Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay recognized Brian Rodgers as our 2021 Washington, D.C. Watershed Champion

It was with great pleasure that the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay recognized Brian Rodgers as our 2021 Washington, D.C. Watershed Champion. We recognized Brian’s work as a Rain Barrel contractor, passionate DC Green Workforce Workgroup member, and dedicated partner to the Alliance.

As a native Washingtonian, Brian Rodgers is a Certified Landscape Professional that brings extensive experience in land reclamation and restoration, workforce development initiatives, watershed stewardship, and community programming to Constituent Services Worldwide and the National Green Infrastructure Certification Program. Mr. Rodgers is a certified Master Gardener and a graduate of the Anacostia Watershed Society Stewards Academy. Mr. Rodgers has a BA from Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He has been with CSW from its inception leading its green infrastructure programming and training for over nine years. Mr. Rodgers has been instrumental in developing workforce initiatives as the ARRA funded DC Green Corps and the National Green Infrastructure (NGICP) training programs. He also serves as the field training supervisor for the NGICP program.

Mr. Rodgers also developed and was the project manager for the BUBBA award-winning Hickey Run Heroes program for the District Department of Energy and Environment that worked with youth from DYRS to install 100 rain barrels in the Hickey Run Watershed. This program led him to receive the Most Outstanding Business Award for 2014 from the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. He also serves as the lead trainer for the RiverSmart Homes Program- rain barrel installation program and a rain barrel installer since 2014. On top of all that, he is also the managing supervisor for the DOOT Landscape Maintenance contract for CSW that maintains BMP installations in Wards 7 and 8. In addition, Mr. Rodgers runs the newly formed Green Infrastructure Internship program for CSW.

Mr. Rodgers now serves as the Director of Workforce Development for Constituent Services Worldwide. As well as sits on the Board of Directors for Green Spaces for DC, Friends of Oxon Run Park, and the Chesapeake Conservation Landscape Council and serves on the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay DC Workforce Workgroup and on the Mayor’s Sustainable DC Plan workgroups.

Congratulations on being selected as the DC Watershed Champion, Brian! It has been wonderful working with you on the RiverSmart program over the years.

Laura Todd
Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay

Brian,

We continue to applaud your brilliance in keeping environmental justice on the forefront of all platforms. You are not only a champion of nature but an even greater champion for the disfavored who are often without voice. You exude excellence in your environmental stewardship as you eagerly teach others the beauty of being connected to all elements of the environment. Congratulations! The award is so richly deserved. All the best!

Brenda Richardson
Friends of Oxon Run Park

Congratulations Brian! We have come a long way from the first $800 micro-grant (pictured here). Your impact has grown exponentially from the basketball and tennis court of Fairfax Village SE, to now multiple areas around the District that have succumbed to invasives and trash that made access virtually impossible. The creation of innovative green job training programs to address environmental and community needs has changed multiple lives. Your projects have trained and employed community youth and residents for over 5 years and reclaimed once unused areas that now house rain barrels and a community solar farm supplying the residents of the Fairfax Village Condominiums with green energy. To say the least, you have helped to create a company, a school and a nonprofit employment venue and are deserving of this award and recognition.

Robert Jordan
Constituent Services Worldwide Public Benefit Corporation