Green Infrastructure Maintenance Training + Workforce Development

Transcription

1 Green Infrastructure Maintenance Training + Workforce Development A holistic approach to utilizing engineered techniques for improving stormwater quality + enhancing quality of life 10/10/ info@williamscreek.net 1

2 Williams Creek offers Total Project Delivery: engineering, design, construction + preservation utilizing expertise from our engineers, landscape architects, scientists, construction managers, and business professionals and our over 14 years of experience delivering this product. WHAT IS GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE? Green infrastructure (GI) refers to a variety of stormwater management practices which utilize engineered vegetated systems and materials to treat stormwater where it lands, mimicking natural processes. These technologies are utilized in wet weather management programs throughout the United States to address combined sewer overflows, reduce flooding and improve water quality.

3 WHY GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE? Unlike traditional grey infrastructure systems that are installed underground out of the public s view, GI provides highly visible, above ground community assets that can revitalize communities, promote public safety, and improve overall quality of life. Like any infrastructure, GI requires maintenance to function as intended, which also creates local job opportunities.

4 The instructors were outstanding, very knowledgeable, introduced material so it was easy to understand, and had positive attitudes. Overall the class was EXCELLENT! - Columbus, Ohio Blueprint Green Infrastructure Maintenance Training Program Participant A HOLISTIC APPROACH GI Maintenance Workforce Development programs have the potential to partner nicely with nonprofit reentry and job training feeder programs as there are few barriers to entry into this growing field. Williams Creek continues to build partnerships with neighborhood based groups, including workforce development boards, community colleges, reentry and community development organizations, to develop workforce development programs.

5 DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES DIFFERENT MODELS GI maintenance training programs from several communities were featured in the white paper, Clean Water, Strong Communities by the nonprofit Green For All which included contributions from Williams Creek. More recently, Water Environment Federation (WEF) and DC Water announced collaboration on a national Green Infrastructure Certification Program to be launched in early 2017 to meet international best practice standards.

6 CONTRACTED WORKFORCE MODEL Given the specialized training needed to successfully maintain GI, many municipalities hire contracted labor to maintain their GI assets. Williams Creek is currently maintaining GI for a variety of consent decree and MS4 communities in the Midwest including Cincinnati, Ohio and Indianapolis, Lafayette and Fishers, Indiana. In Spring 2016, Williams Creek began providing GI maintenance services for the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, whose Watershed Operations Division owns and operates GI assets to address two federal consent decrees.

7 GREEN COLLAR JOBS TRAINING MODEL Williams Creek is partnering with nonprofit and reentry programs to train individuals for a career in GI Maintenance. In Columbus, Ohio, Williams Creek helped create and implement a six week Blueprint Columbus GI Maintenance training program certifying 37 individuals to date. In Indianapolis, Williams Creek is currently training over 40 individuals from a corrections facility on GI maintenance through a grant from the Reconnecting to Our Waterways initiative, supported by the Kresge Foundation, a CICF Fund. The green collar jobs model can also be adapted to train city department employees, as seen in Fishers, Indiana where Williams Creek is training Department of Public Works staff in the classroom and at existing GI sites utilizing a Maintenance Field Pocket Guide we created.

8 VOLUNTEER TRAINING MODEL Many communities rely on neighborhood partners to provide GI maintenance services. We have trained volunteer groups on a variety of projects, including the Alabama Street CSO Abatement Pilot and East 10th Street Retrofit projects in Indianapolis and Adena Brook Rain Garden in Columbus, Ohio. Most recently, Williams Creek partnered with Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Inc. to train local youth participating in the TeenWorks and Groundwork Indy programs on proper maintenance of greenspaces along the trail..

9 Due to its dual performance nature, GI assets require specialized training in order to perform from a stormwater management perspective and enhance quality of life. A SOLUTION THAT PAYS BACK Through our experience implementing these different models, we have found one size doesn't fit all. Maintenance models need to complement available funding mechanisms and existing labor resources and address the community's GI assets. Coupled with the educational and job training benefits for residents, youth volunteers and reentry populations, GI is a solution that can "pay back" communities over the long haul.

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12 World Headquarters 619 N Pennsylvania Street Indianapolis, IN CONTACT US FROM OUR HEADQUARTERS IN INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, WE SERVE CLIENTS WORLDWIDE info@williamscreek.net