Colorado Springs Utilities, CO

The project team designed and facilitated a stakeholder-driven process to build shared clarity around the skills and knowledge needed to support waterwise landscapes across Colorado. Working alongside utilities, landscape professionals, educators, and certification partners, the team focused on alignment rather than content creation—bringing together on-the-ground experience and existing education efforts to identify, validate, and organize core competencies that can inform future curriculum development and implementation.

Through facilitated workshops, subject matter expert (SME) working groups, and a landscape certification inventory and gap analysis, the project engaged more than 136 stakeholders statewide. This process produced and validated a list of 72 priority skills and knowledge areas essential to waterwise landscape practices and clarified key gaps and opportunities within existing education and certification programs.

A key outcome of this effort is an implementation-ready scope of work that outlines how the identified skills and knowledge can be translated into a modular, pilot-ready landscape education program. The scope provides a clear roadmap for curriculum development, piloting, governance, and long-term ownership. With this foundation in place, the next step is identifying a lead organization—or consortium of partners—to advance implementation, secure funding, and guide program delivery beyond the Project Accelerator.