SGA DOCUMENTS
A Vision for Success

    • articles of incorporation
    • sga bylaws
    • science serving america's coasts
    • a vision for success
    • sga awards
    • theme-centered research
    • funding principles
    • position papers

Sea Grant Association Retreat 2000
Sea Grant in the 21st Century: A Vision for Success

back toTable of Contents

II. Rising to the Challenge

Having agreed on this vision, participants identified challenges to making the vision a reality, and ways to rise to these challenges. They identified four major areas of challenge:

• articulating a specific growth strategy for the Sea Grant Program;

• strengthening Sea Grant's position in NOAA and in partnerships with states and other federal agencies

• improving communication, marketing and visibility with all Sea Grant constituencies;

• maximizing structure and functioning within the Sea Grant organization, and strengthening decision-making across all components.

For each of these, they elaborated on the nature of the challenge and identified ways to respond to it.

1. Articulating a Growth Strategy for Sea Grant

The Challenge. To achieve a doubling of resources over the next five years, The Sea Grant Program needs a clearly articulated growth strategy that sets forth how the program needs to grow and what the benefits of that growth will be to all Sea Grant constituents and the nation as a whole. Sea Grant needs to clarify the ways in which it is distinctive from other national coastal programs, and the unique contributions it can make to increased understanding and effective management of coastal resources. In developing a growth strategy, Sea Grant needs to identify what priority issues it will address; the role of theme teams and COMPASS in developing and implementing the growth strategy; and how the Program intends to allocate resources between core programs and national initiatives to maximize responsiveness and effectiveness.

The Response. Participants said the Sea Grant growth strategy should be problem focused and results based. It should strengthen the organization's capacity for quick response and flexibility in the face of changing national and state priorities. Specific recommendations for formulating the growth strategy include the following.

• Build on the work of the Theme Teams and COMPASS to select strategic issue priorities like aquaculture, coastal hazards, seafood safety and marine biotechnology, revisiting these periodically.

• Demonstrate capability to use cutting edge strategies and technologies to tackle these issues and capture new opportunities.

• Link Sea Grant priorities directly to public concerns regarding clean water, clean beaches, healthy fish, etc.

• Create an internal process for rapid response so the organization can be more opportunistic as new issues emerge.

• Establish strategic initiative funds at both the national and state levels to respond to crises and rapidly emerging needs and issues.

• Develop a specific method for allocating new resources between core programs and national initiatives to maximize continuity and flexibility in the program.

• Work to bring NOAA and Sea Grant priorities closer together to maximize potential for synergy within the agency.

2. Strengthening Sea Grant's Position in NOAA and Other Partnerships

The Challenge. It has been recognized since the 1994 National Research Council Report that the Sea Grant College Program is not properly positioned within NOAA to fulfill the objectives and potential of the Program. Sea Grant needs to work toward a stronger position within NOAA, where it can have meaningful input to setting NOAA priorities and be in a position to respond more quickly and effectively to these priorities. The Sea Grant Program needs to reduce its focus on internal issues and think "outside the box" in ways that will strengthen its alliances with other coastal programs within NOAA, and with other federal agencies outside NOAA. The size and effectiveness of Sea Grant Programs varies from state to state, depending on the resources provided and the Program's location within the university structure. It is important to maximize the effectiveness of the Program in every coastal and Great Lakes state.

The Response. Participants believe strongly that Sea Grant should seek to become the primary, university-based, research, outreach and technical training program for coastal, Great Lakes and marine resources within NOAA. Consolidating university-based coastal research and outreach programs under Sea Grant will provide the kind of leadership needed in this increasingly complex area in an efficient and cost effective way. Retreat participants also believe there are opportunities to strengthen many other partnerships at the federal and state levels. Specific recommendations for enhancing Sea Grant's leadership role and strengthening partnerships include the following.

• Combine all NOAA university-based coastal programs under one Assistant Administrator and designate Sea Grant as the lead agency.

• Use this consolidated approach to provide increased support for all existing programs--Sea Grant, COP, NURP, NOAA research labs--and capture the opportunity this provides to increase the pool of competitive funds available for coastal related research and outreach.

• Seek a stronger role in priority-setting within NOAA, building on grassroots information and theme team work, enlisting the help of the scientific community, and working with individual Congressional representatives and entities like the National Oceans and Hazards Caucuses.

• Resolve issues related to federal-state match requirements to open the door to additional federal funding opportunities.

• Pursue partnerships for joint funding with other federal agencies where interests and priorities overlap, exploring consortium-like opportunities between NOAA, Sea Grant, EPA, USGS, and others, and include representatives of the state Sea Grant Programs, the National Office, and the Review Panel on task forces established to pursue these partnerships.

• Re-examine relationships between individual Sea Grant Programs and their own states and universities, to be sure those partnerships are maximized.

3. Improving Communication, Visibility and Marketing with all Constituents

The Challenge. The Sea Grant Program has a broad spectrum of constituents, from the federal administration and Congress, to state decision-makers and university leaders, to a host of local businesses, governments and interest groups. At this time, Sea Grant has no formal plan or strategy for communicating effectively with these different constituencies. It lacks a clear message that captures the rich nature of the program. Sea Grant needs to find ways to increase its visibility and capture the imagination of the public about the challenges and opportunities we face in coastal America. While the commonly used logo is a step in the right direction, Sea Grant needs to give greater attention to "branding" the work it does, and creating slogans and marketing materials that capture the major success stories of the last 30 years.

The Response. Sea Grant needs to reformulate its message in a clear and concise way that will resonate with policy-makers and the public. In reaching out to constituents, Sea Grant need to think big, and be sure it is addressing top tier environmental issues, which concern citizens in all 50 states. Sea Grant also needs to develop a marketing and public relations strategy designed to reach all major constituencies: Congress, the Executive Branch, coastal industries and interests, and the public at large. There must be coordinated implementation of this strategy throughout all parts of the Sea Grant organization. Specific recommendations for how to move forward in this area include the following.

• Create a work group to develop a core message about Sea Grant that is concise, targeted, and useful for all audiences.

• In creating the message, emphasize the unique nature of Sea Grant: science based, solution focused, and non-regulatory, with a presence at the national, state and local levels.

• Make success stories and return on investment a central part of the message, using the Program Assessment Team process as the initial source of these success stories.

• Adopt one or more slogans that will carry the Sea Grant message: " science serving coastal America", "farming the ocean," etc., and use these as part of a branding strategy that will make Sea Grant more widely known and understood.

• Consider renaming "Theme Teams" with a more dynamic label like "National Opportunity Teams", or "Priority Response Teams".

• Appoint a work group to develop common website strategies--with both internal and publicly oriented sections--to be used across the Sea Grant Program to improve internal communication, capture public attention and provide educational assistance.

• Appoint task groups to mobilize specific constituencies and identify champions to lead the charge for increased resources, looking particularly to rising leaders at the national and state levels.

4. Maximizing Effectiveness within the Sea Grant Organization

The Challenge. Sea Grant lacks consistent, effective internal decision-making processes that have the confidence of all of the parties involved. These are essential for developing new priorities and initiatives, working with the new administration and Congress, and allocating new resources. Part of this involves determining the right division of responsibility between the states, the National Office and the Review Panel, an ongoing challenge for the program. Sea Grant also needs ways to maximize the benefits from the competitive aspects of the program.

The Response. The Sea Grant Program needs to develop effective internal decision-making processes that involve clearly designated decision-making groups and individuals, and incorporate communication and opportunities for input across all parts of the organization. This will enable Sea Grant to be flexible and decisive, be prepared to capture new opportunities as they arise in the national and state arenas, and provide a unified front in seeking major new funding. Specific recommendations for how to move forward with this include the following.

• Revisit the roles and responsibilities of the state programs and the National Office to address "log-jams" in decision-making processes at the federal and state levels.

• Create a process for rapid-response decision-making to seize opportunities created by National Strategic Initiatives and other new funding.

• Create processes that bring in all parts of the Sea Grant network to determine how to implement new initiatives.

• Develop strategies for moving Theme Team work forward.

• Clarify the roles of program monitors and provide a greater degree of consistency in how this role is implemented.

• Establish a working group to resolve, before the fall election, how new funds will be allocated between core programs and new initiatives in ways that provide strong core support, respond to national priorities, and capitalize on the benefits of competitive distribution.

• Address how the organization will handle regional issues and opportunities.

• Develop a specific strategy for selling the Sea Grant vision and growth strategy in a unified fashion to the new administration and Congress.

previous page – next page

back to top