Letter from the Director

Dear Friends of Clean Water,

Growth. Change. Opportunity. Those are the three words that come to mind, for me, when I reflect on 2023. What is striking about those three words is that they often come together. Growth and change almost always go hand in hand—if you are growing, you are changing into something new. And while both of these can lead to uncertainty and fear, the Choose Clean Water Coalition has leaned into the opportunities that this moment holds for not only us, but the broader clean water and healthy watershed community.

The Coalition experienced an incredible amount of growth, both personally and professionally, in 2023. We welcomed two new staff to our team, who are helping to expand our communications and energy work. Additionally, we added two new organizations to our Steering Committee, Ducks Unlimited and South East Rural Community Assistance Project, to help advance the goals and objectives in our 2023-2026 Strategic Plan. We also added 20 new member organizations since last year, bringing our total membership to almost 300 nonprofits across the Chesapeake watershed. All of this while our staff welcomed new additions to their own growing families as well!

Our work has also changed this year. While we continue to coordinate and support our members on federal and state policy; communications; and diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice principles, much of our focus was on the approaching 2025 Chesapeake restoration deadline and what it means for our collective work in the future. Over the past 12 months, our Coalition members answered our call for advocacy and support, helping to draft numerous letters and comments to the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program on what the future of the restoration effort should look like. Together, our members have worked to create our own vision—one which centers people, innovation, climate change, living resources, and strong leadership and partnerships.

And this is just the beginning. Next year will be the biggest challenge, but also opportunity, for influencing the future of the Bay restoration effort in recent memory. We will advocate for embracing the findings of new science and research, as well as the recommendations presented by our members, who are the people implementing the on-the-ground restoration and community outreach work across the watershed. This is a chance to ensure that our work for clean water throughout the Chesapeake Bay region focuses on the issues that local communities value most, while prioritizing approaches that make the greatest positive impact on all of the people who call the watershed home.

As we embrace this historic opportunity, the Coalition looks forward to celebrating 15 years of advocacy and communication capacity building for the Bay region's nonprofit community in 2024. Our work not only supports our members to successfully advocate and communicate in their own organizations, but also for our collective clean water goals. This increased capacity has prepared us for this critical moment, when we will need to rely on all of our members, funders, and supporters to speak with one loud voice in support of growth and change. A unified front is critical if we are to rise above the barriers and fear, and instead seize the new opportunities that lie ahead.

As always, I am in awe as I look through this year's Annual Report and see all this Coalition and our members have accomplished. It is incredible what we can achieve when we work together, and I look forward to continuing this important work next year and beyond.

For clean water,

Kristin Reilly
Director