ENVIROCOM COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIES - Key Persons
Surlene Grant has more than 20 years of directing, managing and implementing community relations, public relations and government affairs activities including public involvement and outreach, media relations, crisis communications, special promotions and marketing, and environmental justice.
Ms. Grant's niche is with public involvement for community development and land use projects in ethnically, economically and socially diverse communities. She works with communities and project sponsors to move projects forward by identifying shared vision and goals, resolving conflicts, building consensus and seeking points of mutual gain.
She works with community activists, corporate board members, elected and appointed officials, union leaders, business owners, local residents and others.
Ms. Grant is knowledgeable and experienced with working with an array of regulators and government agencies at local, state and federal levels. Her list of clients and "ultimate clients" include Caltrans, State Department of Toxic Control Substances, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, HUD, FAA, FHWA, Kaiser Permanente, Housing Authorities of Oakland and Marin County; Cities of Oakland, East Palo Alto, Dublin, and San Francisco; Association of Bay Area Governments, Amtrak, Union Pacific and others.
Ms. Grant's projects related to facilitation, public outreach and community development include:
Co-creation and implementation of the Dumbarton Dialogue Project, a multi-jurisdictional effort (five cities and two counties) to develop consensus for transportation issues of the Dumbarton Bridge / Hwy. 101/ 84/ 85 corridor;
Public meeting facilitation and hearing officer for a series of public meetings regarding the Cabrillo Port LNG EIR siting of a LNG pipeline through Southern California Region involving such diverse communities as Malibu, Port Hueneme and Santa Clarita.
Facilitation and conflict resolution to move the debate and establish recommendations for the City of Oakland's Blue Ribbon Commission on Inclusionary Housing.
Development of the strategy for the public outreach program to municipalities for the nine-county Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities Draft Compact. The document focused on sustainable practices in 10 program areas including housing, jobs and transportation.
Facilitation with the award-winning consulting team for ABAG's Smart Growth/ Footprint Project in which she facilitated key visioning sessions and public meetings in five Bay Area counties.
In addition to her own consulting endeavors, Ms. Grant serves as a Senior Practitioner with the Center for Collaborative Policy, California State University, Sacramento. She formerly served as a member of the San Leandro City Council (1998-2008). Ms. Grant has a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL and a M.A. in Management from John F. Kennedy University, Orinda, CA.