Community Growth Readiness

Meeting a Need

Community Growth Readiness is a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality outreach that uses the NEMO educational program. NEMO (NonAdopt-A-Stream Logopoint Education for Municipal Officials) is an education program that addresses water quality through land use and natural resources planning. Specifically, NEMO is focused on the explanation of polluted runoff and its link to different land uses. Particular attention is paid to the role of impervious, or paved surfaces in the transport and concentration of pollutants. To guide communities, NEMO outlines a three-tiered strategy of natural resource-based planning, better site design, and the use of stormwater best management practices that any county or city can use to protect their quality of life while accommodating growth. NEMO is an educational program which communities can use to assist them in meeting the public education requirements of the Phase II Stormwater permit.

NEMO began in 1991 as a pilot project to design and test a new way of presenting information to three coastal communities in Connecticut. The technical nature of the program was designed around the intended audience of engineers, planners, and commissioners - all decision-makers within the towns. Since then, NEMO expanded to present information to any local audience whether it is county or city governments, planning departments, or interested citizens. NEMO has continued to give presentations by request across the state and has created a national network which is presently being implemented in 32 other states.

Now in its third year, Community Growth Readiness will work collaboratively with local groups on watershed projects, building on the original NEMO program with additional data layers, new audiences and more partners.

We will come to your community to give the NEMO presentation or to conduct a workshop where we will train you in using the NEMO strategy to guide local development and to educate your community.

By introducing water quality issues within a non-regulatory framework, presenting strategies that communities can adapt to their particular situations, and making a long-term commitment to work with each community, Community Growth Readiness and NEMO have become a catalyst for significant changes in local land use policies. The project is a model for other groups nationwide and locally as they search to find a program effective for an adaptable to their region.

For more details or to schedule a workshop or presentation, contact Kenneth LaFleur at (601) 961-5297 or via email at kenneth_lafleur@deq.state.ms.us.

Funding for Community Growth Readiness is provided by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Section 319 Clean Water Act Funds.

For more details on the project and its impacts, please check out the National NEMO Network website, http://nemonet.uconn.edu/