Laura Tavormina: Moving the Dial - How WSFSSH is Transforming Staff and Tenant Attitudes about Sustainable Living

As a direct result of the Garrison symposia on Climate, Buildings and Behavior, and in particular as a result of Linda Mandolini’s presentation last year on Eden Housing’s green team efforts, West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing (WSFSSH) created their own Living Green Team. While the Team’s primary mandate is to reduce WSFSSH’s energy and water usage and solid waste production by 20% over the next two years, its secondary mandate is to have a broad look at ways that they can foster ideals of sustainability and healthy living throughout WSFSSH’s portfolio of 24 buildings and among our 1,800 tenants.  This secondary goal is critical to the success of the first. The Team officially started business in April, and has already begun a major staff and tenant initiative around composting and solid waste. Using software tools out on the market, it has also made significant progress on measuring our energy and water consumption; it is exploring and evaluating several different training programs for staff and tenants; and finally, it has secured the pro bono services of a marketing research firm to conduct a number of in-depth interviews with 25-30 staff and tenants to gauge starting attitudes towards green living.  Laura Tavormina’s presentation focuses on how WSFSSH got from where they were last year to where they are this year and where they hope to go in the year ahead.

To follow along with the video, download the presentation slides Laura Tavormina: Moving the Dial - How WSFSSH is Transforming Staff and Tenant Attitudes about Sustainable Living.