Turtle Island Restoration Network

Turtle Island Restoration Network's (TIRN) mission is to take swift and decisive action to protect and restore marine species and their habitats and to inspire people in communities all over the world to join us as active and vocal marine species advocates. Our Sea Turtles Restoration Project provides public education, action, and hands-on conservation to protect endangered sea turtles and marine biodiversity worldwide. Our GotMercury project works to educate the public about the impacts of consuming mercury tainted seafood. Our Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) works to protect California's largest remaining run on endangered Coho salmon through research, restoration, public education and policy change.

We foresee a time when a critical mass of people in communities all over the world share a common un

Goal One: Build Climate Change Resistance to Fossil Fuel Expansion by working with frontline and indigenous communities and linking our marine species supporters to the larger climate change movement.

Goal Two: Grow our supporter base through the creation of a new and vibrant marine community conservation center in the Gulf of Mexico by completing capital campaign to endow facility and retire mortgage.

Goal Three: Expand salmon protection restoration work into new geographic areas and through use of new techniques to grow collaboration and meet requests from federal agencies offering expanded funding sources.

Prioritized and expanded our internal leadership team to increase inclusion and diversity. Increased racial/cultural diversity of Board Directors and created a Board Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee Professional Development and Trainings for staff and leadership: - The Nonprofit Marketing Summit (2022) - California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (2022 Annual Conference) - Community Boost Fundraising and Marketing Social Media Training (2022) - EmTrain: Cultural Competency and Bias Training (including the below subject modules) 1. Overview of Unconscious Bias 2. Unconscious Bias for Employees 3. Strategies to Minimize Unconscious Bias 4. How unconscious bias can skew our perceptions and decisions and lead to challenges for people and our organization 5. Microaggressions 6. Ethnicity and Stereotypes 7. Matters relating to our personal lives - including sexual orientation 8. Race and Assumptions 9. Issues related to transgender co-workers

Over the last year, Turtle Island Restoration Network has adapted to external changes spanning programs, populations served, general operations, staffing and staff support. Thanks to dedicated staff and volunteers, we used staff feedback and leadership experiences to propel the organization forward as a way to increase morale, foster sustainability and staff retention, and test new ways to reach our constituents with mission-based programs and ways to get involved. We responded to the pandemic by transitioning staff to remote work temporarily, and, as COVID-19 has subsided, embraced a hybrid work environment for place-based positions, which is also designed to help ease the financial burden of increased fuel prices on staff members. We implemented weekly staff-wide, all office location health and wellness check-ins via Zoom, which also serves to increase staff morale, foster team relationships, and ensure staff are informed on the work of their colleagues. We responded to a reduction of classroom accessibility by offering virtual environmental education programs and/or creating and delivering program packets and lesson plans directly to teachers so they can conduct activities with their students. We embraced permanent remote employee positions to widen our applicant pool and reach new demographics – specifically hiring remotely located communications coordinator and director of development. Expanded our residential and place-based internship program to include remote opportunities for high school, college and college graduates seeking career-building experiences in ocean and watershed conservation, advocacy and policy. We adopted a new staff resource using a contracting HR company to provide trainings, onboarding, third-party point of contact and advice seeking mechanism.