As climate change fuels stronger storms and rising seas, low-wealth communities and communities of color are especially vulnerable to impacts of urban flooding and extreme rainfall due to a complex combination of institutions, policies and investments that have historically marginalized these communities. That means it is more important than ever to help communities prepare for and recover from future floods.

All over the country, community organizers, water utility leaders, advocates, artists, researchers, engineers and policy champions, have given years, and in some cases decades, to the work of building equitable, climate-resilient water systems to help protect their communities.

That is not a small thing. That is extraordinary.

While traditional flood defenses like levees, sea walls and storm drains are important, they are not a complete solution. From floodplains to rain gardens, we know that nature-based solutions can help to slow the impacts of climate change while protecting communities from its effects by cooling and cleaning the air and slowing and spreading water.

As our partners at Water Hub have stated, “To keep people safe in their homes and neighborhoods, we need to shore up current flood controls, and invest in nature-based projects like green streets and wetlands that absorb rain, runoff and storm surges. Green and grey flood defenses work synergistically to keep water from overwhelming storm drains and backing up into streets and basements.”

At Kresge, we believe that by considering climate change when making decisions about infrastructure investments, land-use, public health and other planning issues, urban community and city leaders can work together to make neighborhoods stronger.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Kresge’s Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems initiative, known as CREWS. Today, CREWS includes more than 30 organizations working to advance equitable solutions to climate-related storm and flood impacts on low-wealth communities.

As we look back at the last 10 years, this is a moment to reflect on and celebrate what this work at the intersection of climate, equity and water looks like.

What ten years of community-grounded work looks like

Throughout this anniversary year, we will be highlighting stories and voices of CREWS partners to show what their equitable, community-grounded work protecting their communities from flooding has looked like in practice.

You’ll learn that it looks like neighborhoods that have flooded repeatedly finally having voice and power at tables where infrastructure decisions get made and their future of their communities are determined.

It looks like training community and city advocates and supporting movements who then influence community meetings, city hall and utilities across the country. It looks like green stormwater infrastructure taking root in communities that were treated as an afterthought.

It looks like policies that were once immovable beginning to shift. It looks like safeguarding billions of dollars for more equitable, climate resilient water infrastructure getting to the communities that need it the most. And it looks like a network of people and advocates, growing stronger, more connected, and more powerful together year after year.

Not every partner in the CREWS network has been on this journey for all 10 years. Some joined along the way. This anniversary belongs to all of them, because the work ahead belongs to all of us.

“Relationships as Infrastructure”

This quote from Benny Starr, musician and CREWS partner, illustrates a core component of the initiative: “Relationships as Infrastructure”

Among the many ways we connect with partners, a community of practice and convenings have always been a core part of CREWS and what we have built together. We believe that the relationships our partners developed between organizations, across geographies, and across sectors are themselves a form of infrastructure. It helps make this network more than the sum of its parts.

This spring in New Orleans, we hosted a 10-year anniversary gathering for more than 100 CREWS community of practice partners and over three days, we created space for conversation, collaboration, creativity and celebration.

We walked with our local New Orleans partners and hosts to explore how they’re Fighting Louisiana Floodwaters with Patches of Green and deep community leadership. We discussed how our partners across the country are building partnerships to strengthen co-governance models between residents, government and utilities; how they’re advancing flood resilience using tools and technical assistance created with and for frontline communities; and how we can use narrative to reframe water as a space for possibility.

Moreover, we held open, participatory space for participants to host their discussions on topics that they were the most passionate about discussing and problem-solving around at the intersection of climate, equity and flooding. The participatory model enabled us to hold honest exchanges about what is working, what is hard and what we are still figuring out together.

Throughout the convening, we joyfully celebrated collective wins from the past decade without glossing over the challenges. We strengthened connections between newer partners and those who have been with us longer. And we looked forward, asking together what the next chapter of this work needs to look like.

Learning together, building forward

Jalonne White-Newsome, founder of CREWS, says that “Water equity is realized when all communities are resilient in the face of floods, drought and other climate risks; have a role in the decision-making processes related to water management in their communities; and share in the economic, social and environmental benefits of water systems.”

As we look ahead to the next decade, we want to make sure we are learning from where we have been and being thoughtful about how we can meet the current moment. That is why we are excited to have partnered with Frontline Solutions this year to work alongside us on learning and strategy. Their role is not just to document what happened over the past decade, but to help Kresge and our partners understand our collective body of work together so we can build on it wisely. That word, together, matters more to us right now than it ever has.

As CREWS enters its next phase, we are not writing the next chapter behind closed doors. We are committed to hearing and learning from our partners and leaders across water, climate and equity fields to help shape what CREWS does next, how we show up as a funder, and how we can be more responsive to what communities and this field actually need in this moment.

Our goal is to make sure that the next phase of this work is as strong, as connected, and as community-centered as possible. We cannot do that without the people and organizations who have powered it from the start.

Ten years ago, CREWS launched with a belief: that equitable, climate-resilient water systems are possible when communities are resourced and empowered to lead. Everything we have seen in the decade since has deepened that belief.

Our partners are the reason for that. Their organizations. Their communities. Their persistence. The next chapter is ours to write, together.