The Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW), in cooperation with program partners, the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) and the Chesapeake Water Environment Association (CWEA), jointly announce that the YH2O Water Mentoring Program has won the Amazon Web Services (AWS) City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge.

In 2015, DPW launched the water mentoring program, partnering with the Chesapeake Water Environment Association and the Mayor's Office of Employment Development to address a need for new workers as seasoned water industry employees retire, leave the agency or move on into other positions.  The YH2O water mentoring program provides job training to prepare young people for work in the water industry.

The winners of the annual Amazon Web Services City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge were announced recently at “re:Invent 2019,” a learning conference hosted by AWS for the global cloud computing community. This annual competition recognizes projects that go above and beyond efforts to innovate for and with their constituents, using the cloud to improve lives.

AWS funds will allow the YH20 program to expand through the introduction of an information technology component. As an AWS City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge winner, the water mentoring program will receive up to $10,000 in AWS promotional credits, up to $10,000 in unrestricted financial support, and up to three AWS training vouchers.

Baltimore was among a total of 18 AWS award winners. Winning projects were selected from such states as West Virginia, Virginia, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Missouri, California and the District of Columbia.  There were six AWS award categories; Baltimore was one of three winners in the Sustainability and Equity category. 

Last month, the YH2O program won the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) Bridging the Gap Achievement Award, recognizing the positive impact of the program to the Maryland economy and business climate.