The Water Center at Penn and WaterNow Alliance establish strategic partnership

Delaware River with ben Franklin bridge and sailboat

By: Brenton McCloskey

Director of Strategic Development, the Water Center at Penn

Through this partnership, the Water Center and WaterNow seek to more effectively address the nation’s most pressing water issues. 

Philadelphia, PA. The Water Center at Penn and WaterNow Alliance announced today that the organizations have entered into a strategic partnership to further their shared goal of advancing on-the-ground research and policies at the community level to address the most pressing water related issues at both the national and global scale.

By strategically aligning the organizations’ missions and project focus, they will be able to increase the area of influence both geographically and through the expansion of staff technical and policy expertise.

“Through our strategic partnership with WaterNow Alliance, we anticipate a greater impact in the number of communities we can assist and the areas of research we can target,” said Howard Neukrug, Executive Director, Water Center at Penn.

The Water Center and WaterNow partnership will center on place-based project work in drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater and their interaction with natural water systems by providing technical assistance, policy analysis and academic research at the community scale. The strategic collaboration will emphasize the opportunities for innovation in financing and technology to bring more climate resilient, equitable, affordable, and sustainable water solutions to communities.

“WaterNow is thrilled to have identified a unique and timely opportunity to establish a strategic partnership with the Water Center to further the goals and ambitions of both organizations by taking advantage of our respective skills, expertise, and relationships,” said Cynthia Koehler, Executive Director, WaterNow Alliance. “We’re looking forward to working together in a more intentional arrangement.”

 

About the Water Center at Penn

The Water Center is an academic research institution, fostering meaningful and impactful applied, scientific, and policy research in support of real-world solutions to our global water challenges.

 

About WaterNow Alliance

WaterNow is a national network of local urban water leaders advancing equitable, climate resilient and sustainable water management solutions, with a particular emphasis on accelerating and upscaling adoption of distributed and green infrastructure.

 

Media Contacts:

 
Brenton McCloskey Caroline Koch
Director of Strategic Development, Water Center at Penn Water Policy Director, WaterNow Alliance
brentonm@sas.upenn.edu watercenter.sas.upenn.edu cak@waternow.org waternow.org

 

The Water Center at Penn, McNeil Building Rm 412, 3718 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104

WaterNow Alliance, 1016 Lincoln Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94129

    Research Focus

  • Community Capacity Building & Water Equity
About Brenton McCloskey

Brenton joins the Water Center after serving as the Assistant Vice President for Strategic Partnerships and Government Relations at University of the Arts in Philadelphia working to strengthen relationships, build long-lasting partnerships, and increase funding for programmatic and capital projects on campus. Prior to expanding his philanthropic and partnership building skill set at UArts, he served as a Natural Resources Manager at the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at University of Maryland assisting communities in the development of sustainable environmental policy and financing programs relating to water quality, green infrastructure, and climate change resiliency. In addition, before joining the EFC, he served as Associate Director for Environmental Restoration Financing and Policy at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources where he led a team of natural resource managers, restoration specialists, and policy experts working to revitalize the Chesapeake Bay. Brenton brings a diverse set of skills to the Water Center in the areas of environmental policy, fundraising, and partnership building. He received his MS in Environmental Science and Policy from John Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.