This commentary is adapted from Kresge President & CEO Rip Rapson’s remarks at the 2026 Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) initiative convening in New Orleans this week. For the ten-year anniversary of the CREWS initiative, Kresge’s Environment Program brought together more than 100 people from community organizations, governmental entities and technical assistance providers to the convening. 

Water.

Water is the oldest story humanity tells. It is in every creation narrative . . . every migration . . . every civilization that rose, and every one that fell.

New Orleans is a city that understands water in all its dimensions — as a life-sustaining force . . . as a life-threatening force . . as source of geopolitical, historical, and cultural identity.

We are in a city that understands something about fighting for racial, and social, and economic justice in the face of enormous odds.

And we are in a city that understands that culture is not decoration. Culture is power. It is how communities remember who they are, and how they insist on and convey whom they intend to become.

Which is why, ten years after we launched this extraordinary initiative, we gather in this extraordinary place.

Before I go further, however, let me reiterate the eloquent thank-you’s from our Environment Program team: for being here . . . for the work you do — the patient, courageous, human-centered, and community-based work that brought you to this table . . . for your continuing hope and optimism in the face of times that turn more perilous and insidious by the hour.

You don’t need me to remind you of the soul-destroying energies being generated by our federal, and state, officials.

But I’m going to go ahead and do that anyway.

Because we — by which I mean you and all our partner organizations and people leading the fight for equitable water systems and climate resilience — have been caught in a powerful vortex of vilification and assault.

• We face a repudiation of science: a purveying of narratives and norms that are at once false and shameless.
• We face a policy environment that — by seeking to deconstruct the progress this movement has made over the last decade — loads an unbearable weight of harm on generations to come.
• We face a regressive political and policy regime that — in its unyielding refusal to acknowledge the interconnections among water, public health, and equity — over-taxes the circuits of local communities who understand first-hand that to do that intensifies personal and civic vulnerabilities and sweeps off the table meaningful and effective solutions to them.

We can hope this situation is temporary, but it may not be . . .

We can hope the struggle will make us stronger, but that is not assured . . .

We can hope the harms being inflicted on this movement are reversible, but time is not on our side, with every passing day making the crisis more profound and more intractable.

Indeed, as I look out at this room, I see people and organizations being asked to carry on with fewer resources . . . to construct pathways of aspiration in the face of obstacles designed to create fear and cynicism . . . to work in common purpose despite the ascendency of a political ideology that trivializes the very idea of common purpose.

All of this is profoundly depressing and overwhelming. Forgive me.

But we gather this week to reaffirm an antidote to this poisonous and vile brew.

Because, despite these challenges, you are carrying on . . . you are constructing pathways of hope . . . you are working in common purpose. You are, every day, demonstrating that it is possible to fight for more climate resilient water infrastructure in disinvested neighborhoods . . . for more equitable stormwater fees . . . for communities having meaningful voice in how water systems are governed.

Through these actions, you represent a collective commitment to courage and perseverance. It is a commitment that is animated by the knowledge that the one infinite resource we have in our communities is people well-organized where they live.

That resource is the foundation of how we defend and protect our work. It is also how we build the future that we and all Americans deserve.

Building the future together

The good news is that we defend and protect in concert with others. You know them. They are the organizers in Southwest Detroit conducting “know your rights” trainings to combat the overreach of ICE. They are the block club leaders in Charlotte protecting kids walking to school. They are the heroic Minneapolis neighborhood residents blowing whistles, filming abuses, and reclaiming community businesses.

These are our civic firefighters. And so are you.

But just as we need civic firefighters, we need civic builders. You are that as well.

As builders, you have refused to stand down as things have turned in an impossibly difficult direction. You may not have the EPA or FEMA or the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill as a partner. But you are unrelenting in fashioning responses to urban flooding, extreme heat, and so many other health and environmental challenges that fall with unforgiving and disproportionate force on the backs of people and places that have been systematically marginalized.

As builders, you have over the last ten years created . . .  stewarded . . . and fortified platforms of equitable practice that will be far  more durable than a political moment.

When a neighborhood floods repeatedly — not because of bad luck, but because of decades of disinvestment, redlining, and infrastructure planning that treated some communities as expendable — that is not a natural disaster. That is a policy failure.  That is a failure of justice. That is an assault on civil rights.

And you are working with courage and passion to rectify that.

When families in low-income communities of color face the highest risk of basement flooding, of combined sewer overflows, of contaminated water, of exorbitant water and sewer fees, that is not an accident. It is the accumulated weight of structural inequity, built into our systems over generations. It is a public health issue. It is an economic justice issue.

And you are working with tenacity and audacity to correct that.

We are blessed that you understand the duality of your call to both protect and build.

Building is straightforward in concept, but numbingly difficult in practice.

It requires people and organizations who sight against a horizon-line defined by an abiding optimism that we can create and sustain a future of prosperity . . . equity . . . opportunity . . . justice.

• A future in which genuine democracy, not authoritarianism, defines the values and norms through which we approach challenges . . .
• A future in which affordable housing, safe and healthy neighborhoods, thriving small businesses, and vibrant arts and culture define the daily ebbs of flows of every neighborhood of this country, not just in those of traditional privilege . . .
• A future in which the stories we tell are not susceptible of being labeled a “green new scam,” but instead identify with candor and clarity who is affected by climate change . . . how resident voice must be heard . . . what solutions are rooted in community experience, wisdom, and values . .
• A future in which we have constructed durable cross-sector partnerships, community-led policy platforms, and cultural narratives that elevate human dignity, individual possibility, and bonds of mutual assistance and support.

And a future in which you are accompanied and supported by partners who have your back . . . who support you not just when it’s easy . . . who are both responsive to the moment and adaptive to long-term needs and opportunities.

You will make your own judgment about whether Kresge fits that bill. But I am here this morning to tell you without equivocation that that is exactly what we seek to be. We will not turn our backs or walk away just because the policy environment has turned punitive and toxic.

Indeed, the very qualities that make a private philanthropy like ours justifiable are those qualities demanded now.

• We will take the long view, seeking to join with you as you build an equitable and just alternative to the cruel and dystopian future the current administration seeks.
• We will continue to take risks, investing our time, money, and talent in approaches that seek to serve as a counterweight to disinvestment in practices that promise to bring climate equity to cities and neighborhoods.
• We will use our full toolbox, calling on grants to be sure, but also ensuring that you and others have the technical assistance, thought partners, and practice networks the times require.
• And we will triple down on our commitment to equity. Let me be crystal clear on that point:
  • We are not in the business of scraping DEI from our website . . .
  • We will not withdraw our support for racial justice organizations . . .
  • We will not back down from practices and behaviors that violate our fundamental values of respect, creativity, partnership, opportunity, and equity.

Ten years of accomplishments

So back to the people in this room — and the many partners outside of it.

Ten years ago, a group of people made a bet that water, climate, and equity belonged in the same conversation. You have spent a decade proving that bet right.

That is more than a decade of learning, of partnership, of building proof points that demonstrate that it is possible to strengthen the health of communities through practices and policies that are patient, place-based, people-centered, data-driven, and grounded in racial equity.

You have demonstrated that climate resilience and green stormwater infrastructure are not just engineering solutions. They are community development strategies, health interventions, and economic investments.

You have shown that rain gardens and bioswales and permeable pavement are not just technical tools. They are physical expressions of the belief that every neighborhood deserves protection.

You have re-shaped local and state processes for infrastructure planning, maintenance, and investment to ensure that they reach the neighborhoods and people most affected by flooding and water inequity.

You have brought frontline communities to tables where decisions had always been made without them, shifting the question from “what does the system need?” to “what do the people need?” and highlighting the power of healthful, equitable neighborhood systems to shape communities in ways that uplift joy and care.

The conditions around us have changed. But the work is the same. And Kresge is in this work with you.

So, over the next few days, lean into one another. Share what you’re learning . . . Name what’s hard . . . Celebrate what’s working . . . And leave here with a renewed sense that this extraordinary community of firefighters and builders is exactly what this moment demands.