Sustainable Connections’ executive director reflects on nonprofit’s 24 years
Sustainable Connections Executive Director and Co-founder Derek Long announced in early October that he would step away from his position at the end of the month after more than two decades with the nonprofit.
The Bellingham Herald spoke with him about his most memorable accomplishments over the last 24 years and what he hopes for the organization’s future.
Here are parts of that conversation, edited for length and clarity.
The early days
Question: What do you remember as your biggest achievements in the first decade of Sustainable Connections?
Long: We started out very focused on the business community — the locally owned business in particular. What we learned was that small businesses tended to need someone or some organization that could help change-making in their business a little easier for them. That pretty much defines the start of Sustainable Connections as finding ways to help ease changes in business practices for people who wanted to do it and needed a little help.
It was so common in those early days to hear people say they like to do business with their friends and neighbors. That was really the root of the Think Local First campaign which was one of our first programs. We could amplify all the good things that come from supporting local businesses that are rooted right here.
Then we did more environmental programming, featuring businesses who were innovating in green building and green landscaping. That gave birth to our Green Building program.
National recognition
Long: One day in early 2006, I opened a newsletter from PSE’s Green Power Program that showed that Olympia had more subscribers than Bellingham. Before long we had a friendly competition going and by the end of the campaign in 2007, not only had we exceeded Olympia’s subscriber base, but we’d signed up 200 businesses and 2,000 households. The EPA named Bellingham the Number One Green Power community in the country.
In those next few years, Bellingham and Whatcom County started showing up in other areas for national recognition. In 2009, the National Resources Defense Council named Bellingham the Number One Small City in the nation for Urban Progress and Sustainability. Sustainable Connections was mentioned specifically in that award, which felt really good. We later entered the Georgetown University Energy Prize Competition for $5 million for small towns that showed the most increase in renewable energy and decrease in energy use overall. We competed hard. Cascade Natural Gas, PSE, City of Bellingham and the school district were all partners. We ended up finishing third in the nation.
That first eight or nine years, the national recognition was fun. What I think is the most important about that was the building of a sense of pride in our community and a sense of what our potential is. It can be motivating for people and it can help define what a community stands for.
The next chapter: ‘A shift in strategy’
Question: Talk about how the organization has grown from its early days. How did it become the organization it is today?
Long: There was a shift after about 10 years. I noticed in our community coming out of the ‘08-‘09 recession, we had 12 or 13 years of solid economic expansion. But we started to get curious because there were still the people in our community who were challenged financially. We were seeing an impending housing crisis because we weren’t building enough homes in our community. So this represented a bit of a strategic shift for us to grow.
The Toward Zero Waste team was out visiting hundreds of businesses doing audits when they started to notice that there was a lot of perfectly good food going to the landfill. Given the number of people who are hungry in our community, these innovative team members of mine came up with the idea to start a food recovery program.
We found totally open-minded people at the Whatcom County Health Department who wanted to do it right. They helped us figure out how to keep the recovered food temperature controlled and safe for people to eat. Fast-forward to the future: we’ve made several Freedges that offer community members free food from refrigerators.
That opened us up for movement on addressing the housing crisis. Many businesses were saying they couldn’t attract or retain the kinds of people they needed because housing wasn’t more accessible or affordable. We did our first Housing Week eight years ago and formed the Whatcom Housing Alliance.
A lot of our work has led to great housing policy changes at the state level and locally, which should clear the way for a lot more housing development of all types and sizes and cost levels. We can only do what we can do to support a thriving housing market. But we better be doing what we can do because people are hurting.
A changing 20-year landscape
Question: How has it been to watch the organization grow and change over time? Have you seen any big shifts?
Long: I think our concern for living in balance with the environment has been strong throughout and that feels great. We’ve got a lot of work still ahead of us. Another change that I find hopeful, is that people in organizations are working very hard to see the things that the people without much of a voice see.
The work that’s being put in to find those voices, build up new leaders and welcome everyone — that’s inspiring to me. It’s a big and important change that takes a lot of patience by everyone. Slowing down and listening more, building new relationships, building new understanding — that’s been a big shift that feels important to me.
A path forward
Question: What do you hope for the future of Sustainable Connections?
Long: Twenty-four years is quite a bit of time and when I look around at the staff here, I’m just impressed. When I’m out in the community, I see leadership in people everywhere. I look forward to seeing the leadership opportunity for existing staff to step up and take on more. The board is looking at a plan for the next executive director, and I think they’re going to find somebody amazing.
I also wonder — and it’s healthy for me to think about — how I will serve in a different way. I’ve got a lot of great connections and experience. But I don’t have any plans for what’s next. I’m going to spend more time with my family, of course. I’m looking forward to some open space in my life for reconnecting and connecting at a deeper level with people in the community. I’m also excited to do something fresh, new and different.
I want to make sure that I communicate clearly how much confidence I have in the staff here and the programs here. All the signals are pointing toward a great future. All the metrics are good — engagement, event attendance, fundraising. I sure want the community to keep supporting these efforts. It’s a great investment in community building and wellbeing. I’m also so thankful. I love this community so much and can’t believe my luck that I landed here. I look forward to continue making a contribution but in a different way.
