Working alongside partners from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), Envision the Choptank is breaking barriers by elevating environmental justice priorities and opening up funding sources to non-profit organizations. Thanks to funding from not one, but two grants from MDE’s 319(h) Nonpoint Source Pollution grant program, Envision the Choptank will help bring essential funds to disenfranchised communities and provide much-needed capacity to local jurisdictions through the following efforts:
Caroline County, Maryland awarded $349,423 for “Engagement, Capacity Building, and Implementation in a Disenfranchised Community in the Lower Choptank Watershed”
Chesapeake Bay Foundation awarded $244,118 for “Adding Capacity to Increase Implementation of Restoration Projects throughout the Upper Choptank”
These collaborative efforts represent both the culmination, as well as the continuation, of several years of hard work by Envision’s Engaging Disenfranchised Communities and Working with Local Governments workgroups. In addition to Caroline County and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, many other partners will contribute to the successful implementation of these grants, including the Center for Watershed Protection, Chesapeake Multicultural Resource Center, JBO Conservation, Jonestown Community Development Corporation, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Mt. Pleasant Heritage Preservation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pickering Creek Audubon Center, ShoreRivers, and University of Maryland Sea Grant Extension, as well as 9 local jurisdictions within the Choptank watershed (Caroline, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot counties; City of Cambridge; and the towns of Denton, Goldsboro, Templeville, Oxford, and Easton).
Read on to learn more about these efforts and how the power of the partnership is helping to open up funding sources to nonprofits, expand efforts with disenfranchised communities, and support the development of new watershed plans!
Engagement, Capacity Building, and Implementation in a Disenfranchised Community in the Lower Choptank Watershed
Joanna Ogburn, Envision the Choptank, and Leslie Grunden, Caroline County Department of Planning and Codes, present at a Jonestown community meeting.
In 2020, with funding from the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Outreach and Restoration program, Envision the Choptank began engaging with three disenfranchised communities to build a foundation for environmental stewardship and ensure restoration resources are shared more equitably across income levels and backgrounds. For the last 3 years, Envision partners have worked alongside community members to identify natural resource concerns within their communities. As concerns about the impacts of stormwater flooding on homes, properties, and septic systems arose, Envision partners conducted individual property assessments and hosted community meetings to share information and collaboratively develop solutions.
In the village of Jonestown, a primarily African American community in lower Caroline County, this resulted in the identification of 15 projects, including 3 septic system upgrades as well as green infrastructure practices on 10 residential properties, 1 church property, and 1 community park. Together with community members, the Envision project team set to work to garner the funding resources needed to advance these projects. An inquiry to partners at MDE turned out to be most fruitful. While the village of Jonestown falls outside of MDE’s watershed plan for the Upper Choptank, the state agency was able to obtain an exemption to be able to provide 319(h) grant funding to the community thanks to recent guidance from the EPA, which encourages the incorporation of elements of environmental justice into their planning and implementation in support of the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative.
The Envision project team worked with the Jonestown Community Development Corporation (JCDC), a community-based nonprofit, to develop a proposal to MDE’s 319(h) Nonpoint Source Pollution grant program and to host a site visit for MDE and EPA program managers, introducing community members to the grant development process and helping to establish a direct connection between funders and local communities. The approved proposal, submitted by Caroline County, will fund all the projects initially identified in Jonestown, including green infrastructure projects and septic drainfield improvements (BAT upgrades will be covered by MDE’s Bay Restoration Fund). In addition, the project team was also awarded a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Small Watersheds Grant, held by ShoreRivers, providing $36,550 and a dedicated project manager to implement smaller-scale restoration practices across the three communities.
The project team, led by Caroline County, will continue to partner with Jonestown community members throughout the project implementation phase, working with members of JCDC to draft a request for proposals (RFP), select a contractor, and communicate with landowners before and during construction. Thanks to additional funding from MDE and the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Regional Capacity Building Initiative, the Envision the Choptank Community Ambassador Fund will continue to compensate community members taking on leadership roles to advance restoration projects or programs within their communities. Project construction in Jonestown is expected to begin in the fall of this year. In addition, MDE is currently developing a watershed plan for the Lower Choptank and Tuckahoe Creek and has called on Envision partners for their on-the-ground expertise, helping to identify projects that meet pollution reduction targets and bring even more benefits to local communities. The development of these new plans will allow local government entities and non-profits to apply for project funding in these areas in addition to the Upper Choptank, where a watershed plan is already established.
Adding Capacity to Increase Implementation of Restoration Projects throughout the Upper Choptank
Jurisdictions participating with Envision’s Technical Assistance Circuit Rider.
Since 2019, Envision’s Working with Local Governments workgroup has brought together staff from 9 local governments, various nonprofits, and state and federal agencies to discuss, research, and develop solutions to capacity challenges within and across jurisdictional boundaries and to support local governments in conserving and restoring natural resources and attaining their water quality improvement goals. Through a series of surveys and facilitated discussions, the workgroup identified the specific types of technical assistance needed to support jurisdictions in increasing their restoration efforts and determined a solution to address these needs - a Technical Assistance Circuit Rider (TACR).
The group benefited from lessons learned by a Healthy Waters Round Table (HWRT) Eastern Shore pilot of a similar shared services model. Led by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology, and University of Maryland Sea Grant Extension, the HWRT brought together six jurisdictions from across the Shore. With funding from MDE and a NFWF Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction (INSR) Grant, CBF piloted a circuit rider to work with these jurisdictions from 2017 to 2020 to identify shared restoration needs, develop collaborative grant proposals, and create bulk procurement processes to reduce costs and increase efficiencies. In early 2022, with CBF serving as the applicant, Envision the Choptank built off this model, using Regional Capacity Building Initiative funding from the Chesapeake Bay Trust to support a part-time Technical Assistance Circuit Rider for the Choptank. However, it quickly became clear that there was more than enough need to occupy the position beyond part-time.
The workgroup began brainstorming funding mechanisms to support the position full-time and were encouraged to explore MDE’s 319(h) Nonpoint Source Pollution grant program. Traditionally open to local and state entities, including county and municipal agencies, soil conservation districts, state agencies, and state institutions of higher learning, nonprofits were not considered for Maryland’s program, as they often are in other states. With limited staff and existing grant commitments, municipal partners felt that taking on another large grant would stretch them too thin. Rather than continuing to search for alternative funding sources, Envision partners worked with MDE to open the 319 program to nonprofits, realizing the potential benefits this could have for other watershed groups across the state. In partnership with Envision the Choptank, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation submitted a successful application for 319(h) program funding, piloting the expansion of the program.
Thanks to the leadership of Maryland Department of the Environment, Envision’s focus on breaking down barriers, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s willingness to pilot this expansion of the 319(h) program, we’re able to advance more restoration throughout the Choptank watershed and State of Maryland for the betterment of our communities and the environment.
In 2023, CBF was awarded 319(h) program funding to increase implementation of green infrastructure practices through the provision of Envision’s Technical Assistance Circuit Rider (TACR) through September 2025. By providing a TACR to work across and provide much-needed capacity to jurisdictions throughout the Upper Choptank, Envision plans to increase the development and implementation of restoration projects and capitalize on opportunities to improve efficiencies through collaboration across jurisdictions. In particular, the project team seeks to advance projects that will result in significant water quality improvements, while also mitigating localized flooding challenges exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. This project will also work closely with Envision’s Engaging Disenfranchised Communities workgroup to advance implementation of projects serving communities of color and low-income communities.
See our previous blog post, Expanded Capacity, to meet Envision’s TACR.
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