Congratulations, Jenn, on being the Alliance’s 2026 Virginia Watershed Champion!

The Alliance’s annual Taste celebration presents an opportunity for like-minded clean water advocates to gather and celebrate our beautiful watershed and all we have accomplished to protect it. Each year at the Taste, the Alliance recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Chesapeake watershed through innovative thinking and developing impactful partnerships. We’re thrilled to award Jenn Clarke as our Virginia Watershed Champion!

Jenn Clarke is a Program and Operations Supervisor with the City of Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities and is passionate about building partnerships, community, and infrastructure to improve the health of the James River and how life is enjoyed along it.

The Alliance witnessed Jenn’s tireless support through collaborating on a successful green street revitalization project, Fulton Green Street. Jenn has also been a real leader, driving the City of Richmond and its partners in implementing the RVA Clean Water Plan in a way that grounds efforts in partnership and true community engagement.

Join us as Alliance CEO, Kate Fritz, sits down with Jenn to discuss her work in Virginia and with the Alliance.

Kate: Could you tell us a little bit about what it means to you to receive this award?

Jenn: I do think it’s an incredible team effort on both sides. My name is just the subject. My boss and the team we work with is filled with technical experts who helped bring this stuff to life. I really appreciate that it’s a team effort for our whole crew to look at engineering plans and think about how to bring things to fruition and to advocate for flexibility to do projects together. I also appreciate that in this case, it is truly meaningful work. And in partnering with the Alliance, we know that [these projects] will be taken care of, which is amazing.

Kate: Could you talk a little bit more about your work in the context of working with the Alliance and why the partnership is important for your mission and for the city of Richmond?

Jenn: The Alliance has been at the table since the beginning. They’re on a variety of green infrastructure projects and I think they’re becoming a little more consistent in Richmond. A couple things set some of our partners apart, the Alliance being a key one, is the ability to listen and absorb the city’s point of view. Maintenance is a huge [task], and the city is at capacity, and we cannot take on a lot of hands-on projects that require a bunch of true manual labor. So having help with that through the Alliance and volunteer programs and corporate partners is amazing.

But knowing that we don’t have to have a back and forth about maintenance for every project has been huge. Just being heard, I know that if we say, “here’s what we need,” the Alliance is going to understand and work it out. When we’re at the height of a project, whether it’s design or construction, I often feel like working alongside, particularly Christina Bonini [Senior Green Infrastructure Projects Manager] and Neal Friedman [Green Infrastructure Projects Coordinator], is just like being co-workers [even though] our paychecks come from different sources. The Alliance is an amazing partner. It is so streamlined when we’re at the height of bringing something to fruition that it really just feels like we work together.

Listen to the full interview below to learn more about Jenn!

 

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Visit our Taste landing page to leave a personalized message for Jenn and all of our other award winners.

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Join us at the Taste

Congrats, Jenn! We can’t wait to celebrate with you at our annual Taste: Celebrate the Chesapeake event on September 10, from 6-8 pm at Robins Nature Center at Maymont.

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