Walnut Creek Watershed Learning Network (WCWLN)

Empowering Communities Through Watershed Education: The Walnut Creek Watershed Learning Network

PEJ's Walnut Creek Watershed Learning Network (WCWLN) is a six-week, cohort-style community education and empowerment initiative that PEJ first implemented in Spring 2021, based on the innovative Atlanta Watershed Learning Network model. The program empowers watershed residents with knowledge of environmental justice and civic engagement. Each cohort focuses on a specific environmental issue—ranging from water quality to heat islands—and, as part of the graduation requirements, participants must design, complete, and present a community project related to their cohort’s area of focus.

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Educating participants about various topics such as stormwater management, green infrastructure and environmental justice

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Making connections about why these topics are important to them and their communities

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Providing participants with the tools to become more engaged stakeholders and be empowered to take action in protecting the integrity of their communities.

PEJ has conducted 7 WCWLNs with about 200 graduating members!

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PEJ and Raleigh received a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) grant for the Community Climate Education for a Resilient Raleigh (CCERR) Project.

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The CCERR Project aims to strengthen community resilience to climate hazards and weather-related emergencies by fostering civic engagement, expanding access to educational resources, and empowering residents to take autonomous resilience actions. PEJ's Walnut Creek Watershed Learning Network (WCWLN) program is one of the three community climate education activities within the CCERR. The goal of our WCWLN programming is to strengthen community resilience to climate hazards and weather-related emergencies by fostering civic engagement, expanding access to educational resources, and empowering residents to take autonomous resilience actions.

Image showing three logos with text describing NOAA-funded community climate education activities: PEJ, Raleigh, and North Carolina's Climate Office.
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Three Core Objectives

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Build Climate-Literate Resident Cohorts
Equip residents—especially those in flood-prone areas and urban heat islands—with knowledge about local climate risks, environmental justice, and civic engagement to empower informed participation in resilience efforts.

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Empower Communities to Act Independently
Strengthen the ability of vulnerable neighborhoods to take initiative on climate resilience by connecting them with decision-makers, funding opportunities, and other key resources.

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Inform City Resilience Planning with Community Input
Ensure that resident voices and neighborhood-level planning shape Raleigh’s broader climate resilience programs and infrastructure decisions.

Check out our community projects:

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Taking Care of Our Waterways and One Another
PEJ is focused specifically on

Establish Community Learning Networks Based on Risk Levels

This project will focus on identifying neighborhoods that face increased risks from hazardous flooding and heat vulnerability. Residents in these high-risk areas will be invited to participate in community learning networks. These networks will offer training sessions that introduce technical information about climate risks, provide opportunities for government staff to share available services and explain how to navigate public processes, and feature expert-led discussions on climate science, environmental justice, and the historical context of climate action. In addition, participants will receive financial support to carry out their own climate resilience initiatives.

The goal of this work is to prepare residents to take actions that build community adaptive capacity by developing:

Understanding of Climate Risks: including how to interpret relevant climate data and future projections of climate hazard impacts. The project will utilize Floodplain maps, heat maps created through partnership with NOAA and NWS, and climate data from NOAA assets such as the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) and North Carolina Climate Science report. 

Understanding of Environmental Justice: an understanding of historical patterns of environmental impacts in Raleigh and the social dynamics of those patterns of impact. 

Adaptive capacity: knowing how to implement autonomous actions residents to protect households and prepare for climate hazards, as well as provision of support to implement a project action as part of the course modules. 

Advocacy capacity: an understanding of the essential functions of City, County, and State governments, relationships with local government staff, how to engage decision makers and participate in governance processes, and advocate for services and infrastructure improvements to address climate hazards. 

TIMELINE

Timeline of Watershed Learning Network (WLN)

  • Peer Exchange in Atlanta shared Watershed Learning Network Concept
  • PEJ, The Conservation Fund (TCF), & J. Turner Consulting apply for grant funding

  • Grant funding awarded by the Triangle Community Foundation & Matching by TCF
  • Additional Funding awarded by National League of Cities

  • PEJ hired first Program Director
  • WLN Curriculum Developed
  • First Learning cohort Spring 2021

  • Additional funding from Town of Cary

  • Second learning cohort Fall 2023
  • Additional funding from Duke Energy

  • Additional funding from NOAA Environmental Literacy Program
  • Curriculum expanded to climate and heat island
  • Third Learning cohort Summer 2024
  • Fourth learning cohort Fall 2024

  • Spring cohort 2025 (Foundations of Water Education)
  • Summer cohort 2025 (Heat Islands and Emergency Preparedness)
  • Fall cohort 2025 (Watershed Action Plan)

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Reach out to learn more about visiting the wetlands or how you can support their continued restoration and preservation.

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