Environmental Integrity Project (EIP)
$125,000 / 2010 / Environment
To support a fellowship position for the Brooklyn/Curtis Bay/Hawkins Point Environmental Justice campaign. The campaign will focus on monitoring waste permits of industrial plants located in communities experiencing high levels of pollution, and will undertake an analysis of the health and environmental impacts of the emissions data. By working with locally affected communities, EIP will hold workshops on the permit process, allowing citizens to be in a stronger position to voice their rights for clean air and water.
Environment Maryland Research & Policy Center, Inc.
$40,000 / 2010 / Environment
Toward support of the Restore the Chesapeake Bay campaign. Environment Maryland, in response to the Restoration Executive Order to restore the Chesapeake Bay, is undertaking research to inform decision-makers about pollution issues, holding press conferences and arranging for media coverage—all toward educating the community about the need for upgrades of sewage treatment plans, and for reduction of nutrients and fertilizers on farms and lawns that leach into the bay waters.
Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN)
$25,000 / 2010 / Environment
Additional funding for staffing support of the Maryland Open Government Campaign, the goal of which is to make existing environmental laws more effective, encouraging Maryland leaders to enact changes in the state’s enforcement program, and to build a network of informed Maryland citizens working toward internal institutional reforms. By acting as a “watch-dog” group, CCAN will use grassroots mobilization to organize public comments and testimonies at permit hearings. It will also identify and recruit well-informed experts in public health, biological sciences, and climate issues to represent citizens in affected communities, and to voice their concerns about noncompliance among known polluters and lack of enforcement.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
$5,000 / 2010 / Environment
In support of the 2011 Environmental Legislative Summit. The summit will focus on issues that include implementation of a stormwater utility program to address failing systems, sustained funding for the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund, continued smart-growth strategies, and wind energy.
Blue Water Baltimore (formerly Baltimore Water Alliance)
$30,000 / 2010 / Environment
For a challenge grant to launch an inaugural membership campaign for Blue Water Baltimore, a merger of five Baltimore watershed associations. By creating a consolidated organization with a common mission, the newly formed organization will be able to increase its capacity, be cost efficient, reduce duplication, attract and retain specialized staff, expand volunteer opportunities, undertake more effective fundraising, and work toward creating a stronger and more united voice for local watersheds.