of their working relationships. They also completed
self-assessments and discussed their goals for the pilot.
Based on this input, the technical assistance provider
created a collaboration plan with shared goals and
outcomes to guide the pilot process. The plan outlined
three site visits with in-person training and facilitated
meetings aimed at creating a shared action plan to
improve air quality for Savannah's near-port communities.
The in-person collaboration process included the
following trainings:
•	Port Operations 101: to help community leaders
better understand how the Port of Savannah and GPA
operate, who to contact with questions and concerns,
and what role GPA plays within the Port of Savannah.
•	Effective Community Engagement: to help Port owners/
operators learn the history of environmental injustice
and Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice,
understand common environmental justice concerns,
discuss implications of persistent inequities, and
explore tools to engage communities effectively and
include their input in decision-making.
•	Leadership Skills-building: to help community leaders
develop powerful elevator speeches to utilize when
networking or in dialogue with other stakeholders,
explore collaborative problem-solving approaches
to resolve differences of opinion, examine air quality
data and enhance community collaboration needed
to design an air quality monitoring protocol.
The series of facilitated meetings focused on the
community leaders'goals to improve air quality in near-
port neighborhoods and build relationships between
community leaders and implementation partners who
could contribute to action plan development.
The Community Engagement training enabled
us to focus on our neighbors and how we might
involve and inform them as we go forward.
- Hope Moorer, General Manager, GPA
EPA-420-F-20-024 j July 2020
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To develop a realistic action plan with momentum for implementation,
the project team (Harambee House, Inc., GPA and EPA) realized that
Community leaders needed partners to help inform development of
the action plan and collaborate on implementation over the long-term.
The project team focused on building relationships with port-related
businesses and government agencies who had programs, services or
funding that could support improved air quality and public health goals.
Early on, the project team recognized the importance of the role of local
government to develop the air quality improvement action plan. Project team
members met with Savannah's Mayor pro tem at the outset of the work to orient her to
the pilot project's goals and process and to invite her to participate in the facilitated discussion
sessions. Having an elected official participate in many of the facilitated discussions raised the profile of the project and
helped assure both community and industry leaders of the value of this effort to the City of Savannah.
Pilot Highlight: Collaboration
between Community Leaders and
Implementation Partners
:
The project team also met with the City's Office of Sustainability	....	. , .
¦. .. i.. i. , . . . , I . . . -ru	f	Bui dina trusting relationships with
and invited its director to join the pro ect team.The Office of	J • y , . £ , ¦ ,
,,,,,, ,	,	communities only helps me to do mm too
Sustainability is knowledgeable about a broad range of initiatives	better The p!(ot was an opportun!ty to
in Savannah and has extensive cross-agency relationships with	build relationships with communities that
potential implementation partners.The team tapped into this	have deep-seated distrust of the City. This
network to invite implementation partners to join the facilitated	project was something that we could all get
dialogue meetings. Having consistent staff leadership familiar with	behind., strengthen relationships and provide a
decision-making activities and local politics also helped the project	oun atl0n or partners ip in t e uture.
team strategically plan meetings in a timely manner.	~ Pefftey, Director, Savannah
Office of Sustainability
In addition, the project team developed a list of resource partners
and decision-makers with associated roles and contact information. This list also included an overview of GPA projects
with potential to impact air quality, along with active planning projects involving the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) or required land use and transportation plans.The listwas a tool designed to empower community leaders to
engage in local land-use decisions and tD reach out directly to GPA and federal, state, regional and local government
agencies with questions, concerns and ideas for collaboration and improvement.
The list tool helped inform collaborative dialogue between implementation partners and community leaders. At one of
the facilitated dialogues, representatives from GPA, the City of Savannah, Colonial Oii, and the Chatham County Public
Health Department shared information about programs and initiatives that could help to improve air quality. With these
leaders openly sharing how their organizations couid support near-port communities, other implementation partners
also shared opportunities to support the pilot goal. For example, the director of the regional Metropolitan Planning
Organization invited near-port residents to participate in the ongoing regional transportation planning process.
During the facilitated discussion, participants generated over 30 opportunities to address community concerns.
Community leaders then prioritized near-term actions to create change. This collaborative
process to identify actions for cleaner air formed the basis for the air quality improvement action
plan.
I have been impressed with the commitment of the team from EPA Region
4 to work for the best interest of the target communities in this initiative.
Additionally, the QPA has shown itself to be a willing and consistent
partner with Harambee House in this initiative. It has worked tirelessly
to encourage the participation of the major companies that utilize the
ports and has worked to move this initiative forward.
- Dawud Shabaka, Associate Director, Harambee House
EPA Community-Port Collaboration Pilot Projects
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To develop shared understanding, project partners each
shared their part of the story:
•	EPA presented local air quality data, which shows that
overall air quality in Savannah has been improving
over the last 20 years.
•	Community leaders shared stories about how air
quality is currently affecting their communities and
the ways that improving air quality would improve
residents'lives,
•	Implementation partners (including GPA, City of
Savannah, Colonial Oil, and the Chatham County
Public Health Department) discussed programs,
funding and decision-making opportunities that
could support improved air quality.
Participants explored opportunities and prioritized a final
set of goals and actions in the Air Quality Improvement
Action Plan for Savannah's Near-Port Communities.
Outcomes and Accomplishments
The Savannah Pilot resulted in numerous successful
outcomes and accomplishments including:
•	Increased awareness of air quality-related health risks
and truck and rail traffic health and safety concerns.
•	Shared understanding about past air quality levels,
current air quality trends and opportunities for
continued improvement.
•	Increased community understanding of technical and
scientific information related to Port activities.
•	Development of an environmental and public health
working group of residents.
•	The Air Quality Improvement Action Plan for Savannah's
Near-Port Communities, which addresses community
concerns through tangible action steps.
•	Increased trust and expanded partnerships between
community leaders, the City of Savannah, GPA and
port-related, industry and agency partners.
•	Dr. Mildred McClain (Harambee House, Inc.), Hope
Moorer (GPA) and Nick Deffley (City of Savannah) were
presented with a certificate of appreciation from EPA
for their outstanding collaboration on the Savannah
Ports Pilot project planning team.
The Savannah Near Port Community Capacity
Building Pilot has been instrumental in moving the
needle tor progress towards environmental justice in
the Hudson Hill neighborhood. The work related to
addressing air pollution (the neighborhood's priority)
including air monitoring training is one of the
greatest outcomes. Residents are excited about the
opportunity to participate in the development of a
hyperlocal air quality monitoring network near the
Port (looking at goods movement activities and other
industrial pollution sources in Savannah).
- Dr. Mildred McClaina Exec. Director, Harambee House
EPA Community-Port Collaboration Pilot Projects
Toolkit Spotlight: Building
Understanding between
Community, Ports
Operators and Industry
Developing better understanding between community,
port and industry leaders was a critical challenge for pilot
participants. Community leaders wanted to know how
the port operated and where they could provide input on
decisions that impact their neighborhoods. Port operators and
industry leaders needed to better understand the history of
environmental justice challenges in near-port neighborhoods,
the range of priorities that communities have, and how
their own organizations could build better relationships
With community residents. The Savannah pilot tackled these
challenges head on by engaging both the community, port
and industry audiences in a series of interactive trainings
adapted from the Community-Port Collaboration Toolkit.
The Port Operations 101 training presented material from the
Ports Primer for Communities to provide basic information
about how ports operate and the benefits and impacts they
can have on the surrounding community. The training also
included a section designed and led by GPA that described
how local port operations work, shared recent and upcoming
projects that have opportunities for community input, gave
a point of contact, and demystified the complex relationship
between the Port of Savannah and GPA. The training allowed
community leaders to ask GPA questions, and built trust
between GPA staff and community leaders,
The Effective Community Engagement training presented
material from the Environmental Justice Primer for Ports to
help Port owners/operators learn the history of port and
industry impacts on near-port neighborhoods, understand
common environmental justice concerns, and learn about
strategies and tools to engage with near-port communities
effectively. Participants then created a map of decision-
making in their organizations and explored opportunities to
include community input and feedback at various points. The
training also emphasized the need to be transparent with
communities aboutwhen their input can impact decision-
making and to what degree.
Additional Educational Resources
As a result of the pilot projects, new resources
have been developed that complement
the Community-Port Collaboration
Toolkit being hosted on EPA's Office
ofTransportation and Air Quality
Website.
Click here to explore the new
resources!

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Lessons Learned
The pilot resulted in the following set of insights that
could be helpful to other ports communities:
Renew relationships and build intentional
partnerships. The project team revived past relationship-
building efforts and took time during calls and meetings
to connect with each other on a personal level. They
also shared a meal together at each of their meetings.
Sponsorship from project partners for meals during all
community meetings not only showed a shared value
system between industry partners and community
members but also strengthened team effectiveness.
Be flexible and persistent with unexpected challenges.
The project team worked together to adapt the project
timeline and approaches to meet shifting political realities
in Savannah and address the impact of natural disasters.
Understand local environmental justice history. Both
GPA and the City of Savannah understood that some
past policy decisions have adversely impacted the near-
port community. GPA and the City were able to rebuild
trust through consistent participation, providing useful
information about how they make decisions and sharing
opportunities for feedback and partnership.
Provide accurate information on existing conditions
and empower community leaders to gather data.
EPA's presentation of air quality trends helped residents
to understand that air quality in Savannah is improving.
A presentation from an expert in citizen science
empowered them to pursue plans for citizen-led data
collection specifc to the near-port neighborhoods.
Address participation barriers for community
leaders. Community leaders and Harambee House, Inc.
were not being compensated for their participation.
Significant time and expense were voluntarily invested by
community leaders (e.g., planning calls, outreach efforts
and ancillary local meetings) in order to have successful
face-to-face meetings with industry and governmental
partners whose organizations finance their participation.
Projects that do not include equitable resource support
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for community organizations may not be able to reach
their full potential. The project team recognized that
such burdens on community leaders can be participation
barriers.
Invest in expanding partnerships that align
actions with community-defined needs and goals.
Implementation partners brought forward programs,
funding and decision-making opportunities that
responded to the community leaders'goals around
improved air quality. This built trust and synergy for
pursuing implementation of the action plan together.
Next Steps
Looking ahead, Harambee House, Inc. and EPA Region 4
have committed to steward the Air Quality Improvement
Action Plan for Savannah's Near-Port Communities and
plan to continue convening community leaders and
implementation partners to ensure that ongoing
implementation supports community goals.
Near-term priorities include:
•	Conduct community air quality monitoring training,
collect asthma data, and inform the Savannah
community about the link between air quality
conditions and public health.
•	Align youth workforce education programs serving
near-port schools with port and industry workforce
needs.
•	Identify near-port resident representatives to
participate in the local metropolitan planning
organization's Citizen Advisory Committee.
•	Designate a point-of-contact at the City of Savannah
to improve access for community participation in
decision-making and input opportunities.
For more information about the Savannah Pilot, contact:
Tarn ' "homas-Burton
EPA Region 4
404-562-9974
burton-thomas.tami(5>epa;g:ov
EPA Community-Port Collaboration Pilot Projects
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