Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The national events of 2020 revitalized a civil rights movement in the United States. The Lake Champlain Basin Program, along with our partners, is taking active steps to listen and learn from communities in the Basin as we tackle these challenges together.

The 1990 Lake Champlain Special Designation Act (Public Law 101-596), which marked Lake Champlain as a resource of national significance, was passed to “bring together people with diverse interests in the Lake to create a comprehensive pollution prevention, control, and restoration plan for protecting the future of the Lake Champlain basin.” The LCBP was formed to coordinate the management of the Lake Champlain watershed, and support research and grants to achieve clean water and recreation opportunities for all.

LCBP is closely reviewing the Program’s science-based, non-advocacy work to ensure we are truly meeting this mandate.

The Lake Champlain Steering Committee and the Staff of the Lake Champlain Basin Program commit to:

• Including more diverse perspectives in our decision-making
• Increasing outreach to communities that historically have not been included
• Fostering a safe and welcoming space at LCBP for everyone
• Continue working with our partners to build and strengthen basin-wide efforts to include and support underserved communities 

LCBP’s commitment to enhancing participation from all communities will be integrated into our long-term approach to managing the Basin. These commitments are as much a part of the fabric of the organization as the financial, technical, and educational support that we have provided for nearly 30 years. The LCBP also will track our progress toward these goals.  Please refer back to this page for future updates.

The LCBP has launched new diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts:

• Re-evaluating the membership of our advisory committees—scientific and technical, education and outreach, heritage and recreation, and citizen representation—to ensure the expertise guiding our activities includes the voices of underserved, low-income, and diverse community members.
• Preparing, in partnership with New American community representatives, relevant print and digital outreach materials for translation to reach non-English speaking communities with messages about cyanobacteria blooms, beach closures, and fish consumption advisories. 
• Reviewing our grant-program process and priorities to ensure underserved communities hear of these opportunities and their proposals addressing lake and heritage-area issues are competitive.
• Discussing with our partners ways to support groups focused on diversity and inclusion to help them to push important Lake messages out to diverse members. 
• Committing to on-going diversity, equity, and inclusion staff training and developing a strategic plan to guide the work of LCBP moving forward.