PARTNERSHIP PREMIUM BENEFITS

Industry Visibility & Engagement
Industry Visibility & Engagement

  • Priority access to secure major event sponsorships and exhibit spaces at all CWEA State-level events
  • Recognition on a dedicated Sustaining Partner sign displayed at State-level events
  • Logo placement on key CWEA digital platforms, including the CWEA homepage, job board, and additional high-traffic pages
  • Enhanced listing in the Annual Conference On-site Guide
  • Permission to use the CWEA Sustaining Partner logo in your own marketing materials and outreach

Workforce Development Connection
Workforce Development Connection

  • Association with CWEA workforce development and education initiatives across California
  • Support for leadership development, technical education, and safety programming
  • Participation in the continued expansion of digital learning opportunities through OWEN
  • Opportunities to strengthen connections with California wastewater professionals across all career stages

Access & Networking
Access & Networking

  • Attendee lists for select State-level events, including:
  • Annual Conference
  • P3S Conference
  • Northern Safety Day
  • Opportunities to engage directly with decision-makers, industry leaders, and emerging professionals throughout California

Sustaining Partnerships Key Features

CWEA AC26 | Sacramento

  • Priority Access
    Receive advance access to secure major CWEA event sponsorships and exhibit space at all State-level events.
  • Statewide Recognition
    Your company featured on the Annual Sustaining Sponsor Thank You page in Clean Water magazine, published five times per year and distributed to over 11,000 CWEA members.
  • Valuable Attendee Insights
    Receive attendee lists for all State level events (Annual Conference, P3S, Northern and Southern Safety Days), even if you are unable to attend.
  • Enhanced Visibility
    Boosted exhibitor listing in the Annual Conference company directory.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

“A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you, than you see in yourself, and helps bring it out of you.” – Bob Proctor, motivation speaker and author

Mentoring is also two-directional. Research shows mentoring can benefit the mentor as much as the mentee.

PROGRAM INFO

TIMELINE

  • February-March: Apply and matching 
  • April: Orientation training 
    • Training will be provided once mentors/mentees are paired
  • April-December: Two check-ins with CWEA per year 
    • Answer follow-up surveys after relationship has been established

PROGRAM SUPPORT

MATCHING

This program is free and open to all CWEA members as one of the benefits of membership

Engineering, scientific, or trades. Plus, list your own preferences for a match.

RESOURCES

CONTACTS & SUPPORT
E-MAIL US

Megan Barillo
Staff representative
Communications Manager, CWEA

CWEA has on-call experts to assist you with a complex mentoring question or situation.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS

PROGRAM FAQ

California water and wastewater agencies and firms are striving for retention, job satisfaction, improved morale, increased productivity, and cultivating successful leaders. Mentoring facilitates these goals.

Mentoring is a collaborative back-and-forth relationship that typically occurs between a senior and junior employee for the purpose of the mentee’s growth, learning, and career development. There is an emphasis on personal growth, culture, career goals, and advice.

Have you ever had a career mentor in your life? How did that person help and guide you to reach your goals?  
Have you ever had a mentor in your personal life? Perhaps a high school coach, a Boy Scout or Girl Scout leader or a family member?

While there is some overlap, a coach is very different than a mentor. Coaching is shorter term and is usually instituted in a company to improve an employee’s job performance. The coaching may not be voluntary. There are expected outcomes. Mentoring, on the other hand, has different goals. Mentors support and guide a mentee’s personal career growth. It is voluntary on the part of the mentor and mentee. The pair decide together what they are going to do to enhance the mentee’s growth. It’s also fun! 

Your role is to offer advice, guidance, skill development, and career enhancement to your mentee. You don’t have to have any prior teaching experience. Just be yourself and share what you know from your own experience. Be empathetic. Be a good listener.

Your role is to ask questions, share your successes and any challenges you’re facing, and take the lead in learning how to enhance your professional career with the guidance of your mentor.

This depends completely on the schedules of the mentor and mentee.  
Meeting times and locations are left up to the discretion of each mentoring pair. In-person when feasible, via Zoom, Facetime, cell, text, and/or e-mail are all options. Mentors and mentees can opt for lunchtime, after work meetings, or on weekends. We ask that mentors and mentees meet at least  twice per month for one year. There is also a minimum commitment to participate in quarterly check-ins with CWEA staff who will provide support to the mentors and mentees and provide training to prepare you for your experience.

The mentor cannot know everything and may get frustrated because they want to be helpful. This is especially true if the mentor and mentee are not working in the same practice area. Here is an opportunity for the mentor to invite a colleague who is an expert in that area to join a session and provide the needed information.

Waiting for your mentee to reach out to you may mean that they are busy or simply forgot. Wait no longer. The mentor should contact the mentee to arrange a time for a session and reenergize the match.

The number of scheduled sessions is totally up to the pairs. What may be a suitable number of sessions for one pair is not necessarily the same for another. Establish a schedule that is reasonable for both mentor and mentee. Put the date and time for mentoring in your phone calendar just as you do for a meeting or doctor’s appointment. If you are unable to make the session, make sure you notify the mentor/mentee immediately and reschedule.

PROGRAM STORIES

Ask Dr. Mentor: Can Mentoring Lead to Happiness?

Have you thought about what you could change in your life to become a happier person? What would make the biggest difference? Is it more money, a better job, good health or more intimacy? Many years ago, I met Paula Francis, Executive Director of The Vermont Community Foundation. The Foundation had hired me to evaluate…

Setting Goals Helps to Achieve New Year’s Resolutions

It is not about how big your goal is. It is how you approach it that matters! Do you have a New Year’s resolution that was on your list last year? Every January, millions of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. Some achieve them; others put them on the shelf. This is a great month to…

CWEA Mentoring Program Helps Build Skills, Connections within the Profession

Standing in the lobby of the City of Oxnard’s water resource recovery facility on a sunny Friday morning, mentor Nirmala Mahadevan and mentee Sian Bashkiroff are laughing and joking as they catch-up on stories about work, family, and industry events. Whenever they get together, the conversation just flows. “We’re both talkers,” said Sian. CWEA’s inaugural…

Does Workplace Mentoring Work?

“One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination.” – John C. Maxwell In April 2022, CWEA launched its first employee mentoring program. The benefits to mentors and mentees in a corporate setting were examined and carefully…

Be a Champion for the Next Generation 

CWEA is proud to launch it’s first mentoring program for members. The concept is quite simple: match skilled mentors with excited mentees, and build a stronger, more welcoming wastewater community. Mentors provide guidance, support and career direction, drawing upon their own life experiences. The good news is the benefits of mentoring are bi-directional— both mentors…

Ask Dr. Mentor: The Guides by Your Side

More than 40 years ago, the Harvard Business Review exclaimed in a front-page article that everyone who makes it has a mentor. Jack Welch wrote during his tenure as CEO of GE that a strong mentor- mentee relationship is the basis for forging tomorrow’s leaders. How has mentoring emerged as an important and powerful strategy…