The California Urban Water Agencies (CUWA) has launched a toolkit to share its ideas to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and environmental justice (EJ) goals.
It provides a starting point for those balancing the desire for rapid progress with the creation of a solid foundation for long-term change. It consists of fact sheets describing implementation best practices and considerations for each of its DEI and EJ focus areas.
CUWA is a non-profit organization comprised of 11 of the largest water agencies in California, serving over two-thirds of the state’s population. Agencies on CUWA’s DEI Committee are at varying stages of creating DEI and EJ programs, leveraging their experiences, best practices and lessons learned to assist each other and the water industry by publishing the DEI toolkit.
The toolkit’s initial areas of focus were selected based on input from CUWA’s DEI Committee and includes executive management commitment, data assessment and action plans.
“Overcoming the barriers affecting our communities starts with us as major urban water agencies and increasing the number of diverse voices at the table,” said Rick Callender, Chief Executive Officer of Valley Water and co-chair of CUWA’s DEI Committee.
Fellow committee co-chair and senior assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Anselmo Collins, added, “As leaders, we are responsible for setting the tone for a culture of respect within our agencies and demonstrating the commitment for long-term actions to improve DEI throughout the water industry.”
CUWA’s website will be updated with more references and resources as they become publicly available.
SOURCE: Brown and Caldwell
