2009 will represent the 20th year of the annual Mayor’s Environment Expo. Over the twenty years, the objective of the event has been to promote environmental awareness and to encourage personal responsibility/action for environmental stewardship with the youth (grade 3 to 9/ages 8 to 14) of Calgary and surrounding areas. In total, it is estimated that over 71 000 people have participated. The Mayor’s Expo, although organized by The City of Calgary and its business units, relies on the participation and funding assistance of various environmental non-government organizations and selected business organizations based upon their environmental policy and environmental outreach programs.
Barriers/Challenges To Success
Over the years the Mayor’s Environmental Expo has seen challenges in the following areas: 1) Continuity of the organization committee: the organization of the Expo was assigned to different City of Calgary Business Units and the organizer was often a new individual every year. This was over come when the Environmental and Safety Management Business Unit was assigned leadership of the Expo permanently. Starting in 2005, concentrated efforts were made to fully document the Expo so that important contacts and logistics were passed along should a new coordinator take on the duties. For the past three years the coordinator duties have not changed. 2) Attracting sponsors: ensuring a high quality educational experience requires assembling high quality theatre programs, workshops, paying for buses to bring students to the expo and an appealing exhibit setting which come with a cost. To assist the City with the operational costs we have requested financial and in kind support from corporate partners. Attracting sponsors is always a challenge, but in recent years we have worked with our sponsors to demonstrate value for their sponsorship support, through the production of a sponsors report, profiling their actions in printed materials and profiling them in speeches and recognizing their support in a special luncheon with the Mayor. 3) Attracting city staff volunteers: to ensure a successful Expo volunteers are required to assist with security, setting up and removal of exhibits, to register schools and ensure that school groups get to the theatres or workshops they have registered for. Senior managers at the City and in particular the general manager of Utilities and Environmental Protection has supported and encouraged staff participation. Volunteers also receive a distinctive, special edition T-shirt and are invited to participate in a recognition luncheon, in which the Mayor often joins in to say a few words of thanks.
Contact
Ms. Carolyn Bowen
Manager, Environmental Assurance and Sustainability
The City of Calgary
P. O. Box 2100, Station M. #8020
Calgary, AB T2P 2M5
