OCEAN BLUE PROJECT, INC.
Cleanup 3 for the Sea
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Research shows that One World Ocean—our global ecosystem of streams, rivers and oceans—is at serious risk from human activity. A 2013 EPA report found that 55% of America's waterways are in poor condition due to phosphorus and nitrogen pollution from industrial activity. According to NOAA, 79% of all beach debris is made of plastic. And the total weight of plastics in the ocean—including microplastics harmful to marine life—could exceed that of fish by 2050, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Create a Cleanup
In Ocean Blue’s 10th year, our goal is to remove 5 million pounds of plastic and debris from the ocean by 2025. We are well on our way because of programs like Create a CleanUp. CleanUp Crew Leaders and volunteers have supported Ocean Blue Project in removing 1 million pounds of plastic and debris from beaches and ocean bound waterways as of January 2023, two years ahead of plan.
Create a CleanUp is an important volunteer-led program that brings people together to help Ocean Blue Project reach our goal of protecting and preserving our One World Ocean, no matter how inland they live. It’s a great way for organizations, companies, communities, and friends to make a positive difference in our world today while securing a better future for generations to come. Ocean Blue aims to empower 200 CleanUp Crew Leaders in organizing 5,000 volunteers to cleanup in their local communities around the United States.
OBP Blue Schools
Blue Schools is an ecology and STEM based K-12 curriculum, focused on empowering students and communities to become stewards of their beaches, streams, rivers, and ocean. Through Blue Schools, students discover and explore the importance of their local watershed and inspire stewardship for the long-term health of their local water supply, wildlife, and our One World Ocean.
Working one-on-one with teachers, the curriculum is tailored to the unique needs and attributes of individual classrooms, communities, and watersheds. Communities are engaged in the stewardship action projects and are created by teachers during the customization process; this includes alignment with school/district initiatives. This ensures that learning segments are designed to benefit students, schools, and their greater communities.
River Restoration Projects
Wildlife habitat enhancement projects that engage communities in urban stream, river, and estuary restoration with planting of native trees and vegetation to reduce the impacts of climate change and improve drinking water quality for millions of people in hundreds of communities living downstream.
Plastic Disaster Relief
Recovering plastics and other trash from beaches in partnership with university researchers and upcycling manufacturers. The Microplastics Recovery Program provides clear and simple solutions for one of the most looming crises of our time, plastic pollution plaguing our people, wildlife, and the ocean that sequesters carbon and provides more than half of our world's oxygen.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of people influenced to undertake conservation action
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, At-risk youth, Children and youth, Young girls, Young adults
Related Program
Create a Cleanup
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Providing planning and providing technical assistance to landowners, communities, and local governments. Our main focus and goal is to improve urban water quality by using a holistic ecosystem based!
Number of clients participating in educational programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
OBP Blue Schools
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Educators and K-12 students, Girl Scouts and other youth organizations working together with Ocean Blue Project to empower our youngest generation to steward local watershed and ocean.
Total pounds of debris collected
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Plastic Disaster Relief
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
As of March 2023, Ocean Blue Project staff and volunteers have recovered 1,165,774 pounds of plastic and debris from U.S. beaches and ocean bound waterways.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
All life relies on water for survival. Ocean Blue Project finds and provides solutions to protect this most precious natural resource. Since 2012, we have been empowering individuals and communities to become stewards of our beaches, streams, rivers, and ocean, and to help improve water quality for all. By supporting our efforts, you'll help to enhance the livability, economic value and health of ourcommunities.
Our main goals are to remove 5 million pounds of plastic by 2025 from beaches and waterways, and to improve urban water quality by using a holistic ecosystem-based approach that reduces the level of river pollutants, prevents erosion, and conserves wildlife habitat. Through beach cleanups and urban waterway restoration projects, we are also providing environmental education, connecting people in the community to their natural environment, and improving biodiversity.
OBP Blue Schools Program - Ocean Blue will reach 17,000 students in 750 classrooms in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. through interactive live lessons centered around the state of our One World Ocean. The Blue Schools program educates youth of all ages about the link between the Ocean and Climate Change, the challenges of ocean plastics, and impacts of marine debris on marine wildlife, while inspiring kids to be stewards of our local and marine water resources.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Establishing and maintaining community partnerships and obtaining funding to purchase native plants, native trees, and working with volunteers to lower overhead cost for removing invasive plants and planting natives.
Educating youth in schools and communities and spreading awareness about the importance of not only ocean pollution, but point source pollution of urban streams which are at the source, because all waterways run downstream to our one world Ocean.
Providing 200 service learning projects annually for at risk youth, K-12 students, people with disabilities, college and university interns, and community members.
Maintaining research collaboration with NASA to develop and implement a strategy for mitigation of pollution runoff water before it enters waterways.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Richard Arterbury, Founder, Executive Director, and Program Manager, holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from University of Texas at Austin in 1997, and has worked as a social change agent, account manager in marketing and building partnerships within diverse communities for over 12 years. Program Manager duties include daily program management, defining program governance, planning the overall program and monitoring progress, managing program budget, managing risks and issues and implementing corrective measurements, coordinating the projects and their interdependencies, managing and utilizing resources across projects, stakeholders’ communication, aligning deliverables to the program’s outcomes, and managing data documentation. Richard also brings his inherited Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Ocean Blue projects as a tribal member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
Karisa Arterbury, Director of Operations, mother, and facilitator of change, Karisa Arterbury continues to remain a powerhouse in effectively rehabilitating and preserving our planet’s rivers, waterways and oceans. Continuing the legacy of her grandmother, Karisa has collaborated with schools, agencies and organizations around the nation, providing the educational and technical resources needed to keep waterways clean. In her first year as director, Ocean Blue increased its revenue by 600%, and has since expanded to include partnerships far and wide. With a background immersed in the awareness that environmental and social justice go hand-in-hand, Karisa harmoniously provides solutions for communities to be engaged and active in the protection of their local waters.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Ocean Blue volunteer efforts have contributed to the removal of over 235,000 pounds of beach and river rubbish since 2012. We have planted 9,000 native trees and shrubs since 2016 and activated 5,800 volunteers nationwide with over 100 service learning projects hosted annually.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
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
-
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 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
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
OCEAN BLUE PROJECT, INC.
Board of directorsas of 06/10/2023
Richard Arterbury
Ocean Blue Project, Inc.
Term: 2021 - 2027
Richard Arterbury
Ocean Blue Project Inc
Karisa Arterbury
Ocean Blue Project
Jenne Bristow
Jenn Jeck
Florian Brinda
Serena Rutledge
Liam Granucci
Hima Bindu Reddy
Jaime Poole
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/19/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.