Welcome to the Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange (“the Exchange”)
The Exchange, a project of the Global Philanthropy Partnership, seeks to activate local governments and water agencies in the U.S. and Canada to implement green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) equitably.
WHY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS?
Local governments are legally required to manage stormwater so as to protect the quality of our drinking water and the health of rivers, streams, and other surface waters. Climate change is making that job more difficult, resulting in a need for solutions that can complement traditional stormwater management methods.
WHY GSI?
In its simplest form, GSI refers to the use of plants and soils to manage stormwater. But it can also include permeable pavement and other systems for filtering, capturing and storing stormwater. Best of all, GSI has other “co-benefits,” meaning it can also beautify neighborhoods, provide green play spaces, and create new jobs.
WHY EQUITY?
Owing to discriminatory policies like redlining, many urban neighborhoods suffer from a lack of infrastructure investments. As a result, they are often warmer, with fewer places for kids to play and greater exposure to flooding and other ills. Focused in such places, GSI holds promise for making these neighborhoods more liveable.
WHAT’S NEW
Great Lakes Practitioners Meet in Chicago
October 13, 2024 marked the annual in-person meeting in Chicago of Resilient Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities (RISC), a group of multi-sector GSI practitioners seeking to scale up GSI in the Great Lakes Region. With the support of the Great Lakes Protection...
Welcome Herrera, Inc!
Herrera, a mission-driven, 100% employee-owned environmental science and engineering firm rooted in the Pacific Northwest, is a interdisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, planners, and landscape architects dedicated to advancing green infrastructure and water...
Doubling Down on Implementation Support Bears Its First Fruits
For a nonprofit, success means achieving the mission and realizing the vision. And both of those things rest upon a theory of change, which, for the Exchange, includes (1) building the leadership skills of practitioners; (2) supporting GSI implementation; and (3)...
Upcoming Peer Learning Programs
This Fall 2024 there are multiple ways for Members and Associate Members to participate in the Exchange's professional learning and development programs. Read below and complete participation interest forms for programs of interest. Non members can submit an interest...
Making It Easier to Connect at the Exchange
A noted expert on networks like the Exchange once said that “networks are only as strong as the connections that hold them together … and … those connections are only as valuable as what’s flowing through them.” (D. Ehrlichman. Impact Networks: Create Connection,...
Welcome Mile High Flood District (MHFD)!
The Exchange is thrilled to welcome MHFD to membership! Candice Owens serves as Stormwater Quality Manager for the District and leads a team supporting the goals of creating valuable and regionally used water quality design criteria rooted in regional research,...
