Missouri River Relief

Who are the people you serve with your mission?

A large percent of Missourians use the Missouri River for drinking water, food, and recreation. Missouri River Relief serves them and anyone else who lives downstream. The Missouri River's watershed reaches as north as Canada and as west as the Rocky Mountains, so anyone in the watershed has an affect on this river. We are a volunteer and equipment-based organization dedicated to connecting people to the Missouri River through hands-on river cleanups, education programs, and recreational opportunities.

How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), Community meetings/Town halls,

How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,

What significant change resulted from feedback?

Because of Covid-19, we had to cancel a lot of our programs/events. People asked us how they could still get out of their homes and participate, which sparked the creation of a new program called, "Trash Mobs" to give community groups an opportunity to still cleanup their neighborhoods or waterways. We had 105 Trash Mobs participate in the 2020 year. We also changed our cleanup model to fit the necessary restrictions of Covid-19 during 2021 since our biggest feedback was more participation options. This cleanup event model went from 1 cleanup day with 200+ people to 3 cleanup days with no more than 30 people each day.

With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our community partners,

How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?

Since our mission is to connect people to the river, we want people to be comfortable to volunteer for us and see the change we're making. Ultimately, we want the people we serve to come out and see the river through their own lenses. For example, we had a new program for the 2021 year called "Mornings at the River" where families and their children under 5 have the opportunity to come out and enjoy river/camping activities. One of the mothers shared, “Thank you for providing this awesome opportunity. I am terrified of rivers, so taking my kids to the river is something I wouldn't be likely to do on my own, so thank you for encouraging this experience!” We've taken our feedback from this program and realized more of what we can do for families with younger children.

Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded,

What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time,