Programs & Services

The Blue Community program provides a process for communities to become more sustainable, contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, (SDG's) has an emphasis on coastal habitat protection, enhancement and restoration.  Some of its key features or the Blue Community programs and services are described below.


Blue Community Assessment App 

Once the Blue Community assessment is completed, the organization or community has the necessary data to set baseline goals and objectives to develop their own sustainability management plan, determine one level recognition they have with the Blue Community system, and identify what GSTC Criteria they are still lacking should they decide to seek GSTC Certification.

Shared Visioning Process

Utlizing techniques from the NASA futuring team process, the delphi prediciton process, and other futuring methodologies,  the Blue Community Shared Visioning process guides an organization or destination to create a shared vision for their unique situation and circumstances.

This program comes in the standard one day workshop to create a shared vision and has the option to add on the Imagineer Your Future Workshop led by Blue Community team member, and former Walt Disney Imagineer,  Joe TankersleyImagineer Your Future Workshops deliver the tools and insights to help you create a transformative future for your business, organization, and community. We focus on a deeper understanding of trends in technology and culture to help participants distinguish between fads and potential drivers of real change. The workshop also includes exercises in creativity designed to help the group expand their vision beyond self-imposed limits.


Workshop participants learn how to use:

            Values-based foresight,

            Critical imagination, and

            Strategic narratives

to identify opportunities, anticipate challenges, and create positive solutions.

The fundamental skills taught during the workshop apply to a wide range of enterprises and organizations. Each workshop is further refined to meet the specific needs of the participants.

The purpose of the workshop is to:


The Blue Community and One Planet Living training spans one to two days.  Participants include employees, other key management, and stakeholders the organization or destination planning team wishes to invite.  In some projects several organizations hold this workshop together with each developing their own individual sustainability plans.

One advantage of having several groups in the community developing their own plans together is that each organization may bring unique gifts so that all can benefit from the strengths of others.


The Villages Nature Paris, France

The Villages Nature Paris, France resort utilized both the One Planet Living Framework and the Blue Community assessment as part of its process to be recognized as one of if not the most sustainable tourism resort in the world.  From this model a new process has been developed to replicate the success found at Villages Nature.  Read more in the article Villages Nature: Reinventing Sustainable Tourism found in the Blue Community Tool Kit.

One Planet Living Principles

The One Planet Living Integrator training includes the development of knowledge and skills to develop a sustainability plan using the framework of the ten One Planet Living principles.

Participants will learn how to use the software to develop a community sustainability plan with outcomes, actions, and indicators.

Participants will also learn how to customize their plans to meet their  own specific needs.

The software will also allow the United Nations SDG's to be used as a substitute and/or complimentary part of the sustainability management planning.


Blue Community Strategies

Blue Community Strategies -  The training will also provide case studies on the 12 Blue Community strategies that were co-developed with the Walt Disney Animal, Science, & Environment Team.  Each strategy is one that promotes overall sustainability and collectively they work to protect, enhance, or restore coastal habitat and marine environments.   Participants will learn to utilize these strategies in the development of their sustainability management plans particularly the action components of the plan

Cultural Based Leadership Development 

Cultural Based Leadership Development - The Blue Community Model for Cultural Based Leadership Development was built on 25 years of research and demonstration in over 1000 change projects around the world.

The initial research and development of the model came from the late Dr. Robert F. Allen, who has been called the Grandfather or Guru of Cultural Change.

As key principles were identified through years of experience with cultural change, Dr. David Randle introduced to Dr. Allen’s model the concept of breakthrough performance.   The new model was born to to move beyond just changing negative norms to positive ones.  The new model  went a step further and included development of both individuals and the organizational culture to support peak performance, so people could go beyond the norm or even beyond expectation.

With some successful implementation of this new addition to the cultural change model, in the fields of health care, and tourism, it became clear that there was more evolution in the model that would prove most beneficial.   That element was culture based leadership

Participants in this workshop will be introduced to some of the key principles of culture based leadership development including pitfalls to avoid, guidelines for developing a sustainable culture, and the Blue Community model. 



Blue Community Assessment Tool Kit

The Blue Community Model - The Blue Community Model draws on the four pillars of the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria to create sustainable social structures through the 12 Blue Community strategies.    The goal is to create a culture that provides a safe and just space for humanity with just and sustainable economic development within the limitations of the nine planetary boundaries.   Unlike some tourism models that attempt to simply balance the social, economic, and environmental, the Blue Community model acknowledges that there are limits defined by science of what is safe for humans and other living creatures.  For example, there is only so much C02 we can safely put into the atmosphere, only so much fresh water resources available, only so much chemicals we can pollute the environment with, only so much habitat destruction before we lose biodiversity, etc.   Rather than pretend that the challenge is simply to balance the social, economic, and environmental, the Blue Community model realizes that sustainability must be guided by the science of the nine planetary boundaries.



The Blue Community offers a variety of tools for implementation.   Some of the key ones include:



Peer Review

Peer Review - Before the Sustainability Plan is published, a peer review of the plan takes place to insure that it is solid and has the best chance for success.  Often at this stage the plan may undergo additions or revisions for clarity, improved integration of the principles, assurance of good indicators to measure results, to make sure that it is comprehensive including all one planet living principles and utilizing the appropriate blue community strategies.   The Blue Community has a team of trained experts to conduct the Peer Review.


Consulting

Consulting - Each sustainability plan is unique and each faces unique challenges.  From time to time groups have found that bringing in consultants for special issues or needs is valuable in the implementation of their plans.

Task Forces

Task-Forces - Task-Forces provide people in the community to develop their own strategies and programs to engage more people in the sustainability management plan.  Task-Forces are often determined by the greatest need as revealed in the initial analysis or can be formed around any one or all of the One Planet Living Principles and/or Blue Community Strategies.  A special task-force manual has been developed to guide the process.


Recognition

Recognition- Blue Community offers a recognition program for Hotels & Resorts,  Communities, and Destinations.  Each Blue Community Recognition requires the development of a sustainability management plan.   Hotels, restaurants, and other businesses that want to support the overall community sustainability plan will be encouraged to develop their own individual sustainability plans.  The option is also available for Communities and Destinations to seek GSTC certification as well through an accredited GSTC Certification body.


Blue Community Tool Kit

Tool Kit - A tool Kit has been developed to provide tools and resources to assist in implementing the sustainability management plan.  The took kit includes: articles, case studies, videos, templates for policy and analysis, a bioregional one planet living integrator manual and other resources.


Support Groups

Support Groups - New programs take sustained commitment.  Research has found the first 8 weeks of starting a new program are critical to the success of any change project.  Support groups are often formed in the first few months of a project where key leadership can meet for an hour once a week for an eight week period to share progress with the other leadership team and provide support for each other in the early stages of the program.  In some programs the support groups end after 8 weeks and in others the groups continue throughout the project implementation stage.  A special manual has been developed to support these groups.


Specialized Education & Training

Specialized Education & Training - Building leadership capacity is key to success and sustaining long term success of any sustainability plan.  Education and training such as the new UCF Blue Community Sustainable Tourism Certificate program, the PM4SD (Project Management for Sustainable Development) , Culture Based Leadership Development such as the Leadership from the Heart program, and other training that might be identified from the initial analysis of community needs.  These are all examples of specialized training offered through Blue Community


Evaluations Renewals and Extensions

Evaluation - After a year of implementation of the sustainability plan an evaluation takes place to assess the success of the program and readjust the plan where needed.   The evaluation includes a review of the performance as measured against the indicators set in the sustainability plan, a review of the participation in the program and satisfaction levels with the process, and surveys to measure changes in the culture.   The Blue Community has developed both Cultural Norm and Organizational Support Indicators to assist in the evaluation.

Renewal - Change is only one part of the process.  More importantly is to keep the change going and the gains made in tact.   An annual renewal event is often developed for the community to celebrate the success of the program and to recommit to continued progress and improvement.  The Blue Community has a variety of templates that Destinations or organizations can use for this purpose.


Extension - Each community sustainability plan will have the opportunity to grow and expand over the years through reaching out to members of the community or other stakeholders who may not have participated as much.   This might include new hotels, restaurants, and businesses becoming certified or developing sustainability management plans, involving supply chains in the plan, creation of new and/or expanded task-forces, or other special events.   In addition an experiential learning event that can also double as a marketing tool for the area will be developed for each community.