Annapolis, MD
In 2014, the EFC launched the Watershed Investment Incubator Project with the support of the Chesapeake Bay Program Office. The overarching goal of this project was to create “incubators” or direct learning opportunities in which local and state leaders could develop and implement innovative public-private partnerships and market-based financing systems that could then be modeled and replicated across the region and country. To pilot this work, the EFC linked two iconic communities—Annapolis, Maryland and Newport, Rhode Island—to create a unique learning and policy development opportunity. The EFC’s objective was to identify opportunities for the communities to implement innovative partnerships with the private sector in order to address key water management issues. Coastal urban communities like Annapolis and Newport face dual financing challenges: protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems and water quality through aggressive stormwater management; and, mitigating the impact and risk associated with sea level rise and major storm events. By addressing these two financing challenges collectively, holistically, and with along-term vision in mind, coastal communities will be better positioned to thrive. In 2015, the EFC received continued support to expand work in Annapolis, focusing specifically on building the capacity of the City to implement water quality and infrastructure financing programs within their community. The goal was to identify innovative new approaches for allocating and investing capital in support of watershed restoration and protection programs-especially those that simultaneously make the City more resilient to the effects of climate change. Some of these approaches include creating financing efficiencies, achieving sufficient scale, reducing risk, and incentivizing innovation.
Prince George's County, MD
In 2014, through CBPO support, the EFC was able to expand the role of the Stormwater Unit by offering direct technical assistance to localities in New York and Pennsylvania. For 2015, it was ultimately decided that the continued support of the Stormwater Unit would deliver technical assistance to the City of Annapolis and Prince George’s County with a particular focus on how the financing of water resource management fits into a local government’s larger goals of developing a sustainable and resilient community.
The primary objective of this project was to better understand the opportunities to improve the connections between stormwater management financing and broader community sustainability and resilience efforts. In addition, the objectives were to:
• Initiate a dialogue at the county-level to assess the enabling conditions for effectively addressing climate resiliency financing and identify opportunities to better develop these; and,
• Connect the County with new sustainability and resilience partners to better leverage in-state expertise, capacity, and existing networks in the process of enhancing the enabling conditions for resiliency finance.