PACD staffers Shannon Wehinger, Terry Fisher and Brandi Hunter-Davenport attended the 2012 Water Resources Education Network (WREN) Orientation and Lessons Learned Wrap-Up Meeting at Dickinson College, Cumberland County, June 12 through 13.

The WREN Project, a task of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania (LWVP) and the Citizen Education Fund (CEF), recently awarded $65,000 to fund 15 community partnerships throughout Pennsylvania. The two-day meeting served as an orientation for the new grantees as well as a final reporting session for the previous awardees.

PACD staff was on hand to provide resource information to attendees as well as to learn about projects that had taken place between 2011 and 2012. Wehinger also spoke to the new grantees on how to create “buzz” about projects, programs and initiatives throughout their individual communities.

“WREN connects individuals and resources across Pennsylvania,” said Wehinger. “Not only do they provide funding to their grantees, but they give them the tips and tools needed for each of their projects to be successful. I was honored to be a part of the session.”

The 2012-13 projects will include community outreach and water resource education programs in Beaver, Berks, Blair, Bucks, Center, Clearfield, Crawford, Cumberland, Delaware, Elk, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Luzerne, Montgomery, Susquehanna and Wyoming Counties. Planned projects include an initiative to thwart the dumping of pharmaceuticals in the waterways as well as a few stormwater best management workshops. For a full listing of the funded projects, visit http://wren.palwv.org/documents/PressReleaseWRENGrantsAwarded20126-11-12.pdf.

WREN is a nonpartisan informal collaboration of individuals and groups working for the protection and management of the state’s water resources. WREN provides training and grants for local coalition building to promote community awareness and development of public policies which protect Pennsylvania’s water resources. For more information about the WREN Project, visit http://wren.palwv.org.