Alliance for the Great Lakes

Engagement: engagement of people is how we grow a credible and lasting voice for the Great Lakes. 2023 marked 20 years of collecting litter data through our adopt-a-beach program, which is then provided to researchers across the globe to begin to fill the massive gap in research regarding freshwater plastic pollution and its effects on people and wildlife. the Alliance continued to grow its ambassadors program that trains advocates to speak on behalf of the Great Lakes in communities across the Great Lakes region.

Water advocacy: water advocacy is how the Alliance works to improve the federal and state programs, policies and funding necessary to protect, conserve and restore the Great Lakes and healthy water. In 2023, the Alliance worked to secure appropriated funding of the Great Lakes restoration initiative (glri) totaling $368 million for fy2023. We released a new study that details the investments needed to significantly curb agricultural pollution in western lake erie, and that current funding plans are woefully inadequate. Our work helped secure $114 million from the states of Michigan and Illinois to fund the non-federal portion of a project to prevent the introduction of invasive carp into the Great Lakes. We advocated for and won protections against plastic pollution in the state of Illinois. And we continue to convene the national state revolving fund (srf) advocates forum to analyze and make recommendations of how funding is allocated for drinking, sewage and stormwater infrastructure improvements in the Great Lakes to ensure that equitable investments are made in communities that have suffered from decades of disinvestment and poor water quality.

Local partnerships: local partnerships build more capacity for Great Lakes water protection at the community level. In cleveland, we work with the mayor's staff and various local agencies to develop lead service line mapping and an equitable strategy and timeline for replacement. We strengthened the cleveland environmental advocacy coalition, developing joint policy priorities and an advocacy strategy for a variety of green and blue issues in cleveland. In chicago, the Alliance was invited to support local environmental justice leaders to draft success metrics for the city's lead service line replacement, water affordability and water governance programs.