reflection

yesterday i finally met with heather dean, watershed coordinator for FLOW. though our meeting was brief, about 30 minutes long, it was thorough and i got a feel for the FLOW office and how they operate. the FLOW office is located in a small two and a half room part in an old apartment building, near the intersection of north broadway and north high streets. heather was only accompanied in the office by one other person, jason, who seemed to serve as the secretary person (though friday was his first day). the entrance room serves at the library, secretary space, and entrance. as you go in on the left is another small room with a long table surrounded by 6 chairs (you'd be hard-pressed to fit 6 people in there). it serves as the meeting/conference room, and the only thing that prevents it from feeling overly chlostraphobic is a large north-facing window.

we began talking about the project she had proposed, which was to write a 500-word summary of their storm water projects for an environmental organization packet for ohio legislators. she was clear that the focus was to make their projects accessible to people without a technical knowledge of environmental science, as well as making the project statewide in scope (as opposed to their lower olentangy-area focus). the deadline is february 1, but she said as long as i send in the final draft by the 7th, it will be fine. monday, she will be sending me an outline of what she wants covered in the document. the main reason for the extended deadline is that on february 2nd, there will be a meeting for MORPC Greenways that will talk further about FLOW's storm water projects, and she thinks this information will be inportant for the briefing paper that i am composing. she was very exciting about my writing skills, and remarked that my emails were a sign that i had clear and organized writing skills.

after writing up the contract for this project, and the future project of helping out with their newsletter, i asked her a few technical questions about storm water management and how the whole system works. her responses were helpful, and she allowed me to logically come to conclusions after hinting at what the answers were (such as in reference to dissolved oxygen level needs for fish, and why these levels decreasing is a bad thing).

heather also referenced me to the website where there is the watershed action plan. information on storm water management can be found on there. supplementary information included a book on how storm water management affects fish and local aquatic life.

other than this, we just talked a little about how FLOW gets their funding, and talked briefly about her background. there is a funny connection because her background is in organic agriculture (as is part of mine), and she was told about kevin eigel, a local organic farmer whom i work for, when she initially arrived in columbus looking for work. pretty funny how things work out.

overall, i got a good feel for FLOW and their work, as well as cultivating a positive working relationship with heather. i am looking forward to future work with FLOW, and hope this work informs my future non-profit, as well as helping FLOW accomplish their goals.