Less than a year after Watershed Management Group (WMG) launched the River Run Network – a 50 year vision and movement to restore Tucson’s heritage of flowing creeks and rivers – the organization’s Executive Director Lisa Shipek won the ultimate prize (the SVP Tucson Award of $10,000) at the Social Venture Partners Tucson Fast Pitch event on Nov. 9, 2017 at Downtown’s Leo Rich Theatre.
Watch the video to see why she won the top prize, and get inspired to join the River Run Network!
The event was the culmination of SVP’s mentorship program that works with nonprofits creating lasting social change in the greater Tucson area. In August 2017, WMG's Executive Director Lisa Shipek was selected as one of 15 participants in Social Venture Partner’s (SVP) Fast Pitch program. After the initial competitive round, she was chosen – along with seven other local nonprofits – to pitch WMG’s River Run Network based on WMG’s passion for improving the community and our innovative solutions to society’s most pressing environmental challenges. In the three years that SVP has been running the program, WMG is the first environmental nonprofit organization selected to participate.
WMG receiving the SVP Tucson Award is an investment in Tucson's community, our future water security, and for the flora and fauna that depend on flowing rivers and streams. WMG is working to restore Tucson’s heritage flow by engaging people to join the River Run Network, working with citizen scientists to monitor local streamflows through our Flow365 program, along with helping organize a Santa Cruz River watershed planning forum. You can get involved by visiting Watershedmg.org/RRN.
