“Network Mindset.” Ehrlichman, David. Impact Networks (p. 48). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition. (2021)
1. Driving This Change: The Need to Meet Our Mission
The advantages of GSI as a tool for both managing stormwater and providing other environmental, social, and economic co-benefits are well-documented. They lie at the heart of the Exchange’s mission to activate local governments to implement GSI equitably.
But there is ample evidence that our efforts at activation need a boost. Our own survey of local governments and stormwater agencies in the U.S. two years ago found that spending on green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) comprises just ten percent of local government outlays to manage stormwater. At about the same time WEF revealed the results of its National MS4 Needs Assessment Survey of 643 stormwater permittees across 47 states. Its respondents listed green infrastructure as one of the greatest areas of need for informational / technical resources for the third year in a row.
2. Integrating Our Work with That of Other Sectors is Key
Prevailing network theory suggests that responding effectively to the these findings will require that we change. In a recent book on how networks like the Exchange create systems change, Peter Plastrik and his co-authors note that:
Innovators must develop relationships with those affected by the innovation and those that make scale possible …. Whatever pathway the network follows to scale, it must make new connections to reach deeply into a … field …
(Plastrik, Peter; Taylor, Madeleine; Cleveland, John. Connect > Innovate > Scale Up: How Networks Create Systems Change. Kindle Edition (2022)). In short, we need to integrate our work with other sectors that can play a role in achieving our mission:
Addressing climate change equitably requires the integration of strategy and action across academia, industry, and government … Each sector has something to give and something to receive. We can fill in each other’s gaps. No one entity can do it all.
(Jalonne White-Newsome, White House Council on Environmental Quality).
3. New Associate Membership Tier Created
For these reasons, the Exchange’s governing body has elected to create a new “Associate Member” tier that will be open to organizations from the private, nonprofit, educational, and state and federal government sectors. Associate members will have access to most current programming, including peer learning circles, the GI Library, annual meeting, community portal (new this spring), and training courses (new this summer). The main difference in the two tiers of membership is that Associate Members will not participate in governance.
To learn more and apply for membership, please visit our new membership webpage or contact Nina Baldwin, Program Manager, at nina@giexchange.org.
