Lessons Learned from Green Infrastructure Construction and Maintenance Workforce Development Training

The Center for Watershed Protection’s ANSI Accredited Clean Water Certificate (CWC) Training Program provides high quality training opportunities that promotes job growth, delivers job-readiness skills and knowledge to individuals, and creates a pathway for local businesses to hire these individuals into family-supporting careers. While the Center provides the individuals with the technical skills in green infrastructure construction, maintenance, and inspection, partnering workforce development organizations provide training on soft skills such as resume writing and interview skills, to help participants secure and maintain their positions. The program was developed with significant input from stormwater industry employers to ensure that the training will lead to successful employment.

In 2020, the Center worked with the Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF) and Water Environment Federation (WEF) to develop the Instructor Preparation Program (IPP). The IPP allows the inclusion of qualified instructors who can train their community and provide important regional context to the curriculum. As of 2022, there are over 20 trained CWC instructors throughout the U.S. The CWC training program benefits the environment, the stormwater industry, the area economy and the future of program participants. This presentation will focus on how to bring together available resources to develop a successful stormwater training program, the DEIJ benefits to developing partnerships with local workforce development organizations, and lessons learned during the development of the CWC.