The Role of Community-Based Partnerships In Advancing DE&I In The Water Industry

Introduction and Background
Black & Veatch is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). Black & Veatch's commitment to building a world of difference is a pledge to ensure a world and water industry free of discrimination, bigotry, and divisiveness. As a company whose core values include respect, integrity, and collaboration, we strive to provide an inclusive, collaborative, and accessible culture that recognizes the innovation and creativity gained from different views and opinions. To further efforts and investments in fairness and equity, Black & Veatch has introduced a global DE&I Council along with a DE&I Partner Network. The commitment to advancing DE&I at Black & Veatch extends to the partners that we work with. Black & Veatch is proud to partner with Corvias, who established the Clean Water Partnership (CWP) with Prince George's County, Maryland (the County). In 2014, the County pioneered a new approach to stormwater management by transforming a renewal of their municipal separate storm sewer system discharge permit (MS4 permit) into an opportunity to set socioeconomic performance metrics and advance DE&I in the water industry. The stringent requirements of the renewed MS4 permit doubled the regulated impervious area treatment goal for the County. In response, the County utilized a Community-Based Public Private Partnership (CBP3) business model in collaboration with Corvias to develop the CWP. The CWP generates opportunities for education and socioeconomic development through the construction of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) projects required to meet the MS4 permit. Over seven (7) years the CWP has achieved all socioeconomic key performance metrics set by the County. Based on an independent economic development study conducted by Towson University, the CWP produced $183 million in local County economic impact during the first phase of the partnership. Entering phase 3 in 2021, over 80% of the work has been performed by target class businesses, with 63% of the work done by local labor in the County (Figure 1). The Mentor Protégé Program has graduated over 45 firms and $20 million has been awarded to those mentor protégé firms. The CWP program is on target to retrofit approximately 4,500 impervious acres with GSI for water quality restoration throughout the County as shown by Figure 2. Community outreach and engagement remains a cornerstone to the success of the CWP as portrayed during in-person, and most recently, virtual meetings with community members, NGOs, the Faith Based Community, and students. Corvias' Delivery Partners have completed over 350 project outreach meetings to ensure members of the community are engaged in advance of, during, and after construction activities. Various members of the team from design, outreach, construction, and maintenance participate to ensure community members have access to industry experts to answer their questions and provide education on stormwater management and GSI. The CWP has also developed a school program, engaging over 100 students in education programs in GSI and investing more than $500,000 in student internships. As a result of the CWP, the County is achieving social and environmental goals across all nine districts as shown by Figure 2. Prince George's County is the first in the US to implement a CBP3 as a solution to focus on its socioeconomic and local capacity issues through an infrastructure program. As a result, many jurisdictions in the State and around the country are looking at the County as the global center of stormwater, innovation, and production. The expansion of city infrastructure projects to partner with private entities, such as between the County and private firms Corvias and infraManagement Group (a wholly owned company of Black & Veatch), has led to the CWP being used as a model for the Fresh Coast Protection Partnership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The ability for private entities to expand upon the CWP framework from the County has led to a wider advancement of DE&I in the water industry than could have been achieved by the County alone. This presentation will build upon the ideas and discussions that will occur in the WEFTEC Workshop, Transformative Opportunities in Stormwater: Elevating Resilience, Equity, and Workforce Development, and provide a deeper insight into the CWP framework for participants to use as a model. It will also highlight how the program has evolved over the course of seven years and provide an outlook for what's to come.
Conclusion Although the CWP has made tremendous advancements for DE&I in the water industry of Prince George's County, communities across the US are still facing roadblocks in advancement. The CWP can serve as a model for communities throughout the US as they realize the importance of utilizing mandates as an opportunity to invest in their communities and reconsider how they structure infrastructure programs to include significant social and environment equity metrics. The CWP encourages communities to utilize GSI in the advancement of DE&I in the water industry through the provision of local jobs in construction and maintenance, increasing green space equitably, and providing community-wide social benefits. Corvias and infraManagement Group hope to build upon the County CWP and serve as a model and resource for communities looking to leverage GSI for the further advancement of DE&I and community development across the US.