Deadline: 15-Sep-22
Do you have a passion for helping communities thrive? Do you want to help drive utility decision-making towards a balanced approach considering environmental, social, and financial issues? The Transformative Water Leadership Academy can supercharge your water career!
The Transformative Water Leadership Academy (TWLA) is where the next generation of water utility leaders focus on the foundations of sustainable community leadership: how to integrate social, environmental, and financial concerns into important decisions about water utilities.
This 10-month program addresses leadership for drinking water, wastewater, stormwater management, and water reuse. Participants will learn to balance short- and long-term priorities while creating value for all water stakeholders.
Measurable Outcomes
TWLA is designed to yield meaningful and measurable outcomes.
- Participant outcomes:
- New responsibilities and/or new opportunities to demonstrate leadership
- Professional advancement by increasing chances for promotion to a higher position
- Enhanced sense of empowerment to help create change
- Diverse Group Of People
- Utility outcomes:
- Increased leadership capacity in areas essential to improvement at the utility
- Innovative approaches to solving community problems
- Cultural shift that encourages change and community building
- Community outcomes:
- Enhanced resilience and sustainability of utility systems
- Better relationship between the community, the utility, and other stakeholders
- Improved management and protection of water and environmental resources
Deliverables
Every participant in each TWLA cohort must deliver:
- Capstone project. You will design and complete a project based on sustainable community leadership principles learned at TWLA. This project should address a problem, need, or opportunity in your organization or community. Estimated work time: 40-60 hours.
- Presentation. Each participant must present what they learned from TWLA. This can happen at an event/conference, or by writing an article for a publication. Your presentation or article need not focus on TWLA, but it should clarify the value of what you learned from the TWLA experience.
Eligibility Criteria
To qualify for TWLA, at this point in your career you must have:
- 3-10 years of full-time work experience, including at least two years of water-related work (preferably at a water utility or a related field).
- Supervisory and/or Management Experience. Past experience supervising people in your current professional, volunteer, or community work. Or your experience may include management of projects, programs, committees, and contractors.
- Availability to attend TWLA sessions and events. During this 10-month program, participants must attend 90% of the following in-person and online events. (Preliminary schedule below. Dates and times may change.)
- 2 in-person sessions in February 2023 and August 2023, each lasting 3 days. These will require travel. Costs for travel, lodging, and food costs must be covered by participants or their employers — but some financial assistance may become available.
- 6 virtual sessions. Each 3-hour session will include 2 lessons, each lasting 90 minutes.
- 4 small-group virtual meetings. Each 90-minute online meeting will be facilitated by a coach/mentor.
- Access to a computer and broadband internet. TWLA includes online sessions and online coursework that require a reliable, robust broadband connection.
For more information, visit https://www.awwa.org/Professional-Development/Transformative-Water-Leadership-Academy#12920751-apply