Ambassadors further engage the community through the program’s partnership project requirement. Ambassadors strive to expand their respective host agencies and NJWAP’s organizational capacity to conduct projects with volunteers and other local groups, thus promoting water quality improvement through community actions. Projects include streams or beaches cleanups, rain garden construction or maintenance, rain barrel workshops, stream restorations, and watershed festivals/environmental awareness events. Facilitating local community involvement with stewardship projects serves to build a network of motivated volunteers to participate in future watershed projects. These initiatives promote long term capacity building, transforming the community as it learns to solve local environmental problems while assisting the NJDEP in addressing nonpoint source pollution on a larger scale.
The map below depicts the partnership projects that were completed by the 2015-2020 Ambassadors. Mouse over the map to have a closer look at the icons. Click here for a more in-depth view of each project.
The statistics below reflect how the NJ Watershed Ambassadors Program has positively impacted our environment while educating our communities. Each year the Ambassadors' impact spreads further with each Rain Barrel workshop, Rain Garden installation,Water Quality Assessment, and Stewardship Training provided to the people of New Jersey. These initiatives promote long term capacity building, transforming the community as it learns to solve local environmental problems while assisting the NJDEP in addressing nonpoint source pollution on a larger scale. The program works with all sectors of society to improve the quality of New Jersey’s waterways, nurturing community-based environmental activities and empowering residents to make responsible and informed decisions regarding their watershed. Here is what 20 years of getting things done looks like today:
Number of Rain Barrels Created at Workshops
Hours of Volunteer Service
Number of Rain Garden Installation
Gallons of Stormwater Runoff Prevented from Entering Waterbodies
AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassadors Who Have Served in NJWAP