Vermont is investing over $100 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) into water infrastructure, and additional federal investment is anticipated. The Clean Water Initiative Program (CWIP) seeks a collaborative and motivated team member to help the program meet federal funding requirements and associated workload demands, including tracking, reporting, and communicating investments in clean water and results of investments in the Vermont Clean Water Initiative Annual Performance Report; and budgeting, programming, and overseeing clean water ARPA funds as part of CWIP’s funding programs.
This position will report to the CWIP Grants Supervisor and may include potential to telework. Job duties listed below will have an initial emphasis on ARPA fund administration and reporting but may also support other funding initiatives that provide partners with resources to implement and sustain clean water projects. Weighting subject to change:
1. Tracking and Accounting support: (~35%) Serve as CWIP’s primary consultant for ARPA program leads to meet state-required clean water performance reporting. Assist CWIP and DEC’s Finance Section in identifying opportunities to use existing state reporting systems to meet federal reporting requirements and develop, utilize, and improve tracking and monitoring systems for programmatic and financial status of ARPA-funded clean water projects. Participate on DEC’s Performance Report core team to assist in annual data compilation and analysis, report drafting/storytelling, and graphics and figures development.
2. Operational support: (~30%) Support CWIP funding program operations including Spending Plan and Funding Policy development and associated communications and trainings, agreement/amendment workload staging and monitoring, supporting external TPMs, and financial tracking and reporting.
3. Crosscutting team functions: (~15%) Support crosscutting CWIP team functions and priorities, including staff support of the Vermont Clean Water Board and associated interagency coordination; incorporation of improved environmental justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in administration of funds and compliance with Vermont’s Environmental Justice Law (Act 154); and support of clean water project-related communications and continuous improvement efforts.
4. Technical Project Management: (~15%) Serve as a Technical Project Manager (TPM), drafting requests for proposals, agreements/amendments, ensuring progress and compliance with agreements and the CWIP Funding Policy, and approving deliverables and invoices. TPM workload is informed by collective CWIP TPM balance of duties.
5. Technical Program Design: (~5%) Support CWIP in design and implementation of annual clean water funding initiatives and priorities to restore and protect Vermont’s surface waters, with an emphasis on ensuring funding initiatives are coordinated and complementary across state and federal funding sources, including ARPA-funded programs.
In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications, the ideal candidate will have:
• Strong ability to coordinate work among internal and external partners, including excellent meeting facilitation, negotiation, and interpersonal skills;
• Experience in budgeting, financial tracking, and/or project management;
• Excellent organizational, time management, and workload prioritization skills and strong attention to detail;
• Desire to be a team player with the capacity to take initiative and work independently;
• Outstanding communication, presentation, and training skills;
• Experience with Microsoft Suite and data management tools; and
• Knowledge of diverse water quality-related environmental restoration approaches.
Cover letters and resumes requested.
In 2019 Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) Secretary Julie Moore invited 10 ANR staff members to form the Agency’s first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. The Committee is charged with establishing and actively fostering a culture of inclusivity at ANR by creating learning and discussion opportunities for staff interested in improving their cultural competency and creating a more welcoming and diverse work environment.
The Clean Water Initiative Program (CWIP) is thrilled to have access to the resources and expertise of this Agency-level committee to guide both our personal and cultural progress towards environmental justice, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (JEDI). Since 2020 CWIP has focused on increasing our JEDI competencies at the program level - starting with a draft JEDI workplan with the following goals: (1) to make this work transformative and not transactional, 2) to encourage humility and foster a learning and iterative approach, 3) to focus on process and improved engagement rather than a final product, and 4) to maintain a catalogue of opportunities to routinely revisit and advance when feasible.
To ground our team conversations, we researched, drafted, and dialogued over working definitions for equity, diversity, inclusion, environmental justice, underserved, underrepresented, marginalized and disadvantaged. At regularly scheduled meetings, with a rotating self-appointed facilitator, we use this common language to debrief lessons and reflections on podcasts, readings, and videos many of which are recommended by the ANR Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. CWIP staff are also regularly encouraged to participate in available trainings which most recently have included:
1. Equity in Hiring and Employee Retention - Facilitated by the ANR Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, as well as members from the Department of Human Resources (DHR) and Office of Racial Equity (ORE). This included five trainings: An Overview; Pre-recruitment Strategies; Anti-Bias in Interviewing; Creating a Welcoming Workplace Culture; and Key Learnings and Next Steps.
2. Virtual screening and debrief of Dr. Kendall Moore’s documentary film "Can We Talk? Difficult Conversations with Underrepresented People of Color: Sense of Belonging and Obstacles to STEM Fields.” Led by Catalina Martinez of NOAA and hosted by Lake Champlain Sea Grant - A trailer of the film can be viewed here:https://www.kendallmooredocfilms.com/can-we-talk
3. Department of Environmental Conservation - Water Investment Division’s Racial and Social Justice Workshop Series – This included three trainings led by the Transformative Teaching Collective: An Invitation to Dialogue; Racism, Whiteness and Environmental Justice (or Embodied Ecologies); and Transforming Conflicts & Envisioning Equity. Learn more about the Transformative Teaching Collective here: https://www.transformativeteaching.coop/
4. “Speaking Up Against Implicit Bias.” A training led by PowerPlay and Incluxion Works, and hosted by Lake Champlain Sea Grant. Learn more about the training here: https://speakingupworkshop.com/.
We recognize that this work involves retraining the way we think and is never ending. Continued progress on our JEDI competencies is one of six key strategies in our CWIP Strategic Plan. To date, much of our work has been centered on personal and cultural growth within our program of roughly 11 staff. As a governmental entity, however, CWIP also faces state and federal-level requirements that obligate us to address equity, environmental justice-focused and disadvantaged communities in our operations and programmatic design. While some of this progress awaits leadership guidance, CWIP strives to lead by example and seek out opportunities to integrate JEDI best practices into the nuts and bolts of our program-level systems. This includes integrating Environmental Justice-Focus community definitions into our grant prioritization framework, and exploring how capacity funding for clean water partners can grow network-wide competencies in JEDI.