BALTIMORE, MD, June 16, 2015 -- Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Chesapeake Bay Trust, in partnership with Maryland's Department of Natural Resources, announced $727,500 in grants to be awarded to 15 organizations through the Green Streets, Green Towns, Green Jobs Grant Initiative (G3). This program was created in 2011 to encourage local jurisdictions to use "green" techniques when pursuing necessary "gray" infrastructure projects, accomplishing two goals within one project.
These collaborative efforts advance watershed protection and economic improvement through the development of stormwater management techniques, green jobs creation, beautification of neighborhoods, and community enhancement. Today's announcement includes seven projects designed to improve the city of Baltimore specifically, as well as eight other initiatives in the states of Pennsylvania, Virginia and elsewhere throughout Maryland.
Sarah's Hope, a homeless shelter and the site for the grant announcement, is one of 15 grant recipients through a partnership with Parks and People Foundation. The $75,000 grant will tie into a larger Baltimore City-led renovation and expansion project that will reduce the amount of impervious surface on the site; contribute to public open space, playground space and community garden space; and beautify the street and help change the appearance of the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. The other grantees will lead efforts that include the removal of impervious concrete, the expansion of urban tree canopies, the creation of bioretention cells, and many other green infrastructure practices.
The G3 Grant Program, administered by the Chesapeake Bay Trust, helps support President Obama's Executive Order for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay. Its purpose is to improve local, grassroots-level greening efforts by towns and communities in urbanized watersheds that reduce stormwater runoff through the creation of "green streets," the increase in urban green spaces, and the reduction of impervious surfaces. This program is open to local governments, non-profit organizations, and neighborhood/community associations focused on green stormwater management retrofits with grants available up to $20,000 for research efforts, $30,000 for design, and $75,000 for implementation projects.
See also:
"Green infrastructure program to help protect, restore Chesapeake Bay"
"EPA, Chesapeake Bay Trust to provide green infrastructure initiative grants"
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