Meet our Fellow – and donate to fund the position in 2021

On #GivingTuesday and through December, ASBPA is looking to raise $15,000 from our members and supporters to partially fund our new professional “Fellow” for 2021. But who is our fellow and what has she been working on?  What will your donations go towards?

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Programs supported by your donation:

After interning with ASBPA in 2019, Annie Mercer became our Fellow for 2020. She has been involved in many aspects of ASBPA’s work, and has led three major initiatives:

1. Blue Flag – ASBPA has become the first US-based national operator of the international certification programs for healthy, safe and sustainable beaches, called “Blue Flag.”  We will be publicly launching this program in 2021.  Annie has been essential in developing the program: drafting a feasibility study, working with the international association that runs Blue Flag, and building and leading a committee to refine the international criteria and identify pilot beaches in the US.
2. Virtual (online) events – ASBPA’s Coastal Summit and National Coastal Conference both moved online in 2020, necessitating new technical capacity in hosting and training participants in integrated Zoom meeting and webinars. Annie led this effort at both events, ensuring presentations ran smoothly and participants were comfortable presenting in the new format.
3. Local Funding – In early 2020, we launched our report on “Local Funding for Coastal Projects,” accompanied by resources, tools and presentations to spread the word on how coastal communities could create and increase local funding streams. Annie edited the report, developed supplemental materials and has been doing outreach on the report all year.

The work that Annie has led must continue into 2021. Blue Flag is just starting to get up and running. We are already planning a virtual Coastal Summit in 2021, and hope to have some online elements at the in-person National Coastal Conference in October. And helping communities understand local funding options for their coastal projects will be one of the key challenges of the sea level rise era.

Please help us continue this critical work with a special contribution!

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