Seattle Public Utilities contracted with the NLBG Consulting team in spring 2022 to lead the Customer Research effort in a collaborative, multi-faceted, and multi-year planning process as the City develops an overall Waste Prevention Strategic Plan & Implementation Plan. The Customer Research team is creating a comprehensive research plan to include community surveys, focus groups, and other methods in multiple languages spread throughout Seattle’s diverse neighborhoods. In-person research will take place in 2023.

From 2017-2019, Nanda managed a team of community based social marketing experts and multicultural outreach strategists to guide Seattle Public Utilities in the development of a strong wastewater education program. The program focused on sewer drain protection, side sewer maintenance, and improved customer access to programs and services.

The NLBG Consulting team conducted comprehensive behavioral research and designed and implemented a pilot customer education campaign with the ultimate goals to: 1) Reduce fats, oils, and grease poured down the drain to protect public health, the environment, and Seattle’s aging infrastructure; and 2) Ensure that Seattle’s diverse residents have access to clear, helpful information from SPU.

Research activities included city-wide electronic surveys; intercept surveys in English, Vietnamese, Spanish, Tagalog, and Chinese; focus groups; one-on-one interviews; door-to-door outreach; and special attention to multifamily property needs and nuances. Research results fueled a successful behavior change campaign with the NLBG team developing messages, taglines, collateral materials, visual prompts, and evaluation metrics.

As overall Project Manager, Nanda facilitated regular meetings with key SPU staff and managed all invoices, timelines, deliverables, tracking, stakeholder presentations, and overall activities.

From 2015-2018, Nanda managed community outreach efforts as the City prepared to construct a pump station in an industrial zone, and historical flooding site, of Seattle’s South Park neighborhood. Outreach included public surveys to gauge feedback on design elements, fact sheets, one-on-one conversations with residents and business owners, and other tools as the team looked ahead to construction.

Wrapping up as project manager of one team within a larger consultant group with a focus on multicultural outreach and strategic communications. What began as emergency communications in 2020 when the bridge was immediately shut down, developed into proactive strategizing and reaching out to impacted community members to minimize hardships and create equitable policies while the infrastructure was undergoing comprehensive repairs through 2022. Working with a talented team at The Vida Agency on multicultural and local media communications, digital advertising, campaign development, transcreation, event planning, outreach coordination, and tracking.

From 2019-2020, worked with the City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability to enhance efforts to offer no-cost, daily fresh fruits and vegetables to elementary schools with high free and reduced lunch program enrollment. Worked with eligible schools to generate interest in the program, ascertain the needs of each school, and address obstacles preventing their participation. Developed outreach materials for students and staff, communicated regularly with schools, and tracked participation.

From 2018-2022, provided community outreach for a multi-year infrastructure improvement project in Seattle’s west Beacon Hill neighborhood meant to help reduce storm-related combined sewer backups and flooding. Worked with the Veda Environmental team to help Seattle Public Utilities provide up-to-date communications and hear input from design through construction. Work included: drafting listserv posts, coordinating public open houses, sharing information door-to-door, writing and translating fact sheets, and managing graphics creation for online and written materials.

In 2018, worked with Triangle Associates to coordinate community engagement efforts between multiple city departments and school-related entities as well as the general public. Facilitated creation of a public engagement plan that included early outreach to stakeholders to hear interests, concerns, and opportunities for equitable engagement. Coordinated meetings and team communication. Led writing efforts and public engagement planning. Ultimately, the clients ended the project before completing public engagement efforts.

In 2012, managed an in-depth research project about recycling practices, operations, barriers, and opportunities for increasing recycling at 60 apartment buildings in Snohomish County. Responsible for creating customized outreach forms, being the main point of contact for the multicultural outreach team, providing educational resources, analyzing audit data, and writing the final comprehensive report for the client.

From 2009-2011, Nanda coordinated daily operations as well as broader programmatic objectives for the University of Washington’s Recycling & Solid Waste department. Created databases and measurement tools to track the UW’s goal of reaching a 60% recycling rate by 2012. Implemented a school-wide collection and recycling program for Styrofoam. Coordinated annual “trash-in”, a comprehensive waste sorting, data collection, and education activity.

From 2017-2019, Nanda managed a team of community based social marketing experts and multicultural outreach strategists to guide Seattle Public Utilities in the development of a strong wastewater education program. The program focused on sewer drain protection, side sewer maintenance, and improved customer access to programs and services.

The NLBG Consulting team conducted comprehensive behavioral research and designed and implemented a pilot customer education campaign with the ultimate goals to: 1) Reduce fats, oils, and grease poured down the drain to protect public health, the environment, and Seattle’s aging infrastructure; and 2) Ensure that Seattle’s diverse residents have access to clear, helpful information from SPU.

Research activities included city-wide electronic surveys; intercept surveys in English, Vietnamese, Spanish, Tagalog, and Chinese; focus groups; one-on-one interviews; door-to-door outreach; and special attention to multifamily property needs and nuances. Research results fueled a successful behavior change campaign with the NLBG team developing messages, taglines, collateral materials, visual prompts, and evaluation metrics.

As overall Project Manager, Nanda facilitated regular meetings with key SPU staff and managed all invoices, timelines, deliverables, tracking, stakeholder presentations, and overall activities.

In 2020, Kitsap County received a Waste Reduction and Recycling Education grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology to reduce contamination in the recycling at the three County-owned and operated recycling and garbage drop-off facilities: Hansville, Olalla, and Silverdale. Kitsap County Solid Waste Division contracted with the NLBG Consulting team from January through May 2021 to conduct in-depth research into recyclers using the drop-off facilities. The NLBG Consulting team – consisting of NLBG Consulting (project management), Radiant Consulting (analysis and outreach recommendations), Halcyon Northwest (research), and The Vida Agency (creative and multicultural strategy) – implemented an electronic survey that was promoted in multiple ways to facility users. Based on data from the 1,800 survey respondents, the team developed outreach recommendations, creative mock-ups, and evaluation guidance to help reduce recycling contamination levels.