 |
Dear Friend
Thank you for your interest in the Environmental Finance Center and our December 2015 newsletter. This is an exciting time for our center, one of change and new directions.
Our long-time director Joanne Throwe left EFC to become the Deputy Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. As a result, I reassumed the role of EFC director on December 15. Though Joanne's leadership and vision will be missed, we are building on her legacy by recommitting ourselves and our center to providing the communities, citizens, and leaders across the region with state of the art financing and technical assistance capacity and resources.
We hope you enjoy reading about our work over the past several months and we look forward to working with you in the coming year.
Have an enjoyable and peaceful holiday season.Sincerely,
Director
EFC staff wishing good luck to Joanne Throwe before she takes her post
as Deputy Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources
and to Dan Nees as he assumes the role of EFC Director.
|
|
|
RECENT EFC-UMD PUBLICATIONS
|
EFC 2014 Annual Report
Link
Berkeley County Stormwater Financing Study Link
Green Infrastructure in the Mid-South
LinkMid-Atlantic Dray Truck Replacement Program
Link
|
|
EFC-UMD IN THE NEWS
|
EPA awards University of Maryland six-year grant to expand the work of its EFC
Link
UMD Sustainable Maryland certifies 12 municipalities
Link
|
|
|
|
CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP AT EFC
|
With Joanne Throwe's appointment as the Deputy Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Dan Nees has been appointed as the new Director of the EFC. For more information, please click on a link below.
|
DALLAS FORUM: FINANCING RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
|
|
| |
U.S. EPA's Jim Gebhart opening
the forum in Texas
|
On September 9-10, the EFC at the University of Maryland assisted the U.S. EPA in convening a forum in Addison, TX for stakeholders in Region 6 entitled, "Financing Resilient and Sustainable Water Infrastructure." Communities interested in financing resilient and sustainable drinking water, wastewater, and/or stormwater infrastructure were invited to hear how local utilities have financed these types of projects with water quantity and sustainable operations in mind; network with peers on implementing successful financing strategies; and interact with key regional funding and technical assistance experts to discuss local infrastructure financing needs. The nearly 100 attendees included community leaders, utilities, technical assistance providers, water sector professionals, and funders, representing approximately 36 communities from the region and beyond.
|
|
ADVANCING RESILIENCY IN TOMPKINS COUNTY, NEW YORK: ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCING BOOT CAMP HELD
|
 The Environmental Finance Centers located at the University of Maryland and Syracuse University, in partnership with the Cornell Cooperative Extension, hosted a full-day Environmental Financing Boot Camp on October 15 to address environmental issues, initiatives and sustainable financing options focused on flooding, green infrastructure and stormwater. Representatives from the communities of Danby, Caroline, Lansing, Ulyess and Dryden, the Upper Susquehanna River Basin Coalition and the Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District were in attendance. Considered both "upstate" and part of New York's Southern Tier communities, Tompkins County is vulnerable to severe flooding. In June of this year, the County experienced an unprecedented storm event, damaging many public roads, bridges, and private properties. The goal of these Boot Camps are to help communities address the financing component surrounding issues like these. The Communities walked away with funding and technical assistance resource guides, an understanding of financing mechanisms relevant to their communities' needs and budgeting templates that help support building a resilient program.
If your community is interested in learning more about the Environmental Financing Boot Camps, please visit our website at www.efc.umd.edu or contact Brenton McCloskey at brentmc@umd.edu or (301) 405-8513.
|
EFC RECOGNIZES 12 MUNICIPALITIES AS SUSTAINABLE MARYLAND CERTIFIED
|
 The EFC announced the twelve municipalities that achieved Sustainable Maryland Certified (SMC) status for 2015, including four that were re-certified for the first time in program history. The certifications were bestowed at the Sustainable Maryland Awards during the annual Maryland Municipal League Conference on October 27 in Cambridge, Maryland.
SMC provides support and guidance to municipalities looking for cost-effective and strategic ways to protect their natural assets and revitalize their communities. Using best practices in resource areas like water, energy, planning, health, food and economy, a municipality earns points toward sustainability certification. Currently, 58 of the state's 157 incorporated municipalities have registered with the program to seek this award designation; 30 have now achieved certification.
|
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE LEARNING LAB
|
 The EFC hosted a Green Infrastructure Learning Lab event at the Riggs Alumni Center October 27-28 in conjunction with our colleagues at the Syracuse EFC. The event connected several dozen participating communities from across the country with the tools and resources of the many federal agencies and nonprofit organizations that make up the Federal Green Infrastructure Collaborative. Sessions featured green infrastructure installation, maintenance, collaboration, and financing. The Lab was made possible through the support of the U.S. EPA.
|
NEW YORK SOUTHERN TIER RESILIENCY WORKSHOPS
|
 In October, the EFC partnered with colleagues at the Syracuse EFC to deliver two sessions on resiliency planning and financing for communities in New York's Southern Tier. The nearly 100 participants learned ways to better prepare for the impacts of more frequent and intense storms and to minimize damages and associated expenses.
|
ST. MICHAELS PROJECT UPDATE
| |
|
|
THE OPPORTUNITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, DIVERSITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY
|
The Environmental Finance Center hired Andrew Fellows in March to help increase its efforts to achieve environmental justice. Fellows, former mayor of College Park, Maryland, is currently serving as the vice chair of the Maryland Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities and is a veteran of decades of community organizing and leadership development in communities that have borne the disproportionate burden of pollution impacts.
Fellows will work with other staff to examine how EFC can support national, state, regional, county and municipal policymaking efforts to address health disparities, illegal trash dumping, flooding, truck traffic, heat islands and other effects of the lack of tree canopy and other green space, lack of access to adequate mass transit, and other woes that affect economically struggling communities that lack resources. The work includes addressing the equally important goals of reducing these negative environmental factors and increasing positive ones, such as the creation and support of jobs that foster sustainability, such as landscaping services, water and transportation infrastructural enhancements, transit-oriented development that revitalizes existing communities, healthy food systems, and solar or other clean energy generating or efficiency installations.
|
| JILL JEFFERSON RECEIVES FOOD HUB CERTIFICATE |
|
| |
Ann Karlen, Director of
the Food Hub Management Certificate Program and
Jill Jefferson, Burlington
VT Oct. 2015
|
Jill Jefferson, EFC's Sustainable Agriculture program manager, recently graduated from the University of Vermont's Food Hub Management Professional Certificate Program. The program was the first of its kind in the country and included a national group of 25 participants focused on learning the nuts and bolts of food hubs. Jill intends to apply her new knowledge to her work in EFC's agriculture financing unit, offering another avenue for strengthening a community's resiliency and improving soil health, by supporting the local food economy. Specifically, Jill envisions working with communities and farmers to enhance the region's Food Systems with financing analyses and recommendations to strengthen analysis, design, evaluation and adoption of infrastructure and equipment that meets the needs of small-scale food producers and processors.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland works to equip communities with the knowledge, resources and leadership needed to empower decision-making that advances resource management priorities in an innovative and efficient way. Through direct technical assistance, capacity building, and program and policy analysis, we strive to move communities towards a more sustainable and resilient future.
|
EFC-UMD's Supporters include:
|
|
|
|
|
