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"What you don't do with us, you do to us." This is a truth Trina shared with us about how our customers feel when we don't communicate with them the purpose, intention, and value of the work we do. Top Takeaways: Tips on how to use the infrastructure bill as a conversation starter with the community. Humanizing how we communicate. Communication metrics. Tips on how to make the most of outsourcing communication work. and of course BRANDING!! Meet Trina Trina is an award-winning public relations and marketing expert with nearly 30 years of experience developing and managing comprehensive communication campaigns across public and private sectors. Prior to joining HDR’s Strategic Communications practice in June 2018, she was Denver Water’s Director of Public Affairs – Communications and Marketing, where she led the agency’s renown traditional and social media, marketing, advertising, content journalism, organizational communications, and youth education programs. HDR brought her onboard to help their water clients across the country identify unique opportunities to inform and engage audiences, and spot potential social and political risks associated with their projects. Having spent 25 years in the trenches, Trina typically serves as a senior advisor to utilities’ communications teams.

Top Takeaways: The top three issues concerning state revolving funds. Data and its role in shaping policy around affordability and equity. Communication and how it can be a tool to ensure no one is left behind in infrastructure planning. Ways that the state revolving fund conversation is initiating change in other areas of the water sector. Resources for small to mid size communities to get assistance for funding. Resources: Katy Hansen, [email protected] Tee Thomas, [email protected] For residents and community groups to discuss and take action on water, climate, and infrastructure: The https://climatewaterequity.org/ (Water Equity and Climate Resilience Caucus) co-convened by http://www.policylink.org/ (PolicyLink) and the https://www.gcclp.org/ (Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy). https://anthropocenealliance.org/ (Anthropocene Alliance ) For advocates and water utilities that want to know more about SRF programs SRF Advocates Forum co-convened by the https://greatlakes.org/ (Alliance for the Great Lakes), https://www.policyinnovation.org/ (EPIC), PolicyLink, and the https://www.rivernetwork.org/ (River Network). Resource pages from River Network, including the https://www.rivernetwork.org/connect-learn/resources/equitable-infrastructure-toolkit/ (Equitable Water Infrastructure Toolkit) and https://www.rivernetwork.org/resource/state-revolving-funds-resources/ (State Revolving Fund Resources) Southwest Environmental Finance Center's SRF https://swefcsrfswitchboard.unm.edu/srf/ (switchboard) For towns, cities, water utilities, and others interested in applying for SRF, reach out to technical assistance providers: EPIC's https://static1.squarespace.com/static/611cc20b78b5f677dad664ab/t/61e098a52fd1d003b4a181d1/1642109093829/Funding+Navigator+Overview.pdf (Funding Navigator) https://www.rcap.org/ (RCA)P The Drinking Water SRF report is https://static1.squarespace.com/static/611cc20b78b5f677dad664ab/t/614a45ffeac8517336243cdb/1632257542836/SRFs_Drinking-Water-Analysis.pdf (here). Sign up for the SRF Forum https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_SLYyRYEtn7X9chodjHOzqXCdEN3ExqKcK00GN1JNUQ/edit?usp=sharing (here.) Meet Katy and Tee! Dr. Katy Hansen works to improve equity in local public service provision. As a Senior Advisor for Water at EPIC, she focuses on the allocation of federal financial assistance for water infrastructure. Prior to EPIC, Katy worked at the Environmental Finance Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, Association for Water and Rural Development in South Africa, and Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in the Middle East. She led projects to digitize over 500 maps of water service areas for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and improve access to sanitation in rural Alabama with the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Policy from Duke University and an MSc in Water Policy from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Tee Thomas brings 15+ years of water financing and environmental equity experience to Quantified Ventures. Most recently, she served as the Water Finance Director for the state of Vermont. In this role, she managed more than $500M worth of loans, grants, and contracts related to water financing. She wrote and helped pass Act 185 which overhauled the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund to expand the program to fund natural infrastructure through new mechanisms, including a sponsorship program. She created the Natural Infrastructure Interim Financing Program, which deployed $15M in its first two years of operations, protecting and restoring more than 11,000 acres of land including wetlands, streams, drinking source water protection areas, and river corridor easements. Tee has also been active...

Karyn A. Riley, Esq. first splashed into the water sector 7 years ago after landing on the government relations team at WSSC Water. Since then, she has emerged as a key voice on the sector’s role in leveraging its widespread impact in community engagement and equitable economic development. Join us in this conversation that demonstrates the value communication and outreach brings to ALL utility staff and operations—not just communicators and communication initiatives. Top takeaways: How government often silos itself and the value of breaking down the barriers to collaboration. The balance required to operate with both a product-minded and service-minded business model as a water utility. Lessons learned from WSSC Water's public outreach efforts about their rates and affordability initiatives. Diversity, equity, and inclusion—what is the water industry doing well and where can it improve? Meet Karyn Karyn A. Riley, Esq. had absolutely no clue about the water sector before landing with WSSC Water almost 7 years ago and has emerged as a key voice on the sector’s role in community engagement and equitable economic development. As a member of WSSC Water’s senior and executive leadership teams, Karyn develops and leads organizational strategy for stakeholder engagement and manages relationships with 200+ elected and government officials at the federal, state, and local levels. She guides the organization’s legislative and policy agenda, and as been responsible for legislation that expands affordability and transparency. WSSC Water’s “chief advocate”, Karyn represents the state’s largest water utility before industry, community, and business stakeholders and is recognized for her expertise in organizational leadership, engagement, strategic planning, and policy development. With her extensive background in economic, policy and program development, Karyn believes that water utilities are anchor institutions with widespread impact on public health, the economy, the environment, and social justice. With the unprecedented infusion of investment in the country’s infrastructure, Karyn knows that now is the time for all players in the sector to commit to using the funding to build not only the physical infrastructure of communities, but commit to building an equitable economic infrastructure as well - especially in underserved and underrepresented ones. A native Marylander, Karyn is a proud alumna of Hampton University, an HBCU, and holds a law degree from Syracuse University. Outside of her professional career, she is passionate about serving her community as a mentor and volunteer, and she loves dance.

Kathy made a post on LinkedIn that reminded us how absolutely necessary it is for the water sector to recognize the customer service staff in our utilities that have been walking side by side with our customers throughout a global pandemic. This episode is shout out to them and their stories. We all need a regular reminder of how important customer service reps are to utility work. Most importantly, we can learn from Kathy about how to support customer service reps while they take care of our customers. Check out her first appearance on the Water in Real Life podcast in https://www.theh2duo.com/waterinreallife/46/ (EP046), "Innovating the Water Conservation Conversation." Meet Kathy: Kathy Nguyen graduated from Berry College with a BA in Speech/Communications and a Graduate Certification in Environmental Management from the University of Maryland. She has been with Cobb County Water System for since 2001. In 2004 she became the Water Efficiency Manager, where she developed, implemented and managed the Nationally recognized, award winning Water Efficiency Program until 2018. In 2009 she became the Senior Project Manager for Water Resources. She is currently the Customer Service Division Manager. Some of the most meaningful recognitions she has been fortunate enough to receive during her career are: the George Warren Fuller Award from the American Water Works Association for lifetime contribution to the Drinking Water Industry in Georgia, The Alliance for Water Efficiency’s Water Star Award for Career contribution to the field of water conservation, and Communicator of the Year for the Georgia Green Industry. She is a member of numerous professional organizations including AWWA, and the Georgia Association of Water Professionals, where she currently serves as Vice-President for the association. She is an active community volunteer with Good Mews a Non-profit no-kill cage free cat shelter. She lives with her patient husband and 5 demanding feline "children."

When was the last time you left a water conference session feeling moved by the dialogue and perspectives presented? Stephanie was fortunate to experience that rare conference high during both iterations of the Young Professional (YP) panel at UMC2021 in Atlanta and UMC2022 in Orlando. You can catch the summary in the April 2022 AWWA Journal article https://awwa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/awwa.1889 (here). Stephanie was most impressed by the panel's ability to create a safe space where people felt comfortable enough to engage and have a genuine dialogue, even when there was disagreement. Join us in this discussion about rethinking the way we conference and the ways we have conversations around difficult issues. We also dive into the very real discomfort of stepping outside of your comfort zone. We talk about why its' important to do so and ways to lean into the discomfort. Meet Chelsea: Chelsea Boozer is the Government Affairs Manager at Central Arkansas Water and serves on AWWA’s Young Professionals Committee. She was named to Arkansas Business’s 2020 list of 20 in Their 20s and Arkansas Money and Politics included her on its 2021 Power Women list. She holds an Executive Master of Public Administration degree from Syracuse University, an undergraduate journalism degree from the University of Memphis, and a reporting certificate from the Johannes Gutenberg Universitat in Germany. Chelsea has been published in Opflow and Journal AWWA, and regularly speaks at national and regional water conferences about public engagement and workforce development as it relates to young professionals. As government affairs manager, Chelsea works with government, community, and wholesale partners and stakeholders on policy, economic development, and regionalism efforts.

Thank you to each and every one of you for joining us on this incredible podcast journey. This is not the end, just a branch in a new direction. Please stay tuned. There's more to come!

Meet Chris Pacione, CEO and Co-Founder of LUMA Institute. He’s passionate about universal design literacy, and he’s a frequent speaker on the topics of design and innovation around the world. He is co-author of the LUMA System and the book “Innovating for People.” Learn why Chris believes all of us are designers and how that empowers us to transform our mindsets to achieve greater impact for our communities. Check out the video recording of our chat on the Rogue Water Lab YouTube channel. View EP103 https://youtu.be/gcCJTVHrn5w (here.)

Learn why Chris believes all of us are designers and how that empowers us to transform our mindsets to achieve greater impact for our communities.

https://www.theh2duo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PodcastGraphic_doug.jpg () The H2duO chat with Doug about the biggest misconceptions people have about adult learning, ways to overcome those challenges, and tools to build clarity. Meet Doug Kueker, Co-Founder and Director of Learning Services at Vivayic. Doug is the steward of Vivayic’s Learning Solution Model™, which defines Vivayic’s unique approach to helping organizations use learning as a key strategy to advance their mission. In this role, he provides leadership to Vivayic’s team as they work to apply their knowledge of learning and development to help build other’s capacity to good in the world. Since starting Vivayic in 2006, Doug has designed and implemented numerous learning solutions. Our experiences range from helping several Fortune 100 companies and global NGOs striving to ensure a safe and sustainable food supply to consulting with numerous state agencies and educator groups trying to make classrooms and educational systems more relevant and engaging. Doug earned his undergraduate degree in Agricultural Education from the University of Missouri. He holds a MS Ed from Purdue University in Educational Psychology and a Ph.D. in Information Sciences and Learning Technologies from the University of Missouri. He lives in Lake Ozark, MO.

https://www.theh2duo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PodcastGraphic_group.jpg () The H2duO chat with a panel of experts about ways to level up the annual water quality reports. Hear feedback from various stakeholder groups through the research conducted by the Environmental Policy and Innovation Center (EPIC) team. Seasoned communication and marketing professionals weigh in on the power of the CCR to build public trust plus learn how collaboration across states can benefit our community members. Watch the episode on the Rogue Water Lab YouTube. Check out EP105 https://youtu.be/f6B2p04txOs (here.) Meet the panel. Sam Villegas is Director of Strategic Communication Services for Raftelis and has been conducting public outreach for public works for more than 25 years. After 20 years in movies and advertising in New York, Duke Greenhill is now the chair of Advertising and Branding, Graphic Design and Visual Experience, and Branded Entertainment at SCAD. His work and writings are cited in over half a million industry and academic journals. Wendi Wilkes is the Regulatory and legislative affairs manager at the association of state drinking water administrators (ASDWA) and a policy grad student at Johns Hopkins. She’s a self-described water problem solver living in Washington, DC. Sri Vedachalam is the Director of Water at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center and is constantly working to demystify water policies to bring the fastest improvements in equity and environmental outcomes.

https://www.theh2duo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/PodcastGraphic_h2duo-scaled.jpg () Stephanie recently attended her first in-person conference in 18 months. The question of the day - "How have you been?" The standard reply - "Good, busy." At our Virtual Catalyst 2021, our focus was on the communicator (the person) versus the end product they create. Why? Because when we're not operating at full capacity, our work suffers, our culture suffers, and the people we serve suffer. In this candid episode, we put down our "fine," "good," and "busy" replies and opened up about things the pandemic inspired us to let go of or adopt. It's made us better leaders, parents, and human beings. We hope it inspires your own journey.

https://www.theh2duo.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/water-in-real-life-creative-resilience-scaled.jpg () Did you know that creativity plays a vital role in your resiliency? According to a study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, creativity encourages positive emotions that unlock our inner resources for dealing with stress and uncertainty. Being "creative" regularly helps build your creative resilience; the capacity to generate and act on positive solutions under the pressures of challenges and change. Creativity requires time and space to reflect and experiment. Have you been giving yourself enough of either the past two years? Or ever? The good news is resiliency is built through ordinary, everyday actions and you can start today! Greg Wukasch (San Antonio Water System) and the H2duO chat about their own experiences with creativity, resilience, and the combination of both. They share some ways you can build more creativity into your life. Greg Wukasch is the External Affairs Manager at San Antonio Water System. Greg in a nutshell: A boat rocker of most things. Pastor. Gardener. Disney Parks Nerd. Has a passionate love for people and doing #WorkThatMatters Twitter: @greg_wukasch