The Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association (H.I.E.A.) is one of many nonprofit organizations which has set up offices in CoWork at The Cotton Factory.
Recently, we sat down with Heidi Levitzky, B.A., PG (EMA) – Public Relations Coordinator and Office Administrator – Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association (HIEA) to learn more about the work H.I.E.A. does in the community.
What kind of work does H.I.E.A do?
H.I.E.A is a non-profit association composed of 14 member companies that represent local private sector industries. H.I.E.A’s mandate is to help improve the local environment — air, land and water — through joint and individual activities, and by partnering with the community to enhance future understanding of environmental issues and to help establish priorities for action. Essentially it is a platform that connects each industry with the community.
How long has H.I.E.A been in business?
H.I.E.A. started when a small group of Hamilton industry representatives got together in 1995 to find a way to improve community relations in response to public concern around air quality in Hamilton. In 1998 H.I.E.A became a registered non-profit association with a Board of Directors made up of senior operating or environmental managers from each member company.
“I am sure this group of company representatives never imagined the impact they would still be having on the community over 20 years later.” said Levitzky
What is H.I.E.A’s mission and goals?
H.I.E.A’s goals and objectives include the continual improvement of environmental performance within Hamilton industries, proactively complying with regulatory obligations and manage issues in a responsive, fair, truthful and transparent manner while ensuring there is continued community engagement both as supporters and participants.
What is your favourite project H.I.E.A has worked on?
Levitzky began working for H.I.E.A in January of 2020, and only after several weeks, all work became virtual due to the pandemic. This meant that all of the public events like forums and community engagement projects were cancelled, went on-line, or were adapted to much smaller numbers.
“Normally we would have participated in a very worthwhile youth education program, the Hamilton Children’s Water Festival which is run by the City of Hamilton. I think that this will be my favourite H.I.E.A project in a post-COVID-19 world” Levitsky explained.
“H.I.E.A has been involved with the Hamilton Children’s Water Festival for many years. We run 30-minute activities throughout the day over the 3-day festival.”
This festival offers a total of 30 activities geared to water conservation, water science and technology, water awareness and water protection. H.I.E.A also teaches kids about is the importance of wetlands and the species that live within them.
“The ultimate goal of the festival is to initiate behaviour change and to empower youth to create change within their environment by taking information and a new found respect back to their own environment. This event brings 2,400 Grade 4 students, 200 secondary students and 100 volunteers together to enjoy hands-on educational activities that support the Ontario School Curriculum. Completing activities through hands-on learning ensures students learn to respect water and the environment while having fun”.
What is H.I.E.A currently working on?
“We are currently reviewing our 2020 Annual Report to the community, a newsletter summarizing our previous year’s activities and environmental performance as a collective. We print a number of these and distribute to the public at different events, and also email to those on our email list.”
How is H.I.E.A successful in making a difference?
“Collectively, since 1997 HIEA member companies have invested $1.1 billion on environmental capital expenses; paid approximately $718 million in municipal property taxes; and contributed over $1 million to community and educational initiatives in the Hamilton community. I’ll touch on that last part more. H.I.E.A has a strong 22-year history of connecting with local neighbours, community initiatives and not-for-profit environmental sector groups, the City of Hamilton and the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. H.I.E.A provides both direct financial sponsorship and volunteers from its member companies to support environmental and education programs for youth within the Hamilton community. Last year H.I.E.A was proud to support a number of very worthwhile and local environmental initiatives including The Bay Area Restoration Council, The Hamilton Conservation Foundation, The Royal Botanical Gardens, McQuesten Urban Farms, SNAP (Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan), and the Hamilton Naturalist Club. In order to encourage environmental studies, H.I.E.A continues to support and offer our own post-secondary scholarship fund and has just made a 2-year commitment to Mohawk College to further increase the value of the endowed fund that was established in 2006.
In 2021, we are supporting a new Sustainable Chemistry Scholarship at McMaster University with an endowed fund.”
How is the cotton factory accommodating your goals?
“The Cotton Factory gives us a great space to have meetings and work with one another. It is also a great place to hold bigger events such as our annual meeting. The office at the Cotton Factory is essential to housing 22 years of records and also all of our supplies. Our board and members are very happy with our space in Co-Work and we look forward to being able to spend time there again.”
To read more about the Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association (HIEA) you may visit their website at www.hiea.org
— This article was written and submitted by Seth Rutledge, Coop Student 2021, Westdale Secondary School, for CoWork.
