SOCIAL SCIENCE MIXED METHODS
RESEARCH & REPORT WRITING

Service Description: 

I can help you with:
Remote and field-based multi-disciplinary, mixed methods, quantitative and qualitative research, and report writing, regional and place-based management plans, subject matter-based research, analysis, and report writing.  

Link to Scholarly & Professional Publications Referenced Below

Relevant Projects and Client Commentary

Town of Essex, NY

Project: EDA-funded Marina Feasibility Study; EFC-NBRC Essex Water Capital Project-Environmental and Parks Compliance (NEPA and SEQRA, APA Variance Application); SEQRA Environmental Review/Compliance Planning Board Demolition Permit; SEQRA, LWRP, Zoning Law Updates
Role:  Lead Consultant
Dates: 2016 - 2021
Purpose: The Town has retained my services four times over the past five years for various purposes, including:
1) Assisting the Planning Board comply with a complex set of regulatory matters: APA, SEQRA, Ag District, LWRP, SHPO, as they worked through their updates to the Zoning Ordinance.
2) Providing Planning Board technical support for a demolition permit application in the Historic District.
3) Assisting the Town Board and their technical engineering team with a even-more complex set of compliance requirements for a water system project involving LWCF parkland, APA variance, SEQRA compliance, etc.
4) Most recently to conduct an economic and reuse analysis, and feasibility study for the three marina properties that are for sale. The Town has also asked me to support their efforts to update their 2001 Comprehensive Plan, which is pending funding.

Adirondack North Country Association

Project: Competitive Regional Strategy Reconnaissance Analysis
Role:  Principal Researcher
Dates: 2016
Service Area: North Country Regional Economic Development Council, 7 - county area

Adirondack Foundation (Adirondack Community Trust)
Lake Placid, NY

Project: Adirondack Foundation Philanthropy Assessment:  Phase One--Issues and Opportunities - A Regional Reconnaissance Analysis
Role: Lead Consultant, Principal Researcher, Phase 1 Report.
Dates: 2016
Purpose: Relevant, critical, and timely information about regional issues, ideas, interests, and concerns allows the Adirondack Foundation to evaluate its philanthropy and adapt its giving strategies.  The purpose of this phase one reconnaissance analysis is to identify representative and thematic areas of regional issues and opportunities. 

Essex County Public Health
Elizabethtown, NY

Project: Essex County Medical Reserve Corps (ECMRC): Strategic Direction, Capacity Building, Recruitment, and Retention Plan
Role: Lead Consultant, Principal Researcher, Report, Recruitment Plan, and Event Calendar Development
Dates: 2015
Purpose: The Office of the U. S. Surgeon General announced the formation of the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) program in 2002 following the events of September 11, 2001.  It was created as a national system of community-based units to promote the local identification, recruitment, training, and activation of volunteers, especially those with medical and public health backgrounds.  As a local health department, Essex County Public Health must conduct an Emergency Preparedness and Response Program to assure readiness to respond to health emergencies, whether naturally occurring or deliberate.  The “Plan” serves as a strategic itinerary for the logistical, organizational, operational, and administrative procedures of the Essex County Medical Reserve Corps (ECMRC).  It provides comprehensive guidance to the Essex County MRC volunteers, public health officials, emergency services personnel and others for the effective utilization of ECMRC volunteers.

Boquet River Association
Town of Westport, NY

Role: Lead Consultant - Boquet River Watershed Management Plan - Phase I Draft
Dates: 2013 - 2015
Purpose: Research, Public Participation, GIS Database, Report Writing to support development of a multi-town watershed management plan.
Links: BRASS WMP Report

Adirondack North Country Association, Inc.
Saranac Lake, NY

 Role:    Consultant, Scenic Byway Planning
Dates:  2011-2012
Purpose:    Production and Completion of the First Wilderness Scenic Byway Corridor Management Plan

Northern Forest Center, Inc.
Concord, NH

Project: Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative: Agricultural Sector Analysis & Best Practices Database & Creative Economy Sector Analysis & Best Practices Database.
Role: Research & Report Writing
Contact: Joe Short, Vice President
Dates: 2006-2008
Author: Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative, Regional Economic Strategy. 
Locations: New York, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.  
Funding: U.S. Department of Commerce.
Links: http://www.northernforest.org/sei-documents-research.shtml
Purpose:   Research and technical report preparation for the Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative: 

• “Strategic Options: New York and Vermont Analysis and Evaluation of Strategic Options and Opportunities for Sustainable Development” (February 2007).

• “Agricultural Sector: Economic Analysis” (April, 2008)

• “Creative Economy: Economic Sector Analysis” (May, 2008)

• “Existing Studies Inventory Vermont and New York” (February, 2007)

• “Agricultural Best Practices” (April, 2008)

• “Creative Economy Best Practices” (May, 2008)

Project Description:

• Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative publishes two Special Reports on Agriculture and Creative Economy of interest to rural New York. The Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative recently released two important economic reports of critical value to communities and rural areas in New York State. The Northern Forest stretches from upstate New York through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine and includes the 14 Adirondack Region counties. Both reports were authored by New York native, Ph.D. candidate and consulting community planning advisor, Ann Ruzow Holland of Willsboro, Essex County, New York.
  

• The Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative Agricultural Sector Analysis evaluates agricultural issues, trends, opportunities and challenges across Northern Forest Region that includes upstate New York as well as Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The report makes recommendations for national and four-state agricultural policy that inform the economic strategy recently released for the Northern Forest. Farmers, Agribusiness and Ag policymakers were interviewed for the report providing substantive guidance for the future of over three million acres of agricultural lands in the region.
  

• The Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative Creative Economy Analysis broadly defines the Creative Economy to include “those activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation.” The report looks at how the creative economy became a powerful driver in the region’s rural economy and the various ways the four states utilize this powerful tool. Issues, trends and opportunities are documented as well as four-state regional recommendations that can enhance local creative economy drivers. Arts Councils, Main Street Organizations and Economic Development Agencies will find the statistics, resources and best practices linked to the report useful.
  

• Best management practice databases accompany both analyses and will be available in early 2009 on line. The Agriculture and Creative Economy reports, as well are other resources are available online at: http://www.northernforest.org/sei-documents-research.shtml

For more information contact:  the Author: Ann Ruzow Holland, Community Planning Advisor, 135 Sabousin Road, Willsboro, New York 12996 email: aholland@willex.com or the Project Manager: Joe Short, Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative Northern Forest Center PO Box 210, Concord, New Hampshire 03302   jshort@northernforest.org

“New York and Vermont Literature Review, Index of Related Studies for the Northern Forest Sustainable Economy Initiative”, 2007

• Northern Forest Center, Concord, NH

Strategic Options: New York and Vermont:  Analysis and Evaluation of Strategic Options and Opportunities for Sustainable Development”, 2007

• Northern Forest Center, Concord, NH

• http://www.northernforest.org/data/uploads/research%20docs/NYVT_Synthesis_2007_ARH.pdf