We offer a wide range of strategy, implementation and assurance services to help municipalities achieve their strategic and sustainability objectives. Our services are tailored specifically to address each organization’s unique context, needs and challenges. Our qualified team of consultants can assist with the development and implementation of:

• Municipal sustainability plans and integrated community sustainability plans
• Corporate strategic plans
• Performance management and reporting systems
• Municipal grant and investment strategies
• Change and risk management strategies
• Governance structures and decision making processes
• Plan and program benchmarking and evaluation
• Issue-specific plans and strategies (e.g. water, climate change)

We also offer a Sustainability Check Up service to catalyze municipal action on sustainability. This service offering is designed to assess your sustainability plan and policy framework, diagnose your organization’s implementation strengths and challenges, and prescribe a change strategy to accelerate meaningful action. Click on the inset image to the right for more information.

From big cities to small towns, Stratos works with local governments to create and implement strategies and sustainability plans that really work. For example, the municipal sustainability plan we developed with the Town of Morinville received the 2011 AUMA Visionary Community Award. Examples of recent clients and projects include:

• Town of Morinville 25-Year Municipal Sustainability Plan and 3-year Strategic Plan. Click here for more information and to see their award-winning plan.
• National Capital Commission Environmental Strategy and Action Plan
• City of Regina  Community Investment Strategy and Implementation Plan
• City of Ottawa Support to the Environmental Strategy Refresh and change management strategy
• City of Ottawa Integrating the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ into budgeting and decision-making
• City of Toronto Pollution Prevention Guidance and Educational Documents in support of the Environmental Reporting and Disclosure bylaw
• Office of the Auditor General (Ottawa) Audit of the Implementation of the Pesticide Use By-law

Alberta has emerged as a national leader in developing municipal sustainability plans (MSPs) to address growing economic, social and environmental risks and opportunities.  Stratos Inc. recently completed the first comprehensive review of MSPs in Alberta to identify leading practices and trends. An Advisory Committee of municipal associations and academics informed the research and analysis.

This brief guide presents a framework for structuring MSPs to support effective action on sustainability. This framework is a valuable tool that municipalities across Canada can use to assess and benchmark their MSPs, guide implementation planning and inform the process, structure and content of related municipal plans.

Click here or on the image to download this free report.

FREE WEBINARS

Stratos hosted two free webinars on November 10 and December 1, 2011 to discuss this report.

Download the November 10 presentation here.  

Download the December 1 presentation here.

Implementing sustainability requires municipalities to adopt new initiatives, approaches and ways of thinking. The key to long-term success lies in integrating sustainability into decision-making structures, processes and practices at all levels of the organization.

This brief guide presents a framework for integrated decision-making that municipalities can use to assess their current approach, identify gaps and develop ideas for moving forward.

Click here or on the image to download this free report.

As Canadian municipalities embrace sustainability, they face the common challenge of translating their high-level visions and plans into tangible progress on the ground. This “planning-implementation gap” is indicative of the need to integrate sustainability into decision-making at every level of the organization. Stratos is pleased to present its first report on strategies for transforming municipal governance and decision-making systems to support sustainability.

Click here or on the image to download this free report.

Stratos partnered with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund (GMF) to deliver a workshop entitled “GMF 201: How to apply systems thinking to municipal sustainability” at the Sustainable Communities Conference February 10-12th 2010 in Ottawa, Ontario. The GMF encourages applicants to demonstrate a sustainability approach in their applications to the Fund. The best approaches involve thinking of the city as a system and developing integrated solutions that provide environmental, social and economic benefits, address root causes and consider upstream and downstream impacts. The workshop was designed to increase  participants’ understanding of systems approaches and provide guidance on how to apply this knowledge to GMF applications and projects.

Click here or on the image to download this free report.