Congratulations, Nissa, on being the Alliance’s 2025 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.

Nissa Richardson holds her B.S. in Environmental Studies from VCU. The past 25 years of her career has focused on Chesapeake Bay restoration initiatives, with a keen focus on local water quality improvements. She is currently the deputy director of RVA Parks & Recreation, overseeing $150 million in Capital Improvement Program projects for 188 park facilities in the James River Watershed.

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

Q: You’ve been spending your career in the field of water resources and working closely with communities. Could you tell us how you got started with that work?

A: I got my degree from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for Environmental Studies and immediately started in on Chesapeake Bay work, and ended my college career with an internship with the Alliance, working on the water quality monitoring program, and outreach and engagement. It was fortuitous and really helped shaped my approach to everything in my career. It started with the Chesapeake Bay then, and transitioned into receiving grants at the Alliance and working for a couple of years learning everything about environmental restoration in the watershed and how that translated to urban environments and the James River watershed. I then moved to the Department of Conservation and Recreation in the early 2000s right as we were kicking off the implementation of the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement. It really helped shape my thoughts about how important it is to engage local nonprofits, local governments, and make sure everything we were doing had local water quality at the forefront of our efforts.

 

Q: What would you say to others to empower them to play a role in their community, or any advice for folks who are interested in getting involved in conservation work?

A: Know that local volunteer efforts and connecting with your local nonprofits like the the Alliance are incredibly important. Just getting your foot in the door and connected to the folks doing the work can lead to really great things. Paying attention to that and staying connected is really important.

 

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

Get your Taste tickets starting July 9th