Inclusive Coasts Initiative Community of Practice

Welcome to the Inclusive Coasts Initiative Community of Practice Groups. The intent of these groups is to form a community to rely on and share ideas with when implementing community engagement practices.

There are two monthly Communities of Practice (CoP) meetings focused on:  

1) Environmental Action & Engagement Professionals Network (EAEP Network) 

• This CoP will provide an inclusive space for all environmental professionals, bringing together individuals in community engagement, environmental education, program management, and restoration. This merged group will promote collaboration and knowledge sharing, allowing professionals to benefit from cross-functional perspectives.

2) BIPOC Environmental Professionals Network  

• This CoP will create a safe, supportive, and empowering space exclusively for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) professionals in the environmental field. The community will focus on fostering professional growth, offering mentorship opportunities, and addressing the unique challenges that BIPOC individuals face in environmental careers.” 

In addition, we host external guest speakers during our Communities of Practice (CoP) meetings. Anyone is welcome to join this group at any time, so please share with anyone in your network who might find benefit in this space as well.

The communities of practice were formed from feedback from the Inclusive Coasts Initiative Workshop Series in which we found many people were interested in continuing the conversation portion of the workshops and fewer were interested in the learning aspect of the workshops. The communities of practice groups were born from the desire for conversations around these topics and a need for a space to share struggles, successes, and advice from peers.  

The first communities of practice were held on March 30th, 2023 and each community of practice selected broad topics of interest for the next sessions. Check regularly for upcoming dates and topics! 

See RAE’s events page for upcoming sessions