2021 - 2024
Staying Afloat: Assessing the long-term financial impacts of sea level rise adaptation solutions in a historic coastal community
In partnership with The Nature Conservancy and George Mason University, the Environmental Finance Center (EFC) worked to provide rural communities with the tools and data necessary to make financially and socially responsible decisions for adapting to climate-induced flooding from sea level rise, storms, and precipitation.
State Financing Strategies for Chesapeake Bay Restoration
States in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are implementing strategies to restore the health of the Bay and the region’s creeks, streams, and rivers. These activities are being implemented in accordance with the US EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load, which identifies necessary pollution reductions from major sources of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment to meet water quality standards in the bay. Through the “Financing Strategies” project, EFC seeks to support bay states in their pollution
Standardizing the Return on Investment in Urban and Community Forestry Resources
Photo Credit: Eric Reed A universally accepted accounting framework to holistically measure the benefits and costs of urban and community forest resources does not exist. EFC partnered with organizations versed in carbon trading, financing mechanisms, research, and urban forest management to develop a standardized, replicable, and transparent accounting system that can assess return on urban tree canopy investments for private, nonprofit, and public investors.
Residential Action Framework & Stormwater Outreach Campaign, Prince George's County, MD
With a grant from the Prince George’s County Stormwater Stewardship Grant Program, the University of Maryland (UMD) Environmental Finance Center (EFC) worked with four homeowner associations (Brinkley Station HOA, Vista Estates West HOA, Wyndham Woods HOA, & Residences at Victory Promenade HOA) and two civic associations (Oxon Hill CA and University Hills CA) to develop person
2022 (January)
Ready for Resilience: Embedding Climate Action into Local Government Operations
The University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center (EFC) developed this guide with support from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to help local governments assess and improve their capacity for increasing climate change resilience. The guide provides an approach for developing a baseline of local government operations as it relates to climate change, integrating climate change into local daily decision making, and enhancing the core functions of local government to better enable the implementation of climate action strategies.
Reaching Latinos in the Greater Riverdale Area
The EFC supported the Central Kenilworth Avenue Revitalization Community Development Corporation (CKAR) in conducting targeted outreach to the Latino community in the Greater Riverdale Area. The goal of the project was to assess community needs and then develop tailored outreach focused on family and community health and wellbeing. As a project partner, EFC provided CKAR with technical expertise in strategy development, focus group and interview design, data analysis and synthesis, and development of messaging and communications delivery mechanisms.
Montgomery County Stormwater Outreach
With support from the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Montgomery County Water Quality Protection Fund, the EFC is providing stormwater education and outreach to residents in Montgomery county, Maryland.
2022 - Present
Mid-Atlantic Climate Action Hub
By Kelly Blake, Maryland TodayThe Environmental Finance Center is a key partner in a $2.2 million grant to help launch a University of Maryland-led initiative to address the effects of environmental racism and climate change across the mid-Atlantic region, providing financial and training support and advocating for policy changes.
2024 (November)
Landscape Architecture: Maximizing the Economic Benefits of Nature-based Solutions Through Design
The University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center developed a brief to help translate the benefit values (monetary) of landscape architects’ work on nature-based solutions. The brief offers an overview of nature-based economic benefits in five key areas: health and livability, expanded investment and sustainable jobs, increased biodiversity, carbon sequestration and improved resilience. A supplementary analysis offers lessons from 175 case studies in the U.S. Five key takeaways from the EFC brief include:
2019 - 2022
Getting the MOST for Maryland Black Mayors
EFC, in partnership with Maryland Black Mayors, Inc. (MBM) created a training program to educate and better connect MBM elected officials and staff with stormwater management solutions. The training program includes in-person workshops, MOST Center online courses, facilitated peer-to-peer discussion forums, and matchmaking with local watershed groups and technical service providers.