Prioritizing Diverse Voices in the Water Workforce
With an estimated 50% of the water sector eligible for retirement and an empty talent pipeline, WaterRising Institute is turning the “silver tsunami” crisis into an opportunity for equity.
To address this critical workforce issue, the nonprofit is positioning the water sector as the front line of climate action, opening doors for underrepresented talent to steward our most essential resource. In doing so, the nonprofit is helping transform water jobs into a powerhouse for social justice and long-term prosperity for women and people of color.
WaterRising Institute
The Challenge: A Shrinking Water Workforce
Climate change, aging infrastructure and a shrinking workforce have created a triple threat to public health by putting reliable water services at risk. Recognizing the diversity and skills gap in our social infrastructure, WaterRising Institute is solving for sustainable water management by helping broaden the sector’s appeal with underrepresented and upskilled talent to expand the workforce pipeline. To do so, the nonprofit needed a platform for elevating water management as an essential climate career, one that would reach and empower women and people of color with 100+ potential roles that offer a career pathway to community impact, sustainable income, and generational prosperity.
The Solution: Elevating Water Jobs as a Climate Career
In 2018, Sivan and Geof reconnected following their collaboration at Showtime Networks to advise and develop WaterRising’s theory of change. In 2022, Sivan joined WaterRising Institute as a Board member to help launch WaterWoman Project, the nonprofit’s workforce development program, building on her success reaching women and promoting sustainable development. After developing the program’s impact model, city strategy, and thought leadership series, she designed, developed, and co-delivered the Gender and Youth Hub, a key program tactic.
The Gender and Youth Hub elevated workforce development as an agenda-setting priority for the 2023 UN Water Conference, the first convening on water policy in over 50 years. Made possible through partnerships with the NYC Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Five59 Labs, Suez, and Trinnex, the Hub hosted NYC middle school students focused on UN SDGs, creating a high-impact virtual and live platform where public utility, private industry, and NGO leaders engaged and inspired young hearts and minds to consider careers in the water sector. The Hub featured keynote speakers from C40 Cities, British Water, NYC’s water utility, and several world-leading engineering and water management firms in robust conversations, where attendees could see themselves in these role models while making a lifelong connection to future opportunities.
Key Initiatives Supported by GRC
Gender Diversity White Paper for the EPA Water Workforce Program: Delivered by WaterRising Institute under subgrant for the Water Tower Institute.
Gender and Youth Hub: Designed, built and managed a dedicated day of programming that translated complex water management into an accessible, exciting career path for students and young professionals.
Impact Strategy Development: Crafted a strategic approach to galvanizing government and industry support for workforce development including a "sustainable careers and prosperity" narrative right inside the local communities the sector serves.
Multi-Sector Leadership Convening: Brought together diverse leaders from NGOs, associations, and private industry to share insights on the sector’s digital shift and its role in protecting public resources.
Theory of Change Articulation: Guided the nonprofit through its foundational transition, and then helped establish a strategic roadmap to link water stewardship to personal responsibility and economic equity for women and people of color.
Global-to-Local Engagement: Launched WaterWoman Table, the international thought leadership series at the core of the Gender & Youth Hub. Engaged national utility and private industry leaders while targeting STEM students to inspire pipeline development for resilient urban water infrastructure.
The Impact: Inspiring Climate Careers: A New Era of Environmental Stewardship
Career Pathway Innovation: Successfully inspired entry into water careers by highlighting the intersection of environmental protection and cutting-edge technology.
Community-Centered Prosperity: Established a thought leadership platform for promoting how the water sector can drive equity and local economic growth by hiring directly from the diverse communities it protects.
Scalable Strategic Framework: The Theory of Change developed by Sivan and Geof provided WaterRising with the strategic clarity needed to position WaterRising for its future programmatic pursuits.
Validated Sector Influence: Through foundational work up until and through the Gender & Youth Hub, we made it possible for WaterRising to attract its first corporate partner and strengthen the institute’s ability to convene high-level leaders in both water resources and workforce representation.