Welcome to Ross Strategic

We deliver responsive, insightful, and well-crafted solutions that exceed our clients’ expectations.

Recent Projects

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    Ross Strategic’s Evaluation of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Water Infrastructure and Health Equity Investments

    Ross Strategic recently supported an evaluation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) investments to elevate and address the connections between public health, health equity, and community resilience related to water infrastructure investment, management, and policy. RWJF’s grantmaking objectives were pursued via three emergent strategies: strengthen networks within the water sector, support federal and state policy change, and encourage systems level practice change. The following report summary provides an overview of the recommendations and findings synthesized from more than 50 stakeholder and informant interviews, including with the RWJF grantees, peer funders, nongovernmental organizations, community-based organizations, water associations, water utilities, and other water experts. The lessons from the evaluation are intended to inform the future direction of RWJF’s equitable water infrastructure strategy, feed into other RWJF program areas, and contribute to strategic thinking in the broader field.

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    Emergent Learning

    Ross Strategic recently worked with members of the Emergent Learning Community Project to launch a new website designed to provide information and resources to Emergent Learning (EL) practitioners and the public. EL is a powerful approach for supporting organizations and groups to center learning in their core work while generating insights to inform strategy and evaluation. The website (www.emergentlearning.org) includes a set of principles and practices that help people think, learn, and adapt to complex challenges, allowing them to achieve desired goals. EL helps groups succeed by creating a shared line of sight, making thinking visible, experimenting together, and learning from successes and failures. Ross Strategic aided with writing and clarifying content for a diverse audience, designed and built the website and branding identity, and provided strategic advice related to information management and rollout of the project.

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    Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commercial Whale Watching Adaptive Management Report

    The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife recently released its Vessel Regulations Adaptive Management Report and recommendations, designed to adjust the state’s commercial whale watching license program. Prompted by Senate Bill 5577, the report considers the effectiveness of rules for recreational boaters and commercial whale watching operators aimed at protecting Southern Residents killer whales from the effects of vessel noise and disturbance. Noise from vessels has been shown to affect foraging behavior for Southern Resident killer whales, which were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2005. With the proposed rules, the Department proposes increasing the buffer around Southern Resident orcas to 1,000 yards (about one-half nautical mile) for all vessels, including commercial whale watching and recreational vessels. You can read the report here and the accompanying press release here. In support of the report’s development, Ross Strategic facilitated multiple stakeholder focus group meetings, synthesized over 1,500 public comments, and developed the draft and final reports.

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    Pacific Coast Collaborative Governors’ Announcement of Statement of Cooperation

    Recently the Governors of California, Oregon, and Washington and the Premier of British Columbia signed a renewed agreement to work together through the Pacific Coast Collaborative to fight climate change and build a resilient West Coast. The announcement was the culmination of months of work by the Ross Strategic team and partners to engage the jurisdictions and help them find common ground on a future agenda that emphasizes equity, infrastructure investment, and climate resilience while strengthening physical, social, and natural infrastructure. The “Statement of Cooperation on Leading the Transition to an Equitable and Prosperous Low-carbon, Climate-resilient Future” is available to read here. A video of the announcement, which took place in Presidio Park in San Francisco, is available here.

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    Integrating Community Priorities and Sustainability into Water Infrastructure Decisions

    Working with the EPA Office of Water, Ross Strategic developed the "Making the Right Choices for Your Utility: Using Sustainability Criteria for Water Infrastructure Decision Making" guide. This guide outlines the Augmented Alternatives Analysis process, a 10-step method, for small to medium sized water utilities faced with making large capital investments that represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to impact the fabric of their communities. This process builds on a conventional analysis and incorporates a systematic and transparent process for a utility to consider a broader range of social, environmental, and economic benefits that investments can create.

    In addition to the guide, Ross supported a webinar that provides an overview of the Augmented Alternatives Analysis process and several real-world examples. These examples highlight the efforts of the High Line Canal Conservancy and the Saco Wastewater Resource Recovery Department's journey using this process.

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    Real-Time Learning at the Intersection of Climate, Health, and Equity

    Climate change is the greatest public health threat of our time, and it disproportionately affects frontline communities, which are often low-income communities of color. The Kresge Foundation's Climate Change, Health and Equity (CCHE) Initiative aims to build climate resilience and advance policies and practices to tackle climate change in ways that reflect the needs and priorities of low-income communities and communities of color.

    Ross Strategic conducted a developmental evaluation for Phase 1 of the initiative. We worked closely with the Kresge Foundation and initiative partners to develop a Learning Framework, collect and analyze data, and facilitate real-time learning to inform the design, development, and implementation of CCHE and future intersectional initiatives of similar scope.

At Ross Strategic we take on the hardest environmental, public health, transportation, energy, and natural resource challenges. Our clients trust us to use information and insight to shape strategy, design programs and policies, and evaluate performance. We look forward to the opportunity to do the same for your organization.

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Sectors in which we Work

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Energy

We assist foundations, non-profits, government agencies and their partners to identify and pursue strategic opportunities to transform and integrate energy systems that provide safe, reliable, and clean energy. We have a strong track record of building catalytic networks of organizations working on innovative approaches to scale energy solutions in the U.S. and internationally.

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Environment

We have deep experience helping clients manage the complex challenges related to environmental issues. We provide analytic, stakeholder process management, strategy development, and facilitation support to help clients respond boldly, creatively, and effectively to their challenges.

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Natural Resources

We have the knowledge and experience to address complex natural resources issues such as protection and restoration of endangered species, development of watershed strategies, and policies to protect coastal areas and forests. We work with a range of partners and disciplines to tackle challenging problems bounded by natural features, but needing political solutions.

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Public Health

We thrive on helping organizations improve public health by taking an interdisciplinary approach and using a broad frame to understand root causes of poor health and potential solutions. We know community health and wellbeing are inextricably linked to a range of community conditions, including access to care, safe housing, food access, environmental quality, climate change, and structural racism.

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Transportation and Land Use

We help clients and stakeholders envision and achieve transportation systems of the future that are clean, accessible, and affordable—and ever more integrated with urban design, power systems, building technology, and other sectors. We work at the leading edge of transportation electrification, helping accelerate markets for zero-emission vehicles, guiding investment in charging infrastructure, and integrating vehicle technology with the electricity grid.

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