Purpose: implement a program to train 50 current water utility employees from around the country to prepare them for leadership positions roles through a transformative water leadership program

The American Water Works Association (Awwa) received a $291,122 Project Grant award from the Environmental Protection Agency Office for Water through the Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Program (SDWA 1459E) to implement a water leadership training program. The grant period is from March 1, 2022 to February 28, 2024.

Under the award, Awwa will train 50 current water utility employees from around the country to prepare them for leadership roles through an experiential water leadership program. This will include developing a common curriculum, marketing outreach to recruit a diverse pool of participants including underrepresented groups, and providing course instruction and mentoring support. A subaward to the WaterNow Alliance will support communications, outreach to disadvantaged communities, and disseminating results. The program aims to benefit participants through virtual and in-person learning experiences, mentoring, and a capstone project. It will also help Awwa strengthen its training capacity. Key deliverables include a validated curriculum, course completion for all 50 participants including capstone projects, and data on retention and career advancement outcomes.

Activities: the waternow alliance (WNA) through sub-award will be responsible for outreach and communications to various groups around the country, many of which work with individuals from disadvantaged communities, in order to help recruit a diverse group of participants, including minorities, women, and others for the program. WNA will also help disseminate the results from this project to a wide variety of water organizations around the country. Outcomes: the primary beneficiaries are the persons selected to participate. They will benefit from a variety of learning experiences including virtual or in-person classroom learning that employ a variety of experiential learning concepts, group exercises, working with an assigned mentor, and completing a final capstone project. The grantee will benefit by improving its capacity to provide similar training in the future. Anticipated deliverables include developing a common curriculum for the participants -- marketing and outreach to a variety of groups to attract a strong and diverse group of participants -- a more targeted outreach campaign to help promote the academy to underrepresented demographic groups -- providing course instruction and mentoring for the participants -- communicating the results of the program through publishing articles written by participants, through conferences and other opportunities. Outcomes include a professionally developed and validated curriculum for use by program participants, course completion by all of these 50 participants, including a final capstone project , surveys and data regarding the retention and advancement of the participants, and completed individual assignments and projects by each participant. Subrecipient: sub-awardees will be responsible for assisting in outreach to state, local, and federal entities to promote the program and recruit participants, coordinating with small groups, and work with individual participants on the development of their capstone projects, which are required as part of the program