Section 3: Scope of Work and Anticipated Impacts and Results

Project 2: Sustainable Maryland Certified, Food Hub, Green Incubator, and Sustainable Practices for Distressed Industrial Areas

i. The second project for our University Center will focus on supporting and connecting University of Maryland’s Environmental Finance Center’s Sustainable Maryland Certified project. Sustainable Maryland Certified (SMC) takes a bottom-up approach in addressing various needs of municipal leaders as they “look for cost-effective and strategic ways to protect their natural assets and revitalize their communities.”# The SMC project assists municipalities in defining local economies and identifying ways to make them more sustainable. SMC awards points to the municipalities as they complete various steps to become ‘sustainable’.

iii. With the help of the UC, SMC will be able to expand the services provided to municipalities and extend them to the county level as well. The specific services to be provided through the UC will include: 1. Community Asset Mapping: help communities identify their assets such as organizations, institutions, businesses and people in order to connect them to one another and increase efficiency. 2. Grant Writing Assistance: provide municipalities with assistance in identifying funding opportunities, assess the strength of grant applications. 3. Information Dissemination: share best practices and research found through the University and at the National Center for Smart Growth; hold workshops and trainings for non-profits, local government leaders, and other community stakeholders. 4. Sustainable Economic Development Plan Assistance: help communities create plans that outline long-term economic development goals and action plans to achieve those goals. [Should we break these out and integrate the below examples? Or do the below examples belong somewhere else in the grant proposal (e.g. Section 4)?]

Although Sustainable Maryland Certified is a new program, several municipalities have already taken steps toward sustainable economic development. According to representatives of local organizations with whom we spoke, these efforts are taking place in innovative “pockets” throughout the state and would benefit from regional integration. Existing efforts would also serve as models for other municipalities.

Examples include a complete, green street in Edmonston designed to manage stormwater runoff through sustainable building materials; the development of a zero-runoff plan in the City of Forest Heights; and plans for a Community Development Corporation specifically focused on sustainable development in Greenbelt. As pioneers, these cities would have an opportunity to request technical assistance from the University Center in overcoming obstacles to implementation. UC-community interactions would point to applied research opportunities that could further success. The University would also compile best practices and “lessons learned” that could be shared at practitioner trainings [i.e. Project #1] and through additional outreach and technical assistance to other municipalities. Finally, the University Center will develop a directory of local contacts that can be shared across the state. This is particularly critical in distressed areas, where initiatives may not be visible or networked.

The University of Maryland has a history of working with neighboring communities to identify local assets, networks, and sustainable development opportunities. For instance, the Urban Studies and Planning Program conducted a number of studies in areas such as Baltimore City and Prince George’s County. The University Center would make these publications “living documents” by continuing to interact with local partners as they implement recommendations. For example:

• A recently completed industrial land-use study recommended that Prince George’s County form a “green industrial” zone. This development strategy goes beyond brownfield redevelopment and focuses on retaining and growing industrial activities locally by making them more sustainable. The UC could assist industry leaders in developing production processes that improve productivity and quality while simultaneously and mitigating harmful impacts on the surrounding communities and ecosystems.
  

• A number of University studies have examined the sustainability needs of the state’s agricultural sector. One program that could be facilitated by the UC in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (located only five miles from the University) is the development of a Food Hub, which enables farmers to produce at scale by centralizing marketing, warehousing and other functions.

[Perhaps some of the above discussion could be moved to or elaborated on further in Section 4 (Supporting Information). Also, would examples outside of Prince George’s County be helpful?]

iii. This project would generate a number of economic impacts in the service region. In addition to creating and retaining up to [TBD] private sector jobs and leveraging [TBD] in private sector capital investments, these projects would result in the University initiating research and targeting outreach in support of local efforts. [Another benefit might be that local communities, once networked, will have developed constituencies for sustainable development]. Finally, this project will highlight economic ecosystems within distressed regions and connect them to regions that have performed strongly. [We also need to figure out how to measure results].