The Southwest Environmental Finance Center (SW EFC) was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1992 to serve the states within EPA Region 6 (which includes New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana). Since, the SW EFC has greatly expanded its work to serve throughout the entire country, including U.S. territories. The primary purpose of the SW EFC is to assist state, local, tribal governments and the regulated private sector in meeting environmental infrastructure needs and achieving regulatory compliance through state and local capacity building and technical information transfer. Our goal is to build the internal capacity of the entities we assist so that they may remain in compliance and manage and finance their environmental infrastructure over the long-term. We strive to work with the entities we serve rather than for the entities we serve. We feel this is a very important distinction and that the entities need to be an integral part of projects so that they can improve their internal capabilities for long-term sustainability and resilience. In this way, we have worked with water and wastewater utilities for over 20 years in a variety of technical, managerial, and financial capacities. This broad range has given us a unique perspective on the issues facing communities across the country.