Abstract
This internship report details two projects completed with Miami Waterkeeper to address their desire to expand their political influence. The first project, a Broward Dossier, sought to provide a bird’s eye view of the county’s watershed and political landscape, so as to determine what Miami Waterkeeper campaigns that were successful in Miami-Dade County might work there. The second project, a Legislative Scorecard Alpha Test, aimed to describe the governmental regulations surrounding the production of a legislative scorecard, which can be used by 501(c)(3) organizations to give grades based on legislators’ voting patterns, and provide an example for internal use (U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1978). Significant parts of both projects were conducted as extensive literature reviews to be sifted through until the basics of the topic were presentable. This approach was chosen so that Miami Waterkeeper could quickly engage with the topics at a later date, with the deliverables in question as their initial briefing. While the dossier primarily consisted of this literature review, the scorecard also involved the long-term monitoring of agendas from Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners meetings for relevant legislative items. The Broward Dossier found that, although the two counties are geologically and climatically similar, the decentralization of much of Broward’s watershed infrastructure will make the reproductions of existing Miami Waterkeeper campaigns complicated (Broward County, 2023; Duncan, 1993-a, -b; Jennings, 2018; Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact Sea Level Rise Work Group, 2015). The Legislative iii Scorecard and its accompanying research revealed that, despite the various rules, it was relatively easy to create, and seems likely to affect opinions (Broockman et al., 2023; U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1978, 1980, 2007). Ultimately, a number of specific campaigns stood out as good ideas for Miami Waterkeeper to enact in Broward County, and the legislative scorecard seems like a worthwhile endeavor for a future project.