With 30 registered and 16 certified LEED cities and counties throughout the state of Florida, USGBC has announced the first Florida cohort of the popular LEED for Cities Local Government Leadership Program to build on that momentum and accelerate progress in sustainability and resilience.

Two counties and four cities have been selected to participate in the inaugural cohort:

Broward County, led by Vanessa Balta
City of Hallandale Beach, led by Alyssa Jones-Wood
City of Oldsmar, led by Ashlee Painter
Sarasota County, led by Sara Kane
City of Titusville, led by Rachel Muller
City of Treasure Island, led by Stacy Boyles

The Florida cohort convened in January to connect, learn the ins and outs of the LEED v4.1 for Cities rating system, and become oriented to project management tools, platforms and the certification process. Project leaders worked on their LEED for Cities road map and action plans and shared challenges and opportunities for the year ahead in breakout sessions. The unique geographic proximity of the cohort allowed for dynamic interregional collaboration and idea-sharing.

Each of the city and county leaders brings their own goals and objectives to the cohort, but the group consensus is that the LEED for Cities certification process will allow them to conduct gap analyses within their respective sustainability departments.

Rachel Muller, who is leading Titusville’s efforts toward certification, explained, “We’re excited to be doing LEED for Cities so that we can get in some benchmarking [and] metrics and incorporate it into our upcoming sustainability action plan.” Others in the cohort echoed the sentiment; Sarasota County and Treasure Island are also using the findings from the LEED for Cities certification to update their sustainability action plans.

Each of the participating leaders is paired with a LEED for Cities mentor from certified LEED regions across Florida. The LEED for Cities mentor has already gone through the certification process and will act as an advisor along the way, sharing best practices, lessons learned and tips for data-gathering success. Mentors are volunteering their time, contributing to a culture of collaboration statewide.

USGBC thanks the six LEED for Cities mentors for supporting the new Florida cohort:

Marta Marello, Miami-Dade County
Alyssia Berthoumieux, City of Miami Beach
Chris Castro, City of Orlando
Hank Hodde, Pinellas County
Jake Leech, Palm Beach County
Whit Remer, City of Tampa

Members of the cohort will continue to meet regularly with staff at USGBC and as a group to foster relationships and collaborate for the duration of the program, which will run through Dec. 31. The goal is for each local government to certify in LEED for Cities, then use their results to drive further decision-making and accelerate progress on sustainability and resilience.

Learn more about LEED for Cities and the leadership program

��ɫAV

First LEED for Cities cohort in Florida convenes