Step 1.2: Engage Key Stakeholders
Overview
Once you’ve built an internal project team, you should reach out to other stakeholders who will need to be involved in project implementation or who will be impacted by fleet electrification, including district staff, students, parents and caregivers, teachers, drivers and maintenance workers and their unions, electric utilities, neighborhoods near bus depots and the broader community. Your electric utility is perhaps the most important stakeholder to engage as soon as possible, as they will be essential to your project's success.
Understanding and being responsive to stakeholder needs will be key to centering equity in your fleet transition. Engaging stakeholders with on-the-ground expertise, particularly groups and individuals that have been historically excluded from planning processes, can improve projects by identifying barriers and gaps early in the process. Substantive and consistent community engagement can also improve project buy-in and long-term success, as working closely with communities throughout the planning and implementation phases builds trust, increases investment and produces more creative solutions.
You can work with stakeholders to identify the most effective mechanisms for engagement. Some may be more receptive to short surveys and online engagement, others may value one-on-one conversations or being in the room during the planning process. Regardless of the community, consistent follow-up to share results and explain how their input impacts the project is important.
Things to do:
- Identify internal and external stakeholders and their roles
- Establish a relationship with your electric utility
- Reach out to your school district’s communications team
- Develop accessible communications materials and FAQs to help guide discussions in collaboration with district communications staff and parent liaisons
- Hold preliminary conversations at various times to introduce stakeholders to your electric school bus project, understand their needs and concerns and identify challenges and opportunities
- Assess how and when to involve different stakeholders going forward
Ways to include equity:
- Create a stakeholder map and engagement plan focused on communities that have been historically disadvantaged and may be impacted by the project (e.g., neighborhoods near depots, areas with poor air quality, and families of students with disabilities)
- Tailor culturally appropriate communications and educate stakeholders to ensure meaningful and productive engagement and participation
- Consider forming a local “ESB advisory group” for ongoing feedback. Facilitate participation with honoraria, meals, transit fares or childcare as needed
- Ensure transparent, two-way communication so stakeholders understand how their input shaped the project
- Connect with students about the project, particularly frequent bus riders and students with disabilities, to educate them about the project and ask them what they’d like to get out of it.
Questions to consider:
- Who from within (1 school district staff, (2 school community, and (3 the broader community might be impacted, intentionally or unintentionally, and how? What benefits can fleet electrification provide to this group?
- Who from your electric utility should be involved? What benefits can fleet electrification provide to your electric utility?
- When and how does each of the above groups need to be included throughout the process?
- How should each group be engaged and at what stage of the project? Do surveys, emails, texts, phone calls, social media posts, or in-person events work best for this group? How often do they want to be contacted?
- When you engage each stakeholder group, do you have a diversity of voices within that group? What can you do ensure everyone has the time, information and resources to provide their input?
- How might fleet electrification connect to city/county climate and resilience planning?
- How might you partner with others in your area who are also electrifying their fleets (school districts, transit agencies, city governments, etc.)?
Potential stakeholders:
- District transportation director
- District superintendent
- District communications staff
- Electric utility representative
- Bus drivers, maintenance workers and associated union representatives
- Community-based organizations, including environmental organizations, disability organizations, environmental justice organizations and organizations that serve the populations around bus depot locations
- Organizations with expertise in transportation electrification, such as Clean Cities and Communities Coalitions
- Parents and organizations representing their voices
- Students and organizations representing their voices
- Teachers and organizations representing their voices
Resources:
- Electric School Bus Engagement Hub – WRI's Electric School Bus Initiative: Find ways to engage across the electric school bus movement.
- Why Electric School Buses? – VEIC: A downloadable slide deck pre-filled with data and talking points for pitching an electric school bus project.
- Working with Your Utility to Electrify Your School Bus Fleet – VEIC: This short resource helps school districts understand how and why to work with their electric utility on fleet electrification.
- Next Stop: Access! - WRI’s Electric School Bus Initiative: Learn what students with disabilities need in the electric school bus transition.
- Clean Bus Guide – New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund: A guidebook of information about community-wide benefits of electric school buses, case studies, and stakeholders that you might want to engage.
- State Electric School Bus Campaigns – Alliance for Electric School Buses: Find potential community partners through the Alliance’s state map.