For the second year in a row, the
Chesapeake Bay Trust and the state of Maryland received federal grants to further green jobs training and environmental projects such as stormwater management.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns initiative awarded $375,000, with more than $100,000 going to projects in Baltimore City.
Last year, the EPA initiative awarded $211,000 to the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the state. The initiative is long-term and ongoing but applicants must apply each year for grants.
The award is open to local governments and nonprofit organizations in urban and suburban watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia for infrastructure projects.
For this year's grants, there were 31 applicants, of which 10 were awarded grants, says Dr. Jana Davis, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, which administers the grants. The grant applications must have a "green," aka environmental, component and to specify training in green jobs.
Davis says the initiative benefits the Chesapeake Bay for stormwater management, the communities for improvements and companies by providing a supply of employees with green jobs skills and experience. Davis does not have a figure for the number of jobs the 2012 grants will create. It depends on how the projects are handled, she says.
The 2012 Green Streets-Green Jobs-Green Towns grants went to the following projects:
Baltimore City, Belair-Edison Neighborhoods Inc., $34,900 for a green sidewalk infrastructure;
Baltimore City, Southeast Community Development Corp., $67,100 for bioretention areas in Patterson Park and Ellwood Park;
Cecil County, Housing Initiaitve Partnership, $35,000, for stormwater management in North East;
Wicomico County, Town of Delmar, $18,900 for stormwater management;
Prince George's County, Town of Forest Heights, $55,000 for techniques homeowners can use;
Maryland, Water Environment Federation, $10,000 for educational outreach;
Virginia, Town of Ashland, $25,000 for green improvements to municipal buildings;
Virginia, Matthews County, $85,000 for stormwater managment;
West Virginia, City of Romney, $25,000 for stormwater management; and,
Pennsylvania, American Rivers, $20,000 for educational outreach.
Source: Dr. Jana Davis, Chesapeake Bay Trust
Writer: Barbara Pash;
[email protected]