EWB-USA in the United States: A Foundation of Partnership, and the Decade Ahead

For more than a decade, we've worked alongside communities across the United States to tackle one of the country's most pressing and least-discussed challenges: the infrastructure gap facing small, rural, and underserved communities. Aging drinking water systems, wastewater treatment systems operating well beyond their design capacity, and school walking routes with no sidewalks or safe crossings don't make national headlines the way a hurricane or a bridge collapse does, but for the communities living with them every day, the need is just as urgent.

This year marks a change in how that work is structured, and a chance to look ahead at what's next.

How It Started

Our work in the United States began in 2014 as a joint initiative with the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), operating under the name Community Engineering Corps (CECorps). The premise was simple but powerful: many small and under-resourced communities know exactly what infrastructure problems they're facing, but lack access to the engineering expertise and the funding pathways needed to solve them. CECorps was built to close that gap, connecting volunteer engineers with the communities that needed them most.

Over the following ten years, Community Engineering Corps grew from a promising pilot into a nationally recognized program. Our volunteer engineers donated their time and technical expertise to assess failing water systems, design stormwater solutions, and help communities navigate the often-confusing process of securing infrastructure funding. The results speak for themselves:

• $62+ million in funding leveraged for the communities the program served
• 270+ pro-bono engineering solutions delivered
• 400+ communities we supported across the U.S., its Territories, and Tribal Entities
  
  

Those numbers represent more than technical output. Each one is a community water system that's safer to drink from, a road that floods less often, a small town with a real path toward the infrastructure it needs to grow.

A New Chapter

In 2025, EWB-USA assumed full ownership of the program, transitioning from a three-organization alliance to a program fully integrated into EWB-USA in both name and brand.

This shift reflects the natural evolution of a partnership that had already proven its value. As the program matured, it became clear that fully integrating it into EWB-USA’s operations and mission would allow us to deepen our impact and provide more sustained, consistent support to the communities we serve. We're grateful to AWWA and ASCE for a decade of partnership and shared commitment, a foundation that made this next step possible.

While the structure has evolved, our mission hasn't changed: pairing volunteer engineering expertise with the communities that need it most.

Tested and Resilient

In 2025, federal funding cuts and shifting national priorities put new pressure on the communities we serve, and on the broader ecosystem of organizations that support them. For a program whose work often depends on connecting communities to public funding sources, a less predictable funding landscape posed a real challenge.

Our foundation held. Despite the headwinds, we completed 27 projects in 2025, our highest annual total to date. It's a number that tells its own story: even in a harder year, the need for this work didn't shrink, and neither did our ability to meet it.

"By the time a community comes to us, they recognize the need, and they understand how critical infrastructure is to a thriving community," said Clare Haas Claveau, PE, who led EWB-USA's U.S. Community Program for years before stepping into a new chapter at the end of 2025. "They just need a partner to help them get unstuck."

That idea, of being a partner communities can count on especially when other pieces of the system are uncertain, is at the heart of why we've endured.

New Leadership, Same Purpose

Leading us into our next chapter is Natalie Celmo, PE, who joined EWB-USA’s staff in 2020 and has been part of the volunteer community for 15 years.

Now stepping into the role of US Community Program Director, Natalie brings both a volunteer's grounding in the mission and a clear vision for what's ahead.

"EWB-USA has always been engineering with empathy in action, technical work grounded in community partnership. I've seen that firsthand since my first chapter meeting, and I'm honored to help carry it forward into this next chapter as we deepen our focus and strengthen our impact in the United States," Natalie shared.

It's a fitting continuity: a program we've built on long-term partnership, now led by someone whose own relationship with EWB-USA is itself a long-term partnership.

The Decade Ahead

As we move into our next decade, our focus remains the same as it's always been: working alongside communities as trusted, long-term partners to help turn infrastructure challenges into opportunities for growth and resilience.

That focus is sharpening in a few key ways:

• Going deeper where the gap is widest. We're concentrating resources on the places where the infrastructure gap runs deepest, often the smallest and most under-resourced communities, where a single unaddressed problem can have outsized consequences.
• Strengthening the path from plan to reality. A completed engineering report is progress, but not the finish line. We're investing in the connective tissue between engineering solutions and funded, built, lasting outcomes, helping more projects cross that gap.
• Investing in the volunteers who make it possible. None of this work happens without the engineers who give their time and expertise. Supporting and growing that volunteer community remains central to how we scale.

Our work is evolving, with a new name, new ownership structure, and new leadership, but the measure of success for EWB-USA’s U.S. Community Program stays exactly the same: communities with the infrastructure they need to thrive.

Have questions about this next chapter? Visit our Community Engineering Corps Integration and Name Change FAQ