Save the Harbor Save the Bay

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay's ultimate goal is to transform Boston Harbor from a liability into an asset for all Bostonians and the region's residents alike. To accomplish it we believe we need to do three things, which will take a generation to fully accomplish. Restore and protect Boston Harbor, Massachusetts Bay, the waterfront, our region's public beaches and the Boston Harbor Islands forever, for everyone to enjoy. Encourage continued public and private investment in Boston Harbor, the waterfront, our public beaches, and the islands.Reweave Boston Harbor, the waterfront, beaches and islands into the fabric of the civic, cultural, community and economic life of the city and the region.(Please see Question 4 for indicators of our success.)

We make five strategic assumptions that form the basis of our success. 1. Sound science, good data, and good politics are the key to good public policy. 2. Sharing the Harbor creates new stewards, supporters and champions who are critical to achieving our short and longer-term goals. 3. If you can get people to understand and agree on the problem or question, you have a better chance of creating a consensus around the solution or answer. 4. Shaping public opinion using community newspapers, the regional press and new and social media is critical to our success. 5. We have a special responsibility to the less affluent and underserved residents of region - who share the costs of the cleanup though their water and sewer bills and deserve to share the benefits of their investment.In 2015 and 2016, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay will: * Convene Metropolitan Beaches Commission and hold three public hearings to hear from the public about their concerns and to hear from DCR about their plans for the continued improvement of these extraordinary urban natural resources. The Commission will work to develop site specific plans for water quality improvements in Lynn, East Boston, Dorchester and Quincy as well as prioritize the schedule DCR capital improvements, raise the retained revenue cap, and increase investment in full time and seasonal staff and beach programs. * Focus attention on water quality and beach flagging accuracy, which still prevent the pubic from enjoying the benefits of the $5 billion Boston Harbor cleanup on public beaches in Dorchester, East Boston, Quincy and Lynn. Our Beaches Science Advisory Committee will release our 5th Annual Beaches Report Card and work with local, state and federal officials, opinion leaders and the public to address these issues. * Strengthen Boston's waterfront neighborhoods and the region's beachfront communities by securing funds from the Commonwealth and growing our Cupid Splash cold-water pledge fundraiser to support 70 Better Beaches Program events and programs on public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket.* Increase meaningful public access to Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Islands by expanding our free youth environmental education programs that served 26,369 underserved young people in 2015.

Our core assets are stunning natural resources - Boston Harbor, our public beaches and the Boston Harbor Islands. We come to the table with the following internal resources and external strengths.We are effective advocates with a powerful theory of change, led by experienced non-profit professionals with experience in public policy and politics. We have the full support of an involved board of directors who take an active role in all aspects of our work. Save the Harbor is a truly collaborative organization, with a proven track record of success. We have an annual budget of approximately $1 million, and have 5,000 members and supporters in Greater Boston, from every neighborhood in the city and in the region's beachfront communities from Nahant To Nantasket. We partner with 110 youth development organizations and community groups. These include beach friends groups and the region's YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs, the Boston Centers for Youth and Families and many smaller youth development and community centers. We run our youth programs at eight partner sites on and around Boston Harbor, in Charlestown, East Boston, South Boston and Quincy, on the Charles River and at the Boston Children's Museum and Camp Harbor View We have built a network of powerful allies and earned the support of decision makers and opinion leaders in government at all levels. We have built strong relationships with city councilors, mayors, state legislators, and the executive branch of government, and with the region's foundations, the corporate community, and the press.

In 1986 Boston Harbor was a national disgrace as our waste washed up on the beach and shore from Cape Cod to Cape Ann. Today all that has changed, thanks to the extraordinarily effective advocacy of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and the hard work of thousands of people who all believe in the power of Boston Harbor to strengthen our community and improve people's lives. In one generation we have begun to transform Boston Harbor from a liability into a civic, recreational, and educational asset for Bostonians and the region's residents. Today the harbor is beginning to move towards the center of civic life and is emerging as an engine of economic growth for Boston's waterfront neighborhoods and the region's beachfront communities. The first chapters of the Boston Harbor Success story are a great read - but the story is not finished yet. The beaches of South Boston are now the cleanest urban beaches in America, but other beaches in Lynn, East Boston, Dorchester and Quincy continue to lag behind in water quality. New private development and public spaces have transformed the built environment at the edge of Boston Harbor, but our resurgent waterfront still lacks physical and programmatic connections to the harbor. Boston is now home to the Boston Harbor Islands National Park, but it is seriously underfunded and underutilized, and too expensive for many of the region's residents to enjoy. Our region's public beaches, which serve as the primary recreational resource for many of the region's residents, are on the rebound, but budget cuts at the Department of Conservation and Recreation put the gains we have made in the past five years at risk. While we are proud of what we have accomplished in the span of a generation, we are cognizant of the fact that it will take another generation -or more - to finish the job.