The Chicago-based Joyce Foundation has announced a three-year $1.9 million grant that will support several organizations in their efforts to improve the water resources and habitat in watersheds of the greater Milwaukee, Wisconsin area.
The grant will be administered by the Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust (SWWT) – also known as the Sweet Water Trust – an umbrella organization that was formed to improve the region’s water resources through collaborative efforts.
Funding from the grant will support seven state and local environmental groups and the Sweet Water Trust to develop projects that will produce measurable improvements in water quality and habitat, starting with the Menomonee and Kinnickinnic River watersheds.
"This investment provides enormous momentum toward making measurable improvements in our water quality," said Pat Marchese, chairman of the Sweet Water Trust executive steering council.
It will be a uniquely collaborative effort among nonprofits, governments, universities and other entities working to use watersheds in making improvements in water quality and habitat, the trust said.
In addition to the trust, the environmental partners receiving funding are: 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Clean Wisconsin, Midwest Environmental Advocates, Milwaukee RiverKeeper, River Alliance of Wisconsin, River Revitalization Foundation and Sixteenth Street Community Health Center.
Each organization will play a role in engaging businesses, municipalities and the people who live in the watershed to promote innovative, cost effective approaches to improve water resources.
A major goal of the trust is to create an integrated and long-lasting structure to support watershed restoration through collaborative efforts throughout the entire greater Milwaukee Watersheds and near-shore Lake Michigan.
This grant represents the Joyce Foundation’s second substantial commitment to watershed restoration, after a $5 million effort in the Maumee River basin in Northeast Indiana, Northwest Ohio, and Southeast Michigan. 
