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Ferndale School District’s PREPARED! Project will enhance access to pre-kindergarten learning experiences and family-friendly early literacy tools in the Central Elementary School area.

Dumas & Associates, Inc. was selected by Ferndale School District to design and facilitate a collaborative assessment of early learning services and sites with their network of community partners who support pre-kindergarten children and families with a variety of early learning experiences.

Click here to learn more about this new early learning initiative with United Way of Whatcom County aimed at increasing high school graduation rates. Other project partners include Brigid Collins Family Support Center, Ferndale Boys’ and Girls’ Club, Opportunity Council, Whatcom Early Learning Center and Ferndale Public Library.

This is the first time United Way of Whatcom County has taken a leadership role in working with a school district for a targeted project in the community. Dumas & Associates, Inc. and Ferndale School District will prepare an adaptable toolkit outlining the methods, resources, and tools used so other elementary schools within the District, or other Whatcom County communities, can assess their community’s current conditions, identify desired enhancements, define specific actions, and commitments to implement immediate improvements and advance longer-term objectives.

Mary Dumas was selected along with 35 applicants from 14 countries to participate in the inaugural World Water Diplomacy workshop conducted in 2011 by Tufts University and the Harvard Project on Negotiation.

The interactive, 5-day program, led by faculty from Tufts University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Program on Negotiation, presented a method of water diplomacy that takes science, policy, and politics into account within complex water systems. Designed as a joint learning experience to inform the development of a new PhD discipline, participants brought their experiences working on water issues around the world, and together with faculty, and examined the many features of water systems that cross physical, disciplinary, and jurisdictional boundaries.

Workshop participants gained the skills required to create more adaptive, flexible water networks that address interdisciplinary issues during each phase of problem identification and management design and decision-making, as well as how to teach these network management skills to others. For information about the Water Diplomacy Workshop, click here.

Dumas & Associates, Inc. has worked on local and transboundary water resource issues in the Pacific Northwest for over 15 years. Mary is a dispute resolution professional and trainer in conflict resolution, multi-party negotiations, and citizen engagement for professional associations, certificate and university programs. She guest lectures at the Program on the Environment, University of Washington, Washington AgForesty and other community-based leadership and dispute resolution centers’ mediation certification programs.